Everything We Never Knew - Elizabeth Wilder

Author: Elizabeth Wilder

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: 4 stars

In a Nutshell: A touching book about a father and his son coping with grief in their own way. Poetic in its style, harrowing in its emotions. Has minor flaws, but overall, a beautiful read.

Story:

Nat: An eleven year old boy who is lost in grief and tries to find himself through his poetry.

Dee: A carefree young girl who is determined to be a friend to the boy.

Don: A man who loves his son and wants to help him cope but doesn't know how to.

Mia: A woman whose voice we hear only through her journals, a voice that seems to speak from the depths of darkness and despair.

These are the four characters whose perspectives we see in this story. Mia’s writing is in first person as we know her only through her journals. The rest of the characters are written in third person.

Where the book worked for me:

✔ Though there are four character perspectives, it is very easy to keep track of the plot.

✔ The depiction of grief, eating disorders, and mental health issues is stunning. It doesn’t go into detailed explanation or medical labels, but just shows the impact of such problems on the psyche. It’s like you learn the rationale for the character’s behaviour and situation as you move ahead. Nothing is info-dumped on the reader.

✔ Most of the story is set in the cemetery, as Nat’s dad is a cemetery caretaker. Needless to say, the unusual setting adds to the charm of the book.

✔ The writing is so beautiful. I do not have any fondness for poetry and usually find myself skipping through poetic prose. Not in this one. I read every line, every word with care. The words are string together in patterns that mesmerise. The author is a poet, and it shows!!!

✔ The characters are as real and as flawed as can be. I love the way the author’s words brought the human side of the characters to life. There is friendship and fighting, love and loss, struggle and hope. All balanced, nothing black and white.

✔ The journal trope is quite common, but most authors make a mess of it by using first person dialogues and detailed descriptions in journals. This book nails the trope – the journal is written exactly as a journal would be in real life. It contains Mia’s thoughts and insecurities and uses them brilliantly.

✔ I am not usually a fan of slow-paced books. (Who can afford to go slow with a never-ending TBR!??!?) But this book turned out to be an exception. Even beyond the beautiful phrasing, there is so much said between the lines that I felt like I had to absorb every line carefully. Amazing writing! Absolutely faithful to the literary fiction genre.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

❌ The plot gets a bit repetitive in between because there’s nothing much except the establishment of backstories.

❌ It is emotionally devastating and gets very intense. I found myself tasking regular breaks before returning to the book, just to get a breather on the feelings.

❌ The character & plot detailing felt a little incomplete. While this doesn’t impact the overall plot, it did affect my comprehension by not answering my questions. For instance, which year/time period is the story set in? How old was Dee? Howe old was Mia? Don? Basic details. but they help in understanding motives.

❌ The story tries to add in some paranormal elements but these didn’t work well in sync with the rest of the plot.

All in all, despite the slight issues, I relished this indie novel. It is a heartfelt story and creates a huge impact within its 250 odd pages. Definitely recommended, especially if you enjoy well-written stories that don’t talk too much but let their characters do the speaking. The poetic writing slows the pace but not the enjoyment.

The book is available on KU.

Trigger warnings: Eating disorders, Mental health, Death.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author through ‘StoryOrigin’ and these are my honest thoughts about it.