I enjoyed many of the characters in this book and empathized with their issues. But, while there were some lovely scenes and poignant moments, it didn’t quite gel for me in the end.

a charming and heartbreaking book that i think almost perfectly encapsulates the autistic experience. i adored this novel.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for this digital ARC. I was really excited about this story based on a review from a fellow reader, but unfortunately, it was much too YA for my taste, which made it difficult to get into. That said, I love the premise of the story and appreciate the overall message.

After an almost-school shooting, Morgan Flowers starts a relationship with their crush at the same time their absent alcoholic mother returns to their life. This novel explores the ways we hurt and harm one another—often unintentionally—in familial, romantic, and platonic relationships.

Feltman’s (Willa & Hesper, 2019) second novel is a 2022-appropriate take on the classic family saga. Everyone’s looking for someone to love, including Morgan, an aspiring filmmaker and nonbinary teenager. When they begin dating Sadie, things seem too good to be true. Morgan’s fear comes to fruition when their mom, Zoe, an alcoholic, comes back into their life and brings a tornado of chaos along with her. In the process, Zoe’s partner Brigid gets pulled into the fray, and Morgan’s dad, Julian, who is neurodivergent, struggles to find common ground with his child. Characters’ experiences are central to who they are: Julian’s as an autistic person, Zoe’s history with addiction, Brigid’s experience dating a younger person, and Morgan’s journey through gender identity. Feltman’s writing succeeds in depicting each of these characters with nuance and grace, though the book can sometimes fall flat at the intersection of their important experiences. This is far from a deterrent, though, as readers are sure to find characters to root for and identify with.

Feltman’s novel follows a period in time for a family when what they’ve chosen to bury and ignore all comes flooding to the surface. Both in the characters and what they go through feel real. The realness makes the reader care about the characters, though flawed, and makes you want good things for them in the future after their stories end on paper.

There are a couple of types of book that I love to critique. One is Greek myth retellings, and another is books with autistic characters. I requested All the Things We Don't Talk About on NetGalley because it fits the latter category, despite the fact that I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy it. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised.

All the Things We Don't Talk About is about the members of one family: Morgan, a non-binary teenager; Julian, their autistic dad; Zoe, their alcoholic and estranged mother; and Brigid, Zoe's partner who has developed an online friendship with Julian over the years. The book follows the family as they navigate Morgan's first relationship and their curiosity about their mother as Zoe crashes back into their life.

Overall, I thought this book was well-written and thoughtful in how it navigated a family's turmoil. The characters felt very realistic, and their different identities felt very well-integrated into their characters. I really appreciated especially how the narrative didn't make a big deal about Morgan being non-binary, but did allow it contribute to Morgan's experience and the way they interacted with the world. I also appreciated how the story approached the difficulties that can come with being an autistic parent without implying that autistic people shouldn't or can't be parents. I was able to relate to the way Julian saw the world and the way he interacted with other people, which is actually pretty rare for me when reading.

I said earlier that I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy this book. That's mostly because I tend to not like literary fiction type stories centered around characters' messy lives-- I often find that in authors' attempts to highlight the messy parts of life, they make the drama totally overwhelming and the characters become tiresome. I didn't have that issue with this book. There were a few points that felt awkward-- for example, I didn't feel like the consequences of the opening scene were fully integrated into the rest of the book, and it was sometimes hard to tell how much time had passed between events. But on the whole, I found this book to be honest without being tiresome, and I appreciated that even at their worst, I was able to sympathize with each character.

I think this book would be a great read for anyone who likes literary fiction in theory but finds it tiresome in practice-- which is how I feel. I can see it appealing to a wide age range, too. I hope to see more stories as thoughtful as this one in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC of All the Things We Don't Talk About!

This book was delightful in a ""I feel sad for just about everybody involved but the drama keeps it interesting" kind of way. I've read quite a few novels with NB characters of Morgan has been one of my favorites. Their struggle with their gender identity was profound and well explained in her interactions with Julian.

I deducted one star from my overall review mostly because I wanted more of a resolution for Julian. He was my favorite character and I felt like he never got the full story that he should have had as a single parent. I'd personally read a whole book centered around Julian.