Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this.

This is a fantastic read, following the lives of Vietnamese immigrants living in Australia. For those whose family immigrated down to Australia, or for those who are Australian Born (whatever culture your background is), you may find some connection to this book. I in particular found some parts of the book relating to my childhood, and I'm an Australian-born Chinese with parents from Malaysia with Chinese ancestors.

The premise of this book follows Ky in particular, whose younger brother (Denny) has been murdered, and the local police are at a dead end regarding who killed him, as all witnesses claim to have seen nothing. The story jumps between the 'present' and Ky's childhood, and from there we are shown what her life was like, as an immigrant, and what her life was like growing up, with her family and friends.

For me, this is a definite must-read, and I look forward to reading more of Tracey Lien's work.

The title "All That's Left Unsaid" describes the heart of this story.....so many unsaid thoughts and emotions across a family and across the generations.
A family ripped apart by the murder of their golden boy...so much promise but a life violently taken in the volitile and drug doused suburb of Cabramatta. For a family who never have communicated well, tragedy striking throws all coping mechanisms go out the window. Ky returns home to become the 1 person able and willing to push for the truth about her brothers death. Language barriers, police indifference and overworked officers, teamed with witnesses who don't want to get involved....the truth is hard to find and even more heartbreakingly "close to home" real than Ky can imagine.
I wanted more of the murder mystery angle and didn't enjoy the slowing down into internal dialogue.
Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Australia and Tracey Lien for my copy to review.

Make sure you have a comfy seat and plenty of coffee on hand before you settle in to read All That's Left Unsaid because once you start, there's no stopping until you get to the end. This is a beautifully written, incredibly compelling story set in a unique community at a unique point of time, peopled with characters who will stay with you long after you've finished reading. The story itself is somewhere between a crime/mystery novel (Who killed Denny? Why is nobody talking?) and a character-driven study of a family in grief; moving, insightful and so very readable.

My rating:

Plot: 3 out of 5 stars
Writing: 3 out of 5 stars
Character development: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3 out of 5 stars

Recommended for readers of:

Literary Fiction
Murder Mystery



Review:

This book tells the story of Ky a young journalist returning home to Cabramatta from Melbourne following the murder of her younger brother. Denny .She finds things don’t add up and decides to investigate and try and solve it herself.

This book also gives you an insight into the lives of Vietnamese immigrants who came to Australia after the Vietnam War and some of the issues and struggles they face and have had to deal with since coming to Australia as well as the differences in cultures.

This is a well written book, thought provoking, heart breaking and confronting at times. The characters are well developed but complex. They feel realistic and true to life. You feel their sadness, pain and trauma.
The book is not just a murder mystery or an easy story to read but it’s an important story that also gives an insight into the recent history of the Australian Vietnamese community.

Review copy provided by Netgalley at no cost to me

A story about the murder of Denny, a young boy graduating high school. and his sister's fight to discover the truth. Told from many perspectives, we hear from witnesses to the crime who originally denied seeing anything out of fear for their own safety as well as Ky's childhood friendship with Minnie and how that links to Denny's death. A solid story that was enjoyable, great to get to the truth and hear from Denny as well.

As someone who also grew up in South-Western Sydney in the 90s, I cherish the experience of reading this brilliant book. It was emotional, insightful, intelligent, compassionate and honest. A must read for ALL Australians and beyond. If your family left their homeland looking for a better life, you will be undoubtedly moved by this story, and if this is outside of your experience, well I sure you will be too.

A HUGE congratulations to the author, I’m so grateful to have this wonderful work of fiction out there in the world for all to enjoy.

All That's Left Unsaid is about a young woman searching for answers about why her younger brother, a studious high-achiever, was brutally murdered at his high school graduation dinner. As Ky tries to solve the mystery, the novel explores the experiences of Vietnamese immigrants in Cabramatta, Sydney, in the 1990s. It is clearly a subject that's close to the author's heart, and she paints a vivid and realistic picture of that world.

This isn't the type of book I'd normally pick up, and though I found it heavy going at times, it was well-written and thought-provoking.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for providing the Advance Review Copy of this book.

I don't feel that I am in a position to fairly critique this book, being of anglo-saxon origin and having been born and grown up here in Australia - my life experience of a privileged, white Australian. My family did however, host Vietnamese refugee families during the late 1970's as part of an effort to assist with cultural education, and I heard the most shocking stories first-hand of imprisonment, refugee camps and life in the Australian immigrant hostels.
This story is set in the 1990's in Cabramatta, a suburb of Sydney. Ky, now living and working as a journalist in Melbourne, is stunned to receive a phone call from her parents to say her young brother Denny, was beaten to death on the night of his high school graduation dinner. This sets Ky on a path to try and determine what drove someone to do this to her kind, gentle brother and why in a restaurant full of witnesses, did no one see anything.
If you are looking for a traditional murder-mystery, this is not it. If you are interested in understanding more about the endless obstacles and insults that immigrants are often faced with, then this may just be it.
This is a book that contains grief, pain and rejection. It is hard to read, and for me personally, it ripped a few more scales from my eyes.
Thank you Tracey Lien for your honesty and ability to convey a truth many of us would prefer not to hear. Thank you also Harlequin Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

This was not an easy book to read, because of its distressing content, because of the rather difficult -to-connect -with characters, and because of the pacing of the story which, for me, was rather choppy and in many places encouraged me to skim rather than read. However, it was a thought=provoking story of the hardships and racism faced by immigrants in Australia in the 1990s (and I suspect this is still the case for many). Of course the terrible situations these Vietnamese immigrants had to deal with are multifactorial, and can't all be blamed on Australian policies and racist behaviours. The generational impacts on the children of immigrants; the high expectations put on them by their parents, is a common factor; but hopefully the physical abuse is not. The heroin epidemic of the 1990s in the town where the novel was set and the gang violence that went with it is horrific, and the impacts this environment had on the characters in this novel as they tried to adapt to this new and often cruel culture while still holding on to their own culture, is very well told. The 'thriller' or 'mystery' aspect relating to why Denny was murdered was, in itself, not the driving force of this story, but a stage on which the reader could be allowed glimpses into the struggles of these immigrants, doing their best to live a good life in this alien community of brash Australians. There was no suspense in the novel, which is not in itself a bad thing for a literary novel which I think this definitely is, but for me it did drag in quite a number of places, and seemed almost repetitive (eg Ky's parents' behaviours did not need to be so constantly repeated), because of the choppy and repetitive nature of the story line and because the characters weren't engaging.
For me this drops it to a 3 rather than 4, but even so I am glad I persevered because I did learn a great deal, and hopefully gained some insight. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a digital ARC>

All That’s Left Unsaid

Thank you NetGalley for the gifted copy of this book.

Ky is Vietnamese and moved to Australia with her family when she was little. Her and her brother Denny, who is 6 years younger than her, are good kids. They do well in school and don’t run with the naughty crowd. Ky goes to university and becomes a journalist. Denny continues to do well in school. The night of Denny’s senior prom he is brutally murdered. Those who were there claim to have seen nothing. The police are at a dead end. This does not sit well with Ky so she puts on her journalist hat and vows to find out the truth about her brothers death.

For me this book was slightly confusing. It kept jumping around between past and present and between different characters points of view. I had a hard time keeping up and if I got slightly distracted I’d find myself all of a sudden reading about someone totally different and an event that happened 15 years ago! Once I got my head around what was actually happening I did enjoy the book. I found that it was more than just a murder mystery and at times I felt like I was reading a personal diary. The author definitely had a small chip on her shoulder and liked to bring up racism at every opportunity.

Overall I found the concept of the book great and ended up enjoying it.

This was a fantastic read, following the lives of Vietnamese refugees living in Australia.

Ky comes home to attend the funeral of her younger brother, Denny. He had been brutally murdered in a restaurant, and no one saw a thing. Ky takes it upon herself to find out what really happened, and in doing so, confronts her upbringing, her friendships, and the relationships with her family.

It was refreshing to read a story from a different perspective and culture to mine. The pressure on these families to succeed in finding the “perfect life” after uprooting from everything they know is prevalent throughout. It’s something I never considered before, and I found it very interesting.
It highlights the difference between those who came from money and those who did not. The varying backgrounds and how they effect your choices.

A great read.

Ky Tran is the daughter of immigrant Vietnamese parents. Post Vietnam war, they moved to Australia with the hope that they could offer their two children a better life in Cabramatta, South-West Sydney. This suburb has one of the biggest Vietnamese communities in Australia but would soon become the hub for drugs and drug gangs.

Ky and her brother Denny rarely give their parents cause to stress. They are well behaved, work hard at school and are very aware of the crime issues in their community. They are careful to avoid trouble and don’t take any risks with their safety. There are five years between Ky and Denny, they are close but once Ky is done with school she moves away to study and eventually gets a job in journalism.

Ky’s parents often worry about Denny and her mother rings her asking for advice. She really has nothing to worry about, he is a straight A student and considering the crime stats in the area they live in he is a good kid. Therefore, when her mother rings to tell her that Denny is dead, correction - he has been murdered, Ky feels like the ground has been pulled out from under her.

How could this have happened? Her journalistic tendencies have her seeking out the truth so her family can eventually get some sort of closure. There was no autopsy done and all of the witnesses claim to have seen nothing. Why are they all lying? What are they afraid of? While dealing with the grief of losing her brother Ky sets out to dig for the truth, it’s the least she can do for her brother.

This is not my usual favoured genre but the blurb intrigued me as we have hosted international students from Vietnam over the last seven years so it piqued my interest. A really sad story that had no happy ending but a really interesting insight into the immigrant life in Cabramatta.

Wow! This book is an absolute must-read if you’re even a little bit curious about Australia’s early history with Vietnamese refugees and their settlement in Australia.
All That’s Left Unsaid is a work of fiction but its setting, 1990’s Cabramatta, a melting pot of white Australians and newly arrived Vietnamese refugees, almost becomes a character in its own right. Here we see people who had happy settled lives in Vietnam before being forced to flee, maybe spending years in refugee camps and subsequently finding themselves in a new country with language and cultural differences, prejudice and racism all creating huge challenges. “Cabramatta proved that a town could be gorgeous and sick, comforting and dangerous, imperfect but home.”
Against that background, journalist Ky Tran has returned to her parents’ home for the funeral of her murdered brother Denny. I admired Ky’s strength of character and her persistence in trying to find out what happened and why. I felt for her parents, her father drowning himself in alcohol and her mother busy trying to ensure Denny had a happy and good afterlife. The undeserved murder of their only son clearly devastated the whole family.
Tracey Lien has created an eye-opening story that is fast-paced, utterly enthralling and shocking at times but above all else this is a fabulous, beautifully written book.

This book is a fascinating novel showing the harsher side of life as a refugee in the 1990s.
Life in Cabramatta was not easy. In amongst the drugs and crime there’s a murder to solve, but with racism in full swing witnesses are nowhere to be found!
The storyline concentrates on the realities and struggles faced by those trying to live a better life.
The characters are strong, showing a great reflection of Australian society, culture and attitudes. A good picture of the times!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’d like to thank the publisher, NetGalley and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book was steeped in authentic reality of life in cabramatta. The cultural challenges faced by those starting a new life in Australia. The gang related violences and nuances surrounding the complications associated with this lifestyle.

It was at times very depressing, but at the same time authentic to it's very core. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The author nailed the whole period of challenge that cabramatta faced during the timeframe that was depicted and I recall the constant news stories of gang related killings and crime that this town was plagued with.

The family depicted in this novel, was one of many trying to make a start and life for themselves, when tragedy strikes. From this point forward, unfolds a tale of suffering, grief, cultural differences, children left adrift, friendships tested and total devastation. But so well told. I am not going to give any further detail as I don't want to destroy the reader's enjoyment of discovery as they read this. But it is well worth the time.

All That’s Left Unsaid – Tracey Lien



I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in order to provide an honest review.



Tracey Lien is an Australian author who came from Vietnam. She has worked for the LA Times and now lives in New York. This is her debut novel.



Ky is a young girl living in Cabramatta, Sydney. She comes from a Vietnamese family who fled to Australia. Growing up things were hard for Ky but she had her dear friend Minnie to help, another young girl from a Vietnamese family just trying to fit in.

But as they years passed, they navigated their way through it all together. Ky also had a younger brother Denny. And for a while it was all of them hanging out after school and together dealing with the issues that came with trying to assimilate in a country that didn’t quite accept them. That is until Ky and Minnie had a falling out towards the end of high school. Minnie didn’t come from a happy and stable home, not like Ky – and this difference was starting to wear on Minnie.

Years later Ky works as a journalist in Melbourne and her brother Denny is graduating high school. But she gets a call that threatens to shake her to her very foundations. Denny went out with friends to a popular restaurant in town – and was killed. He was beaten to death and no one there will talk to the Police. Ky needs answers – she needs to know what happened, why was her brother killed. He was a good and innocent kid with his life ahead of him

Ky embarks on a journey to uncover the truth putting all her journalistic skills to the test. To find out what could have possibly caused anyone to kill her brother and what was so awful about it that no one will talk. Just be careful what you wish for and make sure you can handle the truth.



“All That’s Left Unsaid” is a sad and heart wrenching crime thriller. So many elements really pulled on my heart strings as I was reading this. What families and kids went through at the time trying to assimilate and how hard people made it for them when all they needed was just a little help and understanding. And what really got to me the most is how someone could just see a horrific crime take place and literally do nothing about it – not even call the Police after and tell them. But what makes this sadder is this story probably was close to the truth for some people. We are all people and no one should have to suffer needlessly, we should all be there to help and support one another. As you can tell this book was really well written, it evokes powerful emotions and responses from the reader, thus engaging them and making them become invested in the characters and the story arc.

This was slow to start and never really grabbed me. I kept reading because the mystery was interesting and I wanted a conclusion. However, it's the social commentary that earns this a higher rating. The complexity of the relationships was engrossing; as were the experiences and difficulties of leaving one country for another. It was fascinating to see both sides of the expectations and consequences of fleeing Vietnam for the chance at a better life. Systemic racism and cultural pressures bring a lot to bear on this story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I tend to avoid sad or distressing books, and It took me a while to get through the barrier, evident early, that this would challenge my interest and resolve, I’m very glad I persevered. It proved to be a book rich in understanding of poverty, trauma, dislocation - and their generational impacts. It captures the domestic and personal minutiae of people adapting, holding on to what they know, what they hope and what they can’t avoid. It exposes fears, assumptions and protection devices used by all of us, regardless of culture, to get by and live. It is a very nuanced novel - unpeeling stereotypes and eschewing tidy outcomes.

To match the novel’s nuance, I’d give it around 4.8 stars in a nuanced star system. The thread of investigation is almost, but not quite, lost in a couple of places and I’m uneasy about the last couple of pages. Yet as part of the majority of Australians whose family arrived here in the last 100 years, I recognise, for the first time I can remember in a novel, the damage and resilience coexisting in those of my family who brought with them, and transmitted, trauma from their country of birth.

This portrayal and understanding is hugely important.

This is a fascinating novel; although it presents as a murder mystery, that turns out to be the smallest part of this absorbing and thoughtful novel. This will appeal to many readers who’ve never touched a crime novel, even if they’ve still no interest in doing so.

In 1996 Cabramatta, Sydney, is a dangerous place. A heroin epidemic has taken hold, and a crime wave followed: if it’s not junkies looking to fund their habit, it’s the gangs wanting to fund their illicit lifestyle.

But to Kye Tran and her family, it’s just home. When her parents ask her advice about allowing her younger brother Denny to go to a dinner after his high school graduation, she impatiently tells them to let him go. He’s a good kid, it’s a local restaurant, what could possibly happen?

The worst thing possible: Denny is beaten to death. When Kye returns for his funeral she is incredulous to discover that it occurred in a crowded restaurant, and yet no-one saw anything. Astonishingly, everyone was in the bathroom, the kitchen, or facing the wall. Kye can’t believe it, and sets out to find the truth of what happened.

It’s interesting that all the blurbs I’ve seen for this focus on the murder, as to me this is barely a murder mystery. Although that’s there, this novel to me was primarily about the refugee experience, intergenerational trauma, and racism in Australia. The murder was almost peripheral, compared to these things.

This is a thoughtful exploration of growing up the child of refugees in an Australia that’s ill equipped to recognise or support the trauma of the adults, or welcome the children caught between two worlds. It’s a sad indictment of both our society and many individuals in it. I was particularly struck by the depiction of a teacher who means very well, tries hard, and yet still fails her students. Her genuine attempts struck a chord: trying to do the right thing but not really knowing what it is or how to do it. Lien seems to be depicting this as the best refugees can expect: well meaning but clumsy and ineffective attempts to help.

Because Cabramatta was, at the time, full of Vietnamese refugees, it was teeming with people who’d experienced similar traumas but were dealing with them very differently. Lien explores this from a few angles: parents and children doing badly, others coping, others coming closer to thriving. For none of them is life straightforward or easy. This is sad but realistic, and I feel privileged that the novel has helped me understand some things a little better: the experience of everyday racism that’s so ingrained and reflexive it’s almost impossible to call out, for example.

This is a powerful novel, with insights that should make you think about Australian society generally and your own attitudes. I recommend it highly. Crime readers will no doubt find the slow exposure of what happened to Denny and why absorbing. However, anyone interested in explorations of human nature, Australian culture, the refugee experience in Australia – particularly after the Vietnamese war – or character based stories will find this meaty and satisfying.

I don’t feel right saying I enjoyed it, because it’s not a fun story. However, it’s an extremely satisfying reading experience. Although it’s fairly dark, it’s not without hope. The characters are vivid and (mostly) empathetic, and it’s extremely well written. If you’re open to having your preconceptions challenged, read it. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Ky Tran grew up in a Vietmanese family in Cabramatta in western Sydney. She moved to Melbourne to become a journalist and has now returned home for her younger brother Denny’s funeral. He was out at a restaurant celebrating his graduation from high school with two of his friends and a favourite teacher when he was brutally murdered. Neither his family nor the police knows what happened or who killed him as no one who was in the restaurant that night will say anything. His teacher and friends claimed to be in the toilet, the staff all claimed to be in the kitchens and the other diners all turned away when the trouble started. However, Ky is sure someone knows something and she intends to use her journalistic skills to find out why her brother was killed and give her grieving parents some answers.

Much of the early part of the book is setting the background leading up to the murder, describing what it was like for Ky and Denny growing up in a tightly knit migrant community, where they felt constrained by their parents high expectations for them. Cabramatta in the 1990s was well known as a place where drugs could be freely bought and sold, contributing to high rates of drug related crime. Not all immigrant children were like Ky and Denny, aiming for a good education to pave their way to a high paying job. Some like Ky’s friend Minnie would be drawn to the kids who dropped out of school and were pulled into Cabramatta’s seamy underworld.

This is not an easy book to read, as it’s very much a social history of a migrant population, torn from its war torn country and transplanted to a land where they find it difficult to learn the language and assimilate into a totally different culture. In addition to poverty, many parents suffer from the long lasting effects of trauma and mental illness, all of which impacts on the next generation. While Denny’s murder is shocking and the reasons he was senselessly murdered heart-wrenchingly sad, it is not so much the main theme of the book but more a consequence of the time and place in which he lived.