What We Left Unsaid was a great read. It dealt with real issues that are still very relevant now. I liked the characters and the dysfunctional family dynamic.

The Chu siblings, Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex, were estranged. But when they heard their mother was ill, they met up and went on a road trip to see her again.

This wasn’t a light read, and it dealt with real problems people faced in the past and in the world today, still.

It handled the racism they faced as Asian-Americans as immigrants/children of immigrants, as well as in the post-COVID world.

Each sibling had their own problems and trauma, and there was resentment between them from an incident that happened years ago. But the road trip together helped them reconnect and truly see each other. They managed to forgive and accept one another for who they were.

While it was never explicitly stated what happened before, the details and context clues provided the answer. And I was glad they, and their mother, were able to leave those details “unsaid” and heal.

Thanks to Atria Books for the eARC and physical copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Adult siblings + road trip + decades of baggage = exactly the kind of family story I love. Winnie M Li’s What We Left Unsaid balances so many threads—immigrant parents, racism, homophobia, sacrifices, and sibling dynamics—and I thought it worked really well.

I’ve seen some reviews saying the book tries to do “too much,” but that didn’t ring true for me. Life doesn’t hand us one challenge at a time. People carry many things at once, and I think Li captured that reality.

The writing is strong, and I especially appreciated how much Li trusts the reader. The reveal of what really happened at that childhood gas station wasn’t over-explained—it was simply shared in a way that lets us feel its impact, and that moment stayed with me.

The siblings themselves felt believable, even when frustrating. Kevin in particular made me want to scream, but also felt true to the kind of hurtful family dynamics many people unfortunately recognize.

My only real stumble with the story was a late confrontation scene that felt unnecessary—like the book needed extra drama when the emotional weight was already more than enough.

Overall, a layered and moving story about how the past shapes us and how families try (and sometimes fail) to come back together. A solid 4 stars. Thank you Atria for the gifted ebook.

This book explores the intersections and complications of family, class, race, and immigration, all set in a Great American Road Trip story. A lot was squeezed in and some was a little too rushed for me, but overall a great read if you enjoy a character study.

Three grown siblings meet in Chicago to drive the iconic Route 66 to California, with a stop at the Grand Canyon. They have 6 days to make the trip in order to arrive at their parents' house before their mother must undergo a potential life threatening procedure.

On their travels they learn pieces about the USA's past, as well as their own past, especially that time they tried to travel to the Grand Canyon and for some reason turned around shortly before arriving. Something happened that day, but they will have to open up to each other if they want to figure it out. They haven't stayed close over the years and harbour some childhood resentments that they will have to work through if they ever hope to make it to California on time.

I really enjoyed learning the little tidbits of American history, but I enjoyed the character growth even more!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for a digital copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I was given an advance reader copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed the complicated family dynamics in this story, along with a little mystery. Definitely recommend!

Three siblings, raised together in an Asian-American part of California, have very little to do with one another now that they are all adults with their own families. They're living in Boston, Chicago and London, and outside of an occasional bit of news relayed by their parents, they barely keep in touch. But now their mother has had a medical emergency, she's decided that not only must they come visit her at the same time, they need to drive there together and visit the Grand Canyon, a place she had intended them to visit together as a family when they were all young, but an event short-circuited that trip. So, reluctantly, Alex, Bonnie and Kevin meet up in Chicago and begin a road trip down Route 66 to see their parents. These aren't siblings who were best friends growing up, and resentments between Alex and Kevin remain and Bonnie is the constant peace-maker and organizer as the oldest sibling. But behind the tensions are the event that stopped their family road trip to the Grand Canyon all those years ago and it's in figuring out together what happened that will bring them together.

So a story about adult siblings isn't a fresh thing, nor is the idea of a road trip, but Li takes these standard elements and creates something worthwhile. Sure, it's about all the usual resentments between siblings and about having to face racism, whether overt or subtle, as a part of being Chinese American, about what it's like to be raised by immigrants, about how the American dream plays out very differently for each of the siblings. But there's real emotions between them and how the pivotal incident is handled is very well done. Here, no one is hiding any information from the reader, but the story needs all three of them to piece together why their parents reacted as they did. I enjoyed spending time with the Chu siblings.

I love this cover. The book was a bit too emotional for me (lately I feel dead inside) but the cover is stunning and this is definitely the right book for other readers.

This book came to me as an ARC through Atria Books and Netgalley! I enjoyed the message behind the book and it gave me a lot to think about.

The three Chu siblings all come into the story with different struggles in their own lives. As we see the story evolve and unfold, those differences start to not feel so stark and isolating but instead we see learning that burdens can be shared by those we love. We don’t always have to go the path alone.
I found the book to be one where I wanted to keep reading, and looked forward to reading at the end of my work day or before bed. Winnie does a great job of keeping you wondering what will happen in subsequent chapters and drawing you into the characters she has developed.
I appreciated this book and the opportunity to read it before it became published!

What We Left Unsaid Review- by Winnie M. Li
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What We Left Unsaid is the poignant, quiet but impactful story of three siblings who travel the country together after years of estrangement.

At the beginning of the story each Chu sibling- Bonnie, the oldest daughter, Kevin, the only son, and Alex- the youngest daughter who is living in London- get a call from their mother that she is in poor health and she requests that they all come visit. Only— she wants them to first take a road trip throughout the USA on the way to see her in California and finish a task they never did on a family trip in 1991, see the Grand Canyon.

What falls is the emotional road trip between three somewhat estranged Asian-American siblings wrestling with big challenges and themes like generational trauma, figuring out how to love your family when they have diametrically opposed views, covert and overt racism, and how maybe it’s never too late to get the family back together.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this story!

What We Left Unsaid by Winnie Lee, this book is about siblings Bonnie Alex and brother Kevin who at their mom’s inssistance takes a road trip to California before her surgery. they all live vastly different lives Bonnie with a rich family in Rhode Island Kevin with his crumbling marriage and finances in Minnesota and Alex and London with her wife and soon to be newborn baby. To say they’re estranged is to understate it the siblings didn’t even know Alex not only had a wife but an upcoming baby. Their redoing their canceled Grand Canyon trip from the 90s. They will run into lots of situations their own emotions but in the end will it repair what is broken? I love reading stories written by someone from a different culture than mine but I don’t like it when they put the same old same old in their books such as being side eyed in Branson and how before they left they just so happen to see protest with all white people fighting for the freedom to fly the confederate flag in all Black people fighting against it this is the point I wanted to make is the reason they get to fly their flag is the same reason you get to fly in opposing flag when living in a free society it isn’t going to be one catered to your likes and dislikes but one that is cater to everybody and the fact that you’re telling someone what they can and can’t do is traveling a slippery slope because that opens the door for someone to tell you what you can and can’t do. I just am over books with current day issues I think I am experiencing conflict fatigue and I’m just over it. It’s not even most of the book but I think it affected me so much it colored my whole feeling while finishing the story. I do want to say I really liked Bonnie and felt most for her and her story I found Kevin Hart to understand and Alex was just a tad bit too spontaneous for me but I did ultimately like her in the end you cannot read a whole book and not feel something for the characters you’re learning about. I really wanted to love the story but sadly I only found it OK I think that she made it just about the siblings and their flight and still included the 90s Grand Canyon trip it would’ve been a much better book I felt as if she had a list of things she wanted to add and throughout the narrative did just that. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #WinnieLee, #WhatWeLeftUnsaid,

Memories. The ones we make with our families, some good, some bad, some you wish you could forget. The Chu siblings haven't been together in long enough for them to forget how being a part of a family feels. But their Mother is ill. They have all agreed to meet to see her, but turns out, that's not what she wants. Many years ago, the family was to vacation at the Grand Canyon, but circumstances prevented them from completing the journey. Mother Chu has requested that the three of them recreate the trip before they see her again. Positive that no good can come from the trip, they still agree. What Mother Chu knows and they don't is that the trip will let them open up to each other again and find their way back to seeing the world as part of a family, the best feeling in the world. The story brought many smiles and a couple of "oh,no" moments as I followed these three adults into a replay of their childhood.

What We Left Unsaid by Winnie M Li was high on my anticipated list. And I truly enjoyed reading it.
A well written story that kept me hooked from the very beginning.
The characters draw you in and keeps you flipping the pages.
They are realistic and very well developed.
I really enjoyed the writing style. I found myself hooked, turning the pages.

Thank You NetGalley and Atria Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7830380708

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-we-left-unsaid-winnie-m-li/1146385258

i felt like a lot was put into this book and there was no room for these things to breathe. the three children each struggle with their relationship with each other but they suck it up to fulfill their mother’s wishes of completing the trip to the grand canyon. the miscommunication caused a lot of tension between the three and i could see what caused their rift from miles away.

What We Left Unsaid is a heartfelt and thought-provoking exploration of family, memory, and identity, set against the backdrop of a quintessentially American road trip. Winnie M Li brings sharp insight and emotional depth to the Chu siblings’ story as they reunite after years of estrangement and are forced to confront not only a buried childhood incident but also what it means to navigate the world as Asian Americans in a post-COVID landscape.

Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex are complex, flawed, and deeply relatable as they relive old wounds and rediscover the ties that still connect them. The novel’s structure—balancing the intimacy of sibling dynamics with larger questions of race, belonging, and cultural expectations—gives it both emotional immediacy and broader resonance. The road trip setting works beautifully as a metaphor for reckoning with the past while moving forward, and the Grand Canyon looms as both destination and symbol of everything unspoken between them.

At times, the pacing lingers, with certain reflections or dialogues stretching longer than necessary, but the emotional truths hit hard. Li’s writing is powerful and compassionate, making space for grief, humor, tension, and healing in equal measure.

A poignant family drama with a sharp social lens, What We Left Unsaid reminds us that reconciliation—whether with the past, with each other, or with ourselves—is rarely simple but always worth the journey.

I appreciated how the reader got to experience this story from all three siblings point of view. The dynamics between the characters felt realistic and on point.

There were flashbacks to the trip when the kids were younger in between their journey across the country. That one event impacted them all in different ways - but in the end that event is never really resolved.

The author does a good job sharing history of the towns that the siblings past through. The personalities of each sibling is reflected in the choices they make throughout the journey.

If you are looking for a road trip story with family dynamics and racial issues mixed in, add this book to your TBR.

Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the advanced reader copy.

Thank you Atria for my gifted copy!

A beautiful, transcendent novel about all of the underlying cracks in a family. Despite love, despite security, despite it all, there are still cracks. This is the type of book that nestles you into someone else’s shoes. That gives you a glimpse in someone else’s life. It is a humbling and beautiful experience. Winnie M Li’s writing is like dripping honey. I cannot wait to read more from her.

Thank you Atria Books for my #gifted copy of What We Left Unsaid! #AtriaPartner #AtriaInfluencer #atriabooks #WhatWeLeftUnsaid

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐔𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐌 𝐋𝐢
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 - 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐰!

What We Left Unsaid really looks at family dynamics and the complexities of sibling relationships and tackles so much more. It follows three estranged siblings who uncover a startling family secret and other truths about being Asian American in a post-COVID world. After not seeing one another for years, the mother of the Chu siblings requests that they take a road trip together to the Grand Canyon before coming to visit her for a scheduled operation. The Chu family was supposed to go on a similar trip decades earlier, but an incident prevented the trip. Now, they are forced to talk about it with one another, along with the prejudices they have for one another and that others have for them during a long road trip. The siblings were very different from one another and there was a lot of trauma throughout the pages. There was also a lot of family expectations growing up, disagreements, and bickering, making things pretty messy. While I enjoyed the book overall, I thought the ending was a little too put together for how the rest of the book felt. With that said, I did enjoy the overall messages and themes of the book and definitely think it’s worth the read!

Posted on Goodreads on August 19, 2025: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
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This book follows a family in the past and present day. I think this book had more potential than it was given. I would have loved to read more of the family’s’ past, the ending felt forced. But I can resonate with the idea of an estranged family working through some difficult moments. I will say that while it could have been a bit long, this is a great book!

This tale of three Taiwanese-American siblings and their road trip across America is by turns fraught and joyful and always compelling.