Synopsis: Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex’s mother, seriously ill, makes a request before their impending visit home: she wants the siblings to visit the Grand Canyon and complete a journey the family had begun thirty years ago but abandoned for mysterious reasons. Despite their geographic (and to some extent, emotional) separation, the Chu siblings then embark on a road trip on Route 66, a path that will expose secrets and prejudices and cause each to reevaluate the meaning of family and heritage.

Review: Li rewrites the American road trip novel from the perspectives of three Americans with Taiwanese heritage. Read this book for the characters, who are likable, complex, and interesting. Their narratives are interspersed with flashbacks documenting the events of the first attempt to visit the Canyon. These passages provide glimpses of the family dynamics that shaped the Chus. They are also meant to create narrative tension, but I found the “secret” at the heart of the flashbacks unsurprising. WHAT WE LEFT UNSAID best suits readers who wish to document Americana via the interests and concerns of multiculturalism.

Winnie M. Li’s *What We Left Unsaid* is a powerful and engaging novel that mixes family drama with important social issues. It follows the Chu siblings—Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex—on a road trip to the Grand Canyon that their mother insists on before she passes away. This journey brings them back together after years apart and forces them to confront old childhood memories while exploring their Asian American identity in today’s world.

As they drive along Route 66, retracing a family trip from years ago, they dig into why their parents abruptly stopped that journey. The story deals with heavy topics like generational trauma and cultural expectations, all while highlighting the ups and downs of sibling relationships.

Li's writing flows effortlessly, blending personal experiences with larger social themes. The book can be serious but also has its funny and warm moments, keeping it hopeful. Fans of authors like Celeste Ng and Min Jin Lee will really enjoy *What We Left Unsaid*, which offers a deep look at identity and healing that lingers even after you finish reading.

The Chu siblings haven’t seen each other in years, but when they’re told that their ailing mother is scheduled for an operation next month, they agree to visit her together. Then their mother makes an odd request: before seeing her, they must go on a road trip together to the Grand Canyon.

Thirty years ago, a strange incident had aborted a previous family road trip there. No one’s ever really spoken about it, but during this journey, the middle-aged Chu siblings have no choice but to confront their childhood experiences.

Together, Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex travel along Route 66—but as the trip continues, they realize the Great American Road Trip may not be what they expected. Facing their own prejudices and those of others, they somehow learn to bridge the distances between them, the present day, and their past.

Poignant, heartfelt, and beautifully written, this novel is more than just a road trip story—it’s a touching exploration of family, forgiveness, and the power of confronting the past. Highly recommended.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

They are **3 middle-aged Asians passing through a Midwest town ** (insert your culture/ethnicity, age, gender, religion). This will determine how you react to this book. The author's prose is fluid and engaging, including you in this family's journey
America's not the land of opportunity anymore.. becoming the land of oppression and bias.
A traveling confessional disguised as a road trip, with each changing landscape triggering trauma and mistakes made
It becomes cathartic in such closed quarters, forcing intimacy, secrets, and insecurities but also redemption in having to face adversity together. I will re-read this story again .. it is that good.

Winnie M Li’s The Great American Everything is a thoughtful, moving, and deeply layered family drama that blends road trip adventure, self-discovery, and unspoken trauma into a compelling narrative about what it means to be American.

The novel follows the Chu siblings —Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex—who haven’t been in the same room for years. When their mother, facing an upcoming operation, makes an unusual request for them to take a road trip to the Grand Canyon, they reluctantly agree. Decades earlier, an aborted family trip to the same destination left a lingering mystery, one they never discussed but can no longer avoid.

As they journey down Route 66, the siblings’ conflicts, cultural identity struggles, and old wounds resurface, forcing them to confront their individual and collective pasts. What begins as a simple road trip transforms into a powerful exploration of memory, race, family expectations, and the complexities of the immigrant experience in America. Li’s writing is unflinchingly honest, The novel questions what home truly means and how shared histories can shape and fracture familial bonds.

Highly recommended for those who love introspective literary fiction with strong themes of identity, belonging, and family reconciliation.

#TheGreatAmericanEverything #WinnieMLi #FamilyDrama #RoadTripNovel #LiteraryFiction #ComingofAge #ImmigrantNarrative #NetGalley #atriabooks

This is a sweet story of three Taiwanese siblings--Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex--whose family had attempted to go to the Grand Canyon on a road trip, but something unexpected stopped them. Now as adults, they return--immersed in memories as they grow closer to acknowledging their bond and stay true to each other!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

I felt as if I was with these 3 sibling traveling across country to California. The writing is descriptive and lyrical. I could taste the dust of the desert and my fear of heights at the Grand Canyon. A sad but enjoyable read.