Author/activist Winnie M Li's perceptive third novel, What We Left Unsaid, centers three estranged Taiwanese American siblings, forced to reunite by their seriously ill mother: "Can't I see my children all at once?" Before arriving back in Irvine, Calif., however, Mom insists the trio must complete the family road trip, inexplicably aborted in 1991, to the Grand Canyon.
In the 31 years since, the Chu children have long left their Taiwanese immigrant parents' home. Bonnie is ensconced in the "blue-blood New England lifestyle, as the wife of Christopher Prescott, the one acceptable Asian blip in a family that is the very definition of WASP." Kevin is "just another Asian guy, a law-abiding, khaki-wearing citizen" with a wife, two kids, and a Wilmette, Ill., mortgage. Alex fled furthest, now living in London with her wife who is almost five months pregnant, working in communications for a domestic violence charity. "Why they never made it" to the iconic destination has never been thoroughly discussed. What happened then is deftly dovetailed piece by piece, interrupting the siblings' contemporary journey from Chicago to Irvine. All those miles together expose vulnerabilities, divulge secrets, and encourage essential healing.
Sexual violence haunted Li's first two titles, Dark Chapter and Complicit, and looms over Unsaid, as well. While this novel is comparatively lighter, Li actively inserts relevant capital-I Issues--belonging for Bonnie, emasculation for Kevin, America's perennial legacy of injustice for Alex--throughout. Still, Li's narrative spotlight never wavers from the importance of family. Despite decades of distance, strained bonds remain unbroken: "Chu's 4-EVA" indeed. --Terry Hong