All Those Things We Never Said (UK Edition)

The book brings out the troubled relations between a father and daughter.The characterisation is very humane and moving.In short an interesting novel with twist and turns.

Not bad but not good, also. I know this author is well-liked in France; however I couldn’t wrap my mind around this novel. It isn’t science fiction but it has elements in it from science fiction, and from recent history, and from reality. Now, this combination could prove to be a success, maybe from a different pen, but this one’s credibility became far out for me, especially the plot twist at the end.In the beginning, the story started out all right, with the main character Julia, her boyfriend, her best friend, and her impasse with her father. Later, however, the father came back from the dead in some kind of an android form, yet, looking exactly like Julia’s father to fool everyone and talk, walk, reason, and feel emotions like a real person. This was a bit too much for me, only because just about everything else in the story was real and explainable. Still, I kept on reading, not expecting the concoction that came after.In the story, Julia Walsh is about to marry Adam, but couple of days before her wedding, she receives word that her estranged father Anthony Walsh has died and the funeral is set to be on her wedding day. With the wedding postponed, she attends the funeral instead. Soon afterward, a large crate is delivered to her apartment and from in it emerges the replica of her dead father android who is battery operated. The rest of the story concentrates on the father and daughter arguing out, seeing more deeply into and getting to know each other. This Anthony Walsh tells his daughter that he was a shareholder in a high-tech company and his memory banks are installed in his android form; however, as a machine, his lifespan is limited to six days.While doing that, the two delve into Julia’s past via a trip to Germany where Julia’s true love was and where she had met and fell in love with a German journalist from East Germany by the name of Thomas just around when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.As to the characters, The way the main character handles her boyfriend, her long-ago lover, and her father didn’t endear her to me. Frankly Julia’s only working and believable relationship is probably with her best friend, a gay man by the name of Stanley. Even from him, she kept things and even lied to him. I didn’t like the father either, in real or android form. I thought both father and daughter were selfish, brash, and arrogant. Also, what I never understood was how did this father who neglected and misunderstood the daughter to such a degree could know that Adam was not the love of her life, but he had to maneuver her to finding Thomas again.While I read this novel, as Julia thought Thomas was killed in Afghanistan, I wondered if he would end up being an undead android like the father since the father was pulling all the ropes to steer Julia away from poor Adam, but it seems, Julia’s information was faulty, and Thomas ended up alive but with a name change. Funny, I thought, one important character in this protagonist’s life ended up becoming an android and the other important one went through a name change.More than anything, at its beginning, the novel promised to its readers to focus on the relationship through soul-searching and those things the father and daughter were meant to come to terms with. The book, in my opinion, hasn’t lived up to that promise. Still, at the end, there were many things left unsaid. On the plus side, the action inside the plot moves well and fast enough.

After reading a few books that were rather taxing, I decided to choose my next read from the contemporary romance genre. I hoped it would be easy to read and ultimately satisfying. And I was not disappointed.But I have to admit, I very nearly gave up on the book.The first chapter was reminiscent of Pretty Woman and Sex and the City, and upon finishing the chapter I had a moment of self-doubt. Could I really continue to read something so light-hearted and enjoy it after taking a break from the genre for such a long time? But not being one to give up so easily, I continued to read.In chapter 4 the story takes an unbelievable turn, and felt quite out of place in this kind of book. Suspension of disbelief was most definitely required. Again, I nearly gave up. The book now seemed quite silly, and I didn't know what to expect. I was a little thrown off course.However, I persevered, hopeful the story would lead me away from the shallows and into the depths of something more heart-warming, with the expected twists and turns along the way. I had to wait until chapter 10 to get my wish. This proved to be the turning point in the book, and from then on I was pulled in.This book explores the what if? of love. Something many of us may have thought about but never dared to act upon. And what lengths would a father go to to make amends with his daughter?A love story that presses all the right buttons. Eventually.

SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD:This was a strange read, a book I almost put down several chapters in, something I rarely do. But once the story got out of the Lifetime Movie cadence of the early chapters, getting us into the protagonist's, Julia's, earlier life, the historical aspect of a young person being present at the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the love story connected to that era, were engrossing. However...The entire narrative is built on a science-fiction device that asks the reader to be as immediately embracing of an absurd notion as Julia is: her dead father comes back to her—in what we're asked to believe is completely believable AI/robot form... which is NOT believable—to say all the things he never said (hence, the title). Once you hitch a ride on that plot device, you're on the trip with Julia and Dad, retracing steps and replaying the roles of petulant daughter moping and tantrumming at every turn, and overreaching father filling in blanks and hoping for forgiveness. Were this a trip with two living human beings—which a reader can get easily lured into feeling—it might work more successfully. Asking us to go on this physical and emotional journey with a fraught, foot-stamping woman and a paternal robot who NO ONE seems to suspect is a robot, is truly absurd.But as you go along, the cat-and-mouse story of Julia tracking down her long-ago, long-lost, one-true love with the help of her "magical" father holds your attention. Those chapters (one you put aside the AI foolishness) are at least historically and emotionally engaging. Less so are the characters back home: Adam, the rejected fiancé who offers his last tirade in almost-cartoonish dialogue from a bad romance novel, and Stanley, the requisite gay friend who embodies pretty much every cliche that goes along with that assignation... but at least he was likable, Stanley.There's a twist at the end that leaves the reader to decide if the science fiction trope is simply continuing beyond the original framework positing by Julia's father, or if the entire device was a scheme... a "Bobby in the shower waking from a dream" concept. To be honest, I didn't really care at that point, but was annoyed that I was being asked to.Bottom line: if you enjoy Marc Levy and have familiarity with his work (I did not), if you can put aside desire for reality-based characters or plot twists that actually make sense or are remotely believable, you may find the emotional aspects of this book moving... some of them are, particularly the dialogue related to parenting and the love of parents for their children. But ultimately I found the science fiction device to be too much of an "ask" in this genre of book and, frankly, narratively manipulative. If you approach it as science fiction (at least until the final twist), it may be a more satisfying read.

Wow! This is my 2nd novel by Marc Levy and it is just as good as the first one I read, P.S. Paris. He has a knack for romance. Julia is engaged to marry Adam, but there is no zip in their relationship although she doesn’t admit this even to her best friend, Stanley. She comes home to her apartment to find a surprise. Her father, Anthony, whom she has not had any contact with for 20 years awaits her. He wants to make up for his absence from her life by showing her what she is missing. He takes her on a whirlwind trip to Montreal where she discovers a photo sketch of her lost love, Thomas, who she thinks died in Afghanistan. Her father watches her space as she sees the sketch and stands transfixed for 15 minutes. He asks her if she is sure she loves Adam. Of course, she is testy and says how would he know how she feels. He shrugs his shoulders and says okay. He tells her that Thomas didn’t die. He gives her a letter written by Thomas as he recovered from the almost deadly wounds he received in Afghanistan. Her father didn’t think a boy from East German was an appropriate man for his daughter so he had shown up, punched Thomas in the jaw, and grabbed his daughter and made her go back to New York. She never forgave him. So, now he takes her back to Berlin to see if Thomas is there and to see if the connection still exists. This is a terrific story of al father’s love and the difficult relationships that can exist between children and their parents. It is a love story, a story of acceptance, and a story of love. It is a very different approach to a romance and not a typical one. I loved every minute of it. I listened mostly on audible and the narrator, Amy McFadden, is a good selection for the characters. Marc Levy is a wonderful author but the translator, Chris Murray, is to be commended. He does a wonderful job of capturing the nuances.

I think this author is becoming one of my favorites. This book is a story of love and parenthood, with quite a few twists and turns. It could only have been written by someone who is himself a pattern. It is filled with wisdom and emotion. It is also about friendship.