The Untelling is Tayari Jones' second novel. It follows a woman named Ariadne (who goes by Aria), who experiences the trauma of losing both her father and her baby sister in a car crash when she was 10 years old. Years later, at the age of 25, she notices that the trauma not only affects her, but her mother and older sister too, so much so that her relationship with them is greatly affected, which is the central theme of the novel. 

Aria's older sister, Hermoine, was 15 at the time of the car crash, and left the family shortly afterward. She gets married to Mr. Phinazee, who was her father's best friend. Their relationship started while she was still a minor, which greatly bothers their mother, Eloise. She blames Hermoine for being "fast" instead of reprimanding Mr. Phinazee for preying on a teenager. The anger that Eloise exudes towards her daughters is something that came about after the crash. 

One of the other issues that was heavily tackled in the novel was the meaning of family and how it can look different from the norm. Initially, Aria has a nuclear family: a mother, father, and the two and a half kids. But, once her father and baby sister pass away, all there's left is her, her mother, and Hermoine. They stay together until Hermoine gets married and starts her own family, and when Aria moves out and begins her life. Aria starts feeling sick one day and decides that she is pregnant, and tells Dwayne. Dwayne decides to propose to her in order to give the baby a "proper" family. Later, when Aria goes to the doctor to see how far along she is, she finds out that

she's infertile.

Heartbroken, she keeps it from Dwayne for as long as possible, until she's forced to come clean. 

All in all, I loved this book. This book makes the last physical book I've read by Tayari Jones. She is such a phenomenal writer. I can't wait to see what she writes next.