Jackie’s answer to “What did everyone think about the ending? (and also Trip x Pearl)” > Likes and Comments
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If you're looking for a novel that has fully rendered characters and plots and will stay with you forever, read "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara. The BEST book I have ever read, and I haven't found anything else yet that even comes close.
I have read it and I loved it too! Beautiful book.
Interesting....A Little Life is one of my least favorite books I've ever read. My book club selected it to read a few years ago, and no one enjoyed it. I was excited that our club had finally selected a book written by an author who is a POC, so I'm not sorry to have read it. For my personal taste though, I just found it extremely boring & repetitive. However, based on its GR rating, I'm in the minority for sure. To each his own!
I also thought this book was strangely paced! The first few chapters draggeddddd to the point I almost gave up, the middle picked up and got interesting, but then the last half just felt so rushed and the characters Ng spent SO DAMN LONG developing in the beginning chapters just acted in ways that didn't seem like themselves. Very conflicted about this book. I couldn't believe I was getting to the end, I expected about 100 more pages.
I appreciate this review. I would just note that Mirabelle McCullough/May Ling Chow could be considered to have been abused. She was in very poor health when Bebe left her at the firehouse, and was left outside in the wintry cold. I am not necessarily blaming Bebe, I certainly feel compassion for her, but the judge's decision didn't seem so unrealistic to me. I was surprised by it, but it was a complicated situation.
In the book Mrs. McCullough says "that coming from China, the odds of the baby's family trying to regain custody are almost nil." Maybe not trying to replace the child but trying to avoid losing a child again.
I think you brought up some issues that I had with the book. I feel that towards the final third of the book, Celeste Ng showed her hand as to what she truly felt about certain types of families in the Shaker Heights community in which she grew up. I agree with your assessment that the adoptive parents went through immense pain and the novel just kind of brushed this aside and then went and made them come off as superficial. The Mrs. Richardson character came off as a little too mustache-twirly villain towards the end and viewing Mia as this Mary Poppins-esque heroine who taught everyone a little more about themselves was a little dismissive of some of the bad things she did. I don't mind open endings and loved the writing and the story pulled me in, just the neutral and non-judgmental tone the book struck through the first 2/3 sort of fell way.
My understanding was that Mrs. Richardson searches forever for Izzy because Izzy.... dies. Maybe that's too grim of a reading but I did not think Izzy would be able to survive on her own.
I just finished and these are my thoughts almost EXACTLY. Really liked the book but was disappointed with the lack of closure, hopefully the Hulu miniseries provides more
Not sure where the idea Izzy dies comes from. I believe she set out to find the Warrens and thats all we know.
my comment is kinda of late and might be irrelevant to those in the thread but after just reading this book in quarantine i think the death of Izzy would come from the fact that Mrs. Richardson being a journalist that can dig up the truth on anyone with her money and power should not have been able to be outsmarted by a child on foot with less than half the resources and experience.
otherwise not being able to find her daughter sounds unrealistic. rent? credit cards? jobs?
Mia hardly "stole" Pearl. After all she's the one carrying and delivering and taking on all the risks and side effects of pregnancy and childbirth and post-partum recovery so she has every right to take Pearl if she wants. She didn't take their money when she decided to keep Pearl so it's not like she owed them anything. Sorry but she has more right to the child than a sperm donor. I think that yours is a notion that has a bit of internalized misogyny in it.
I don’t think I have internalized misogyny.
I do think however that I have an internalized understanding of biology. Without a “sperm donor” there simply is no life. However large or small you deem the contribution is immaterial. And forgive me, but your comments seem immature. As a mother, I know very well what a woman goes through when carrying and delivering a child. That does not however give a woman more “right” to a child, or more say than the father. What about relationships with two mothers? What about relationships with two fathers? Who has more right to the child then?
I know that my children belong as much to their father as they do to me -and that amount is infinitesimal. They, just as you and I, belong to themselves. It isn’t my place or anyone else’s to take away a parent, to remove one of the two people responsible for their being. Hopefully, there will be at least two guides for each child. If the child is lucky, there will have two parents, a few grandparents, some aunts & uncles, siblings, cousins, friends, teachers, etc. who positively influence them. Having a child is, among many things, a responsibility. I believe you owe your child a safe and love-filled upbringing, respect, and a commitment to always do your best to create an independent adult human who makes the world a better place.
I have never thought of my children as belonging TO me. I don’t own them. You (if you’re a parent) don’t own your children. Don’t believe me? Do you belong to your mother or father? Of course not. Any parent who feels they own their children is misguided, and the child will ultimately pay the price for this possessive way of thinking. My children have come THROUGH me. Their father thinks the same way. They don’t belong to us. We’re honored to play a central role in their growth and development. We consider it our most important responsibility. In the end, they belong to themselves. But while they are underage we should give to our children, not take away from them. No one, not even a birth mother has that right. Don't confuse the ability to take a child away, with the right to do it.
Could not have worded it better, all my thoughts as well and yes, she did steal Pearl. She had a contract, she broke it. I don't know how surrogate mothers ever give up "their" babies since I felt hardwired and not as if I had a choice when I was pregnant (and that's with my own kids). Felt like the author just felt: oh, dinner's ready, time to stop, byyyyee
wait what? I thought Mrs Richardson got clarity when she saw the pink abortion slip in Lexie's handwriting. . . surely she noticed that Brian and Lexie broke up right around this time.
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Chad
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Apr 12, 2018 07:28AM
If you're looking for a novel that has fully rendered characters and plots and will stay with you forever, read "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara. The BEST book I have ever read, and I haven't found anything else yet that even comes close.
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I have read it and I loved it too! Beautiful book.
Interesting....A Little Life is one of my least favorite books I've ever read. My book club selected it to read a few years ago, and no one enjoyed it. I was excited that our club had finally selected a book written by an author who is a POC, so I'm not sorry to have read it. For my personal taste though, I just found it extremely boring & repetitive. However, based on its GR rating, I'm in the minority for sure. To each his own!
I also thought this book was strangely paced! The first few chapters draggeddddd to the point I almost gave up, the middle picked up and got interesting, but then the last half just felt so rushed and the characters Ng spent SO DAMN LONG developing in the beginning chapters just acted in ways that didn't seem like themselves. Very conflicted about this book. I couldn't believe I was getting to the end, I expected about 100 more pages.
I appreciate this review. I would just note that Mirabelle McCullough/May Ling Chow could be considered to have been abused. She was in very poor health when Bebe left her at the firehouse, and was left outside in the wintry cold. I am not necessarily blaming Bebe, I certainly feel compassion for her, but the judge's decision didn't seem so unrealistic to me. I was surprised by it, but it was a complicated situation.
In the book Mrs. McCullough says "that coming from China, the odds of the baby's family trying to regain custody are almost nil." Maybe not trying to replace the child but trying to avoid losing a child again.
I think you brought up some issues that I had with the book. I feel that towards the final third of the book, Celeste Ng showed her hand as to what she truly felt about certain types of families in the Shaker Heights community in which she grew up. I agree with your assessment that the adoptive parents went through immense pain and the novel just kind of brushed this aside and then went and made them come off as superficial. The Mrs. Richardson character came off as a little too mustache-twirly villain towards the end and viewing Mia as this Mary Poppins-esque heroine who taught everyone a little more about themselves was a little dismissive of some of the bad things she did. I don't mind open endings and loved the writing and the story pulled me in, just the neutral and non-judgmental tone the book struck through the first 2/3 sort of fell way.
My understanding was that Mrs. Richardson searches forever for Izzy because Izzy.... dies. Maybe that's too grim of a reading but I did not think Izzy would be able to survive on her own.
I just finished and these are my thoughts almost EXACTLY. Really liked the book but was disappointed with the lack of closure, hopefully the Hulu miniseries provides more
Not sure where the idea Izzy dies comes from. I believe she set out to find the Warrens and thats all we know.
my comment is kinda of late and might be irrelevant to those in the thread but after just reading this book in quarantine i think the death of Izzy would come from the fact that Mrs. Richardson being a journalist that can dig up the truth on anyone with her money and power should not have been able to be outsmarted by a child on foot with less than half the resources and experience. otherwise not being able to find her daughter sounds unrealistic. rent? credit cards? jobs?
Mia hardly "stole" Pearl. After all she's the one carrying and delivering and taking on all the risks and side effects of pregnancy and childbirth and post-partum recovery so she has every right to take Pearl if she wants. She didn't take their money when she decided to keep Pearl so it's not like she owed them anything. Sorry but she has more right to the child than a sperm donor. I think that yours is a notion that has a bit of internalized misogyny in it.
I don’t think I have internalized misogyny. I do think however that I have an internalized understanding of biology. Without a “sperm donor” there simply is no life. However large or small you deem the contribution is immaterial. And forgive me, but your comments seem immature. As a mother, I know very well what a woman goes through when carrying and delivering a child. That does not however give a woman more “right” to a child, or more say than the father. What about relationships with two mothers? What about relationships with two fathers? Who has more right to the child then?
I know that my children belong as much to their father as they do to me -and that amount is infinitesimal. They, just as you and I, belong to themselves. It isn’t my place or anyone else’s to take away a parent, to remove one of the two people responsible for their being. Hopefully, there will be at least two guides for each child. If the child is lucky, there will have two parents, a few grandparents, some aunts & uncles, siblings, cousins, friends, teachers, etc. who positively influence them. Having a child is, among many things, a responsibility. I believe you owe your child a safe and love-filled upbringing, respect, and a commitment to always do your best to create an independent adult human who makes the world a better place.
I have never thought of my children as belonging TO me. I don’t own them. You (if you’re a parent) don’t own your children. Don’t believe me? Do you belong to your mother or father? Of course not. Any parent who feels they own their children is misguided, and the child will ultimately pay the price for this possessive way of thinking. My children have come THROUGH me. Their father thinks the same way. They don’t belong to us. We’re honored to play a central role in their growth and development. We consider it our most important responsibility. In the end, they belong to themselves. But while they are underage we should give to our children, not take away from them. No one, not even a birth mother has that right. Don't confuse the ability to take a child away, with the right to do it.
Could not have worded it better, all my thoughts as well and yes, she did steal Pearl. She had a contract, she broke it. I don't know how surrogate mothers ever give up "their" babies since I felt hardwired and not as if I had a choice when I was pregnant (and that's with my own kids). Felt like the author just felt: oh, dinner's ready, time to stop, byyyyee
wait what? I thought Mrs Richardson got clarity when she saw the pink abortion slip in Lexie's handwriting. . . surely she noticed that Brian and Lexie broke up right around this time.
