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Little Fires Everywhere

Celeste Ng

Start date: May 1, 2018

Finish date: May 29, 2018

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: May Bonus Read- Mother's Day

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Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

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What Members Thought

Mar 08, 2018 Suzy rated it really liked it

Shelves: secrets, family-dynamics, coming-of-age

I finished this book a while ago and have had a hard time figuring out what to say. I will start with “it was a page-turner!”. I felt like I raced through the book, heart pounding, to find out what happened to everyone.

This is a story of families, especially mothers and children, maternity and parenting. It takes place in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a planned community. And not the modern-era gated community those words might conjure, but one that was built on a vision of the perfect community back i I finished this book a while ago and have had a hard time figuring out what to say. I will start with “it was a page-turner!”. I felt like I raced through the book, heart pounding, to find out what happened to everyone.

This is a story of families, especially mothers and children, maternity and parenting. It takes place in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a planned community. And not the modern-era gated community those words might conjure, but one that was built on a vision of the perfect community back in the early 1900’s.

This is also a story of a clash of beliefs about the right way to live. Mrs. Richardson lives with her four children and husband as have generations of her family who were original “settlers” in Shaker Heights. She has bought the white, upper middle-class way of Shaker Heights lock, stock and barrel. They live in the perfect house, she married the perfect man (a lawyer), she does everything to perfection, including in her career as a reporter for a community newspaper, and her children (mainly) reflect her values and dreams for them. At least that's how she sees things.

One of her most treasured principles is helping those in need. She owns a duplex rental property and decides to rent it to a single mom, Mia, and daughter, Pearl, who clearly need her help. Little does she know the chain of events that this decision will set off. Mia is an artist/photographer and she and Pearl have been on the move their entire lives, never staying anywhere more than a few months. They don’t have much but somehow make things work.

The lives of the Richardsons and Mia and Pearl become intertwined in wonderful and in devastating ways. Mrs. Richardson can’t believe how Mia and Pearl live and finds more ways to help, until the “help” doesn’t have the effect Mrs. Richardson wants. Therein lies the clash.

In the very first pages, we meet most everyone who populates this book as the Richardsons are standing by the curb watching their house burn to the ground. The story is then told from the beginning of what led up to this event. This device hooked me, but when all was said and done, I felt a little manipulated into racing through the book to find out what happened! I have to say that I loved this book while reading it, but in retrospect, it feels a little contrived. Hence the 4 instead of 5 stars.

I learned recently that Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington have plans to make this into a tv series. If done well like Big Little Lies, I’m on board! ...more

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Feb 28, 2018 Randy A. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I at first LOVED this book. Ultimately, I'm giving it a 3.5, rounding up to 4. It was insanely readable (hard to put down - to a sleep deprivation fault) - but I thought it had a number of flaws to plot and character development. I'll also give what is probably an unpopular opinion -- The book would have been better with fewer "little fires." I would have liked to see the characters and conflicts without the Mirabelle plot - it was the least well developed and had the most believability problems ...more

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Feb 28, 2022 Hulttio rated it liked it · review of another edition

Little Fires Everywhere is a clever novel that packs quite an emotional punch for the reader. It addresses themes of family, belonging, ambition, parenthood (especially motherhood), race, gender, etc. – it is a pretty ambitious novel. The novel starts with its end in a way, though both the beginning of the novel and its end are quite different. This is not a simple flashback story, since Ng likes to play fast and loose with the sense of time in the narrative. Although the plot of the novel was e Little Fires Everywhere is a clever novel that packs quite an emotional punch for the reader. It addresses themes of family, belonging, ambition, parenthood (especially motherhood), race, gender, etc. – it is a pretty ambitious novel. The novel starts with its end in a way, though both the beginning of the novel and its end are quite different. This is not a simple flashback story, since Ng likes to play fast and loose with the sense of time in the narrative. Although the plot of the novel was engaging and mysterious, egging the reader on, the characterization and narrative elements didn’t impact me as much. One of the things I struggled with was Ng’s use of flashbacks inserted into ‘relevant’ parts of the story; it felt abrupt, and like there was more telling than showing. It also divested the reader from the present-day narrative, which felt jarring at times.

The core of the novel is a comparative study of two families, but there are really four families in this novel. Since there are so many characters, it is difficult for Ng to give as much attention to each as they deserve. The Richardsons, who are the stereotypical Shaker Heights family, have four kids, and then there’s the enigmatic Warrens—Mia and Pearl—who somehow manage to impact everyone who comes into contact with them in different ways. As the backdrop we have the McCulloughs and Bebe Chow, who also end up tying together with everyone else in the novel. It’s fairly complex, and it’s no small feat to keep all of these intertwined stories consistent and engaging. However, when you have this many characters, it’s hard to feel like any one of them truly lived up to their potential. We see glimpses of Izzy, the youngest Richardson, and glimpses of Pearl enjoying her new Shaker Heights life, but this is not a story about the characters so much as about the characters as vehicles for the story’s themes.

The Warrens and Richardsons represent two different dynamics—do you pursue your ambitions, bending the rules and social conventions, or do you follow the rules and societal expectations towards guaranteed success? What would make you happier? Do you have the right to reinvent yourself, or must your past always contend with you, no matter how far away you get from it? I found myself identifying with both aspects, and one of the strong points of this is how Ng makes you sympathetic to nearly everyone in this story, with how deftly she presents each of their perspectives. What I struggled to care about was the theme of motherhood—admittedly, I’m not a person who is fond of kids or ever desired being a parent, but I can see how this would resonate with mothers and those who wish to be one. While morally complex, the case with May Ling/Mirabelle was not the highlight of the story for me, although I did enjoy how it gave Ng an opportunity to present different arguments about race and upbringing that reflect the year this book is set in.

Despite some of these minor setbacks, Little Fires Everywhere is an extremely gripping book—I found myself continuing to read on long after I had intended to stop, and from the start it felt like a breath of fresh air every time I turned the page. This is primarily a story about ideas, not merely the plot or the characters, so while the ‘mystery’ of what happened and why it happened represent the superficial aspects of the book, this novel really shines in its themes and representation of a very specific type of community and their reaction to outliers and those who cannot or do not conform. The ending is a bit cheesy with certain symbolic elements feeling a bit over the top, but overall it felt satisfying. I definitely recommend checking this out, and I’m very curious about the TV series adaptation now. ...more

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May 15, 2020 Nikki rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, racial-ethnic-diversity

That ending was.... not good. Real review to come once I watch the Hulu series.

**EDIT 05/30/20**

You can find more of my reviews here at my blog: Take Me Away...

*NEEDS TO BE ADDED TO AMAZON*

I originally skipped this because it was an adult book and I’ve mostly reviewed ONLY YA books. But then the show came out and all my friends, (bloggers and non-readers alike) were looking at the show and reading the book. And I guess you can say I had to see what it was about.

I won’t go into a recap since thi ...more

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