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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

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng …more
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Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

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What Members Thought

Mar 29, 2018 Melania 🍒 rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5|5

11 likes · Like · see review

Aug 30, 2018 Nanci rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

So, this was THE book of the year?? I was waitlisted at my library for it two times. The first time, after waiting for almost 2 months, the book came in and I was out of town, so missed it. The second time, after waiting for more than 3 more months, I got it.

To say that I was excited to read it, is an understatement. Everyone I knew who read it, loved it! I had been waiting almost half a year to read it! The reviewers were all loving it! It was set in Shaker Heights, OH a place that's near and ...more

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May 14, 2019 Marcela rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

Little Fires Everywhere is the perfect title for this book, as it is about several different characters and the challenges they are facing —just like little fires everywhere. This book tells the story of an idyllic little town called Shaker Heights, which is a suburb outside of Cleveland. In Shaker Heights, the Richardsons are a prominent family and the picture perfect example of what this town is all about. Then, Mia and her teenage daughter, Pearl, move to Shaker Heights after years of constan Little Fires Everywhere is the perfect title for this book, as it is about several different characters and the challenges they are facing —just like little fires everywhere. This book tells the story of an idyllic little town called Shaker Heights, which is a suburb outside of Cleveland. In Shaker Heights, the Richardsons are a prominent family and the picture perfect example of what this town is all about. Then, Mia and her teenage daughter, Pearl, move to Shaker Heights after years of constantly moving from place to place with the goal of finally settling in one place where Pearl could finish her high school studies. Little Fires Everywhere is about how Mia’s and Pearl’s interactions with the Richardson Family affect all of the different characters and some events in this town.
Reading this book felt like following a storyline of a television show, rather than a conventional plot with a beginning, middle, and end. All of the characters are given a moment in the spotlight and the chapters were similar to episodes.
Overall, this book was entertaining and thought-provoking. The author touches on so many controversial topics and this is actually what I found the most interesting about Little Fires Everywhere. I think this book would be a perfect read for a book club, as some of the topics for discussion include parenting, abortion, life choices, and adoption. This book has so much to discuss!
These were my favorite quotes:
“Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way.”
“Parents, she thought, learned to survive touching their children less and less. As a baby Pearl had clung to her; she’d worn Pearl in a sling because whenever she’d set her down, Pearl would cry. There’d scarcely been a moment in the day when they had not been pressed together. As she got older, Pearl would still cling to her mother’s leg, then her waist, then her hand, as if there was something in her mother she needed to absorb through the skin. Even when she had her own bed, she would often crawl into Mia’s in the middle of the night and burrow under the old patchwork quilt, and in the morning they would wake up tangled, Mia’s arm pinned beneath Pearl’s head, or Pearl’s legs thrown across Mia’s belly. Now, as a teenager, Pearl’s caresses had become rare—a peck on the cheek, a one-armed, half-hearted hug—and all the more precious because of that. It was the way of things, Mia thought to herself, but how hard it was. The occasional embrace, a head leaned for just a moment on your shoulder, when what you really wanted more than anything was to press them to you and hold them so tight you fused together and could never be taken apart. It was like training yourself to live on the smell of an apple alone, when what you really wanted was to devour it, to sink your teeth into it and consume it, seeds, core, and all.” ...more

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Apr 15, 2019 Ray rated it liked it

Shelves: didn-t-like-it, i-quit, too-many-characters, unnecessary-love-relationship

I had 51 pages left, but when I tried to renew it, the librarian said it was on hold and she took it.

The book begins with whodunnit arson edition™ and I still don't know who's responsible. Oh well. Thank goodness I'm in a reading slump, I guess? ...more

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