Little Fires Everywhere

by Celeste Ng

she wore plenty of other rings: a big amethyst on her first finger, one made from a silver spoon handle on her pinkie,

silver spoon in crazy

For Pearl and her mother to have had to share a room—Moody almost could not believe that people could be so poor.

At that moment Moody had a sudden clear understanding of what had already happened that morning: his life had been divided into a before and an after, and he would always be comparing the two.

subtle implications and subtexts tended to bounce off the fine mesh of her brain.

I don’t mind being a secret,” she said, and kissed him.

STAND UP

they talked in a patois of inside jokes

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.

You look at the toy aisle—most dolls are blond with blue eyes. I mean, that’s just the default.”

🤨

“Honestly, I think this is a tremendous thing for Mirabelle. She’ll be raised in a home that truly doesn’t see race. That doesn’t care, not one infinitesimal bit, what she looks like. What could be better than that? Sometimes I think,” she said fiercely, “that we’d all be better off that way. Maybe at birth everyone should be given to a family of another race to be raised. Maybe that would solve racism once and for all.”

white ppl

She thought of Mia’s house, glowing golden and warm.