Briana answers “What did everyone think about the ending?...”

Jenny asked this question about Little Fires Everywhere:

What did everyone think about the ending? (and also Trip x Pearl)

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[So, I had mixed feelings on the ending of the book. A part of me secretly felt that it would've been more satisfying if Mrs. Richardson had been the culprit all along...since they refer to her several times as having a spark that she constantly kept tamed, and Mia's picture for her was a bird escaping a cage, but with a feather left behind (potentially signifying a part of her still left in the safe, structured cage, that part of her that she can never reconcile with the spark). I also don't believe she would've handled that big of a shake-up in her life that easily (losing the house that she built her internal stability around), and simply move into the other house with a "we can make it work" attitude on the inside as well as the outside. At the very least there should have been more cracks in her facade. She's writing an article on city politics too, by the end, a topic which shies away from the "nice" things she's confined herself to writing about. One of her closest friends (head of the abortion clinic) stands up to her, a thought Mrs. Richardson never even considered before. I just don't believe that she doesn't crumble under all that stress put upon her so swiftly at the end.

I think while I'm fine with Mrs. Richardson never knowing the truth about Lexie's abortion, I wish when Izzy had left she'd had a "mirroring" moment with Mia, where she writes out painful truths to her other siblings (telling Trip what Lexie and Mrs. Richardson did to Pearl, criticizing Moody's cruelty to Pearl and tying that to Moody's (lack of) relationships with women in general, and calling out Lexie's shitty selfish behavior). Her siblings may not ultimately accept the truths...as Izzy doesn't have the experience nor refinement that Mia's gained in such things over the years, but I think that would've improved the ending dramatically. It would also do a better job of showing how Izzy following in Mia's path also means telling the truth and running away from the consequences.

I think Pearl should've left a note for Trip (or addressing the fact that she doesn't), and Trip should've had a scene where he reacted internally to Pearl just being...gone. We also should've seen scenes with Trip much earlier in the book when he's with other girls so that we can know what, if anything, has really changed in this latest relationship.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book overall and loved the pondering, introspective tone it had throughout its entirety, but it needed a better payoff for using THAT tone as opposed to any other. (hide spoiler)]

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Little Fires Everywhere

by Celeste Ng (Goodreads Author)

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