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Little Fires Everywhere
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Little Fires Everywhere/Ng - 3 stars
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It's always disappointing when an author's second book is not as good as the first. Better to start off not quite as good and improve, I suppose.
Karin wrote: "It's always disappointing when an author's second book is not as good as the first. Better to start off not quite as good and improve, I suppose."I have to agree. I feel like Ng tried to stay with her target market from book #1, but in an odd way, she just wrote a less good rendition of her first book. This book didn't feel fresh to me.
Gosh, this one keeps going on and off my TBR. If you, Anita, Karin, and Susie did not feel this was worthy, then maybe that should be the final clue to keep it off forever. As we keep saying life is too short. Beautifully written review Anita.
Amy wrote: "Gosh, this one keeps going on and off my TBR. If you, Anita, Karin, and Susie did not feel this was worthy, then maybe that should be the final clue to keep it off forever. As we keep saying life i..."FYI - I didn't read it, but was merely pointing out how disappointing it is when an author's second book doesn't live up to the first. :)
Anita, you have echoed my thoughts completely. It just tried way too hard, and although I’ve only read one Picoult I agree with the comparison. It lacked the sophistication I had hoped for. It is in the chick lit beach read category for me.
Eek, I've kept this on my TBR despite lackluster reviews- with with you and Susie agreeing it makes me feel like this would be 3 stars for me too....
The Richardson family lives a seemingly perfect life in buttoned up Shaker Heights. The father is an attorney and the mother, a journalist. Together they have two sons and two daughters. They lease a small rental property to a single mother, Mia, a photographer, and her daughter, Pearl. The book's plotting is oddly convoluted. The main story is about the interactions between these two disparate families, but there's an entire subplot about an Asian baby, left on the doorstep of a fire station, and a tremendous custody battle that ensues. These two plots don't really have much to do with one another and the convergence just felt forced to me.
Ng is good at developing characters and writes clearly and well, but there's a kind of lack of three- dimensionality to them. When they feel distraught, I, as a reader, want to feel that pain, and I didn't. It's a little like watching a made for tv movie . . .pass the popcorn, but I really don't care.
In addition, Ng has woven a moral dilemma a la Jodi Picoult into this book . . .what does it mean to be a mother? Is a mother more of a biological construct, or does it matter more who has actually been doing the parenting? Is it important that a baby be raised with a strong cultural identity, or is love and financial security enough? Ng tries really hard to show both sides of these issues, but it felt strained to me. Picoult does this better.
Finally, the way all the characters interconnected here seemed a bit unbelievable, especially Pearl's relationships with each of the Richardson's children.
All in all, there were times I felt engaged by the book and times where it felt strained and a bit unbelievable. There just were not the moments of high emotion that you'd expect based on what was happening.