Little Fires Everywhere: A Novel

“Little Fires Everywhere” was the tv series I planned to watch next after finishing “Big Little Lies”. But right then the lockdowns due to the pandemic started, I began writing in earnest and had to drop the pastime that used to be my favourite for many years. So, when the book deal for “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng landed in my mailbox, I downloaded it. The book turned out to be exactly my kind of read. I appreciate that the author didn’t cut short on fleshing out the characters. Some might call it ‘tell not show’, but I loved it. The characters – and what a diverse set of them there is in the book! – felt real, even though not always their motivations were crystal clear, which is absolutely fine with me. Words exist to explain things. And it is impossible to explain everything about a character and their past through dialogue in the scenes set in the present. I understand that not everyone likes such a style when some parts of characters’ lives are described as a narrative rather than some bits and pieces of it get thrown between the ‘action.’ Yet, it works for me, and thus, I enjoyed learning about the inhabitants of Shaker Heights, their dark and not-so-dark secrets, the dreams they pursued and the ones they decided to leave behind. The book draws a wide canvas of life in an upmarket suburb of Cleveland, Ohio – Shaker Heights – focusing on the Richardsons and the Warrens. The Richardsons are a perfect American family, with a big and beautiful house, two successful parents, and four teenage children. While the Warrens are a single mother Mia and her daughter Pearl. The Warrens become the tenants of the Richardson’s, renting from them a house Mrs Richardson has inherited from her parents. However, the relationship between the two families doesn’t stay within the tenant-owner limits. I found the dynamics between Mia and the Richardsons’ children especially fascinating. It might seem that the privileged and somewhat spoiled teenagers who live the American dream their parents have created for them would not even see a struggling artist who never stays in one place for long and has to supplement her income by doing low-paid jobs. It also might seem logical that the daughter of the nomadic mother would inevitably become an outsider in the uppity school of a planned community such as Shaker Heights. Yet, it doesn’t happen this way. On the contrary, the rich get drawn to the poor, and the ties that form between them become so strong that it’ll bring tremendous heartbreak to everyone when they are forced to cut them. At first, the plotline with the teenager crises, such as pining for a boy out of your league and being left alone at the party thrown when the parents are out of town, frustrated me. But then the whole picture came together, and this part clicked into place in the overall narrative. I didn’t feel that the author forced a certain point of view on the readers. All the characters in the book have their flaws, as well as their share of disappointment. To me, it was compelling that I couldn’t firmly take someone’s side. Mia, a nomadic artist, certainly followed her heart and creative dreams. Still, even though the Richardsons’ children were drawn to her due to the stark difference she presented with their own mother, was Mia’s choice of lifestyle beneficial for her daughter Pearl? As much as I can relate to Mia’s passion for art, I can’t wholeheartedly support the idea of sacrificing one’s child’s comfortable life because of it. True, Mia had other reasons for not staying in one place for long – her back story is exciting and, like everything else in the book, controversial. I didn’t feel that the author wanted the readers to condemn Elena Richardson, an ideal Shaker Heights resident, a wife, a mother – a working one at that – who has her life planned. After all, Elena has built a great life for herself and her family. There is no denying that. Only those who haven’t experienced real poverty can declare that a comfortable home, stable, higher-than-average family income, the ability to buy a car for your child’s sixteenth birthday, etc. are not real values. While the real ones are following your dream and staying true to your nature. Perhaps the perspective slightly shifts only if one has gone through a real financial struggle when buying food and paying utility bills become an insurmountable task. “Little Fires Everywhere” touches upon some controversial topics I found intriguing to explore. It also made me realise my position on some of them differs from the accepted by the mainstream. I recommend this book to those who don’t mind the gradual immersion in the story and appreciate delving deep into the characters’ backstories and motivations.

This is quite the story and once I started this morning, I couldn’t put it down. It’s not typically what I enjoy reading- lighter, fluffier novels that are more “Shaker” in nature with rules and right and wrong and few gray areas. This novel is all grey. It will make you question what’s fair and what is not. Celeste Ng does an AMAZING job with the characters and making you care about them even if you don’t love them. Everyone is sympathetic and unsympathetic at the same time. The timelines of the book are a little “all over the place” with a lot of foresight and revelation happening at the same time as the current plot and at times, this was a little irritating. But that said, it’s part of what contributes to the charm of this story. It’s sad and unfair and untidy in the way that life is and it’s enjoyable to read. I’m fixated on how I would rather have ended this story but I’m also satisfied with how it ended. This is my second Celeste Ng novel and I’m just as impressed with this as I was with the first one. This author excels at writing family dynamics and the complexities of friendship and the teenage years. This is majorly a book about motherhood and the author does an amazing job in exploring what motherhood is really about and the difficult dynamics between mothers and daughters. It is a book about loss and right and wrong and it was messy and tough and unfair and I loved it even though it’s not what I typically would read. Celeste Ng is now on my must read list.

5 Amazing Bright Shiny Stars! I would given it 100 Goodreads would let me. Little Fires Everywhere is a novel that far surpasses any other that I have ever read. I don't know how Celeste Ng did it. It is a brilliantly written novel with intricate, rich and wholly vivid characters whose lives are so fully intertwined you can't help but read on in bewildered awe of how Celeste Ng created these characters. My nerve endings were fully engaged on high alert from the first sentence. Shaker Heights, Ohio is an affluent town with rules and regulations like no other. Mrs. Richardson lives by them, having been raised by them and she has raised her four children (Lexie, Trip, Moody and Izzy) to abide by them as well. She rents a little apartment in Shaker Heights to Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl, who are less fortunate. Mia is a free spirited artist, who lives life to the fullest. These women have one thing in common and one thing only: they love their children immensely and they accept each other's as their own. Mia (or rather Ms. Ng) describes it beautifully: "To a parent, your child wasn't just a person, your child was a place, a kind of Narnia, a vast eternal place where the present you were living and the past you remembered and the future you longed for all existed at once. You could see it every time you looked at her; layered in her face was the baby she'd been and the child she'd become and the adult she would grow up to be and you saw them all simultaneously, like a 3-D image. It made your head spin. It was like a place you could take refuge, if you knew how to get in. And each time you left it, each time your child passed out of your sigh, you feared you might never be able to return to that place again." Neither live perfect lives, sometimes in fact they make grave mistakes, yet their love for their children never falters. These mothers relationships with each other, their family and everyone in town is threatened when a custody battle ensues between a friend of the Richardsons, Mrs. and Mr. McCullough, who are in the middle of adopting a Chinese American baby and a friend of Mia's, Bebe, who is the birth mother. This battle wrecks havoc on the town and causes incredible strife between the families. This novel is captivating and crazy compelling. These characters burn an indelible image onto your soul. The character of Izzy, Mrs. Richardson's daughter had me from the beginning (kind of like Hannah from Ms. Ng's Everything I Never Told You - which I also loved). Izzy has a strength and over came odds that most children in her position wouldn't. Her triumphs made my heart soar. Somehow Ms. Ng made me change my mind about some of the characters throughout the course of this novel. In the beginning, I felt one way about two of the characters and then by the end, I did a complete switcheroo, and my feelings about them FIERCE. Little Fires everywhere brought forth laughter and lots of tears. It is that kind of novel. I can't recommend it highly enough. It is captivating, compelling and full of heart and soul. Celeste Ng's ability to intertwine the characters and storylines was wondrous, brilliant ad beautiful. I loved every second of this book. It has now topped my list as my FAVORITE BOOK of ALL TIME. Little Fires Everywhere was a Traveling Sister Group Read and included Brenda, Norma, Jennifer, Holly, Melissa & Kendall. We all had a fabulous time reading this one together - the group discussions for this incredible read were amazing and I look forward to our next read together. Thank you to Edelweiss, Penguin Press and Celeste Ng for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Published on Goodreads, Edelweiss and Amazon on 9.17.17.

Couldn’t put it down & wish there was a sequel!!

This is a really seductive read. The novel opens at the end, and we learn that Isabelle (Izzy) Richardson has burned down the family home in the upmarket Shaker Heights area of Cleveland. Set in the 1990s when Bill Clinton is president, the story focuses on the Richardson family and their perfect, meticulously planned lives (much like Shaker Heights itself with its rules about what colour you can paint your home, and about not putting bins on the sidewalk). But even the best laid plans cannot avoid the disruptive influence of outsiders; Mia Warren, a photographic artist arrives with her daughter, Pearl, and, renting a duplex from the Richardsons, soon becomes close to the family. Further uncertainty is created in the community as a result of a controversial inter-racial adoption case which ends up in court. There are lots of layers and the story allows the author to explore attitudes to race, class differences, our attempts to control our lives and the relationships between mothers and children here. The characters were engaging, complex and sympathetically drawn. Even if we didn't like all of them equally, there is a sense that that author wants us to understand them and the choices they make. It's a beautifully written book, easy to read, and gripping, but also thought provoking, leaving an impression on the mind long after the last page has been turned. I will certainly be seeking out Celeste Ng's first novel on the strength of this, her second. Highly recommended.

Great book about life, womanhood, growing up, race, and great storytelling all thru the book

I read this book after hearing some interviews where hosts were impressed by her phrases throughout the book. Indeed it is beautifully written. I really enjoyed it although I already knew the story from tv series. I recommend!

Un romanzo che nella sua ''semplicità'' riesce a costruire dei personaggi praticamente a tutto tondo. Impossibile non empatizzare con ognuno di essi. Seppur la storia sia semplice e non abbia grandissimi colpi di scena, in realtà come il titolo suggerisce, ogni personaggio causerà dei ''piccoli incendi'' o appunto delle piccole cose che poi eventualmente ne scateneranno altre, fino a far congiungere tutto con il finale. Il libro anche se lungo, si legge in un attimo e non è per niente pesante. Forse le prime 100 pagine potrebbero sembrare un po' noiose o senza nessun grande scopo, ma a mio parere sono fatte apposta per farci conoscere bene i personaggi, la storia del posto, le due famiglie e di come il tutto prima o poi inizierà a mescolarsi assieme!