Little Fires Everywhere
Author: Celeste Ng
Published by: Abacus
Pages: 388
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Abacus
Pages: 388
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
In the placid, progressive suburb of Shaker Heights everything is meticulously planned, from the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson.
Mia Warren, an enigmatic artist and single mother, arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluri8ng mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a disregard for the rules that threaten to upend this carefully ordered community.
When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs Richardson on opposing sides. Mrs Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia’s.
Mia Warren, an enigmatic artist and single mother, arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluri8ng mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a disregard for the rules that threaten to upend this carefully ordered community.
When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs Richardson on opposing sides. Mrs Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia’s.
My thoughts
Little Fires Everywhere is the second novel from Celeste Ng. It is my first read by the author, but I’m pretty certain it won’t be my last. I could easily have read this book in just one or two sittings, but lately life got in the way. That’s why it’s taken me quite a while to post my review so apologies for the delay.
Everything in Shaker Heights is planned and there are strict rules that residents must follow. When Mia Warren and her fifteen-year-old daughter, Pearl rent a home from the Richardsons, a prominent and influential Shaker Heights family – their lives will become intertwined in ways they never could have imagined. As Mia and Pearl settle into their new home, they quickly become aware of the rules. Houses must only be painted certain colours (to maintain aesthetic harmony), rubbish should never be left out in front of the house, lawns must always be cut promptly and so on. The city motto really says it all:
“Most communities just happen; the best are planned”
This book is filled with many scenarios with many questions and no perfect answers. Every situation feels tense and mysterious like various little piles of kindling that could easily ignite the fire at any moment. After a while, with the various situations between characters, it really feels like the flames are building and building. Eventually we are left with a series of fires ready to burn everything to the ground.
Little Fires Everywhere tells the story of two opposing families – the all-American dream versus a more bohemian and unconventional lifestyle. The book reads as a slow-moving character portrait filled with secrets, complex family dynamics and small-town politics. It's a deep psychological mystery about the intensity of teenage love, the power of motherhood and the danger of striving for perfection.
I loved the development of the characters which was fantastic. With so many characters and fewer than four hundred pages, it takes a great deal of skill to bring them all to life effectively. There were several different subplots within the story and the characters all felt very real. I found Izzy and Moody particularly interesting in terms of character development and how radically their young lives were effected. Every character seemed to go through a deeply emotional journey in this story, and the secret thoughts, feelings and emotions were handled with such care by the author.
The pacing was perfect, and I enjoyed seeing the multiple threads of the story intertwine until each and every character was implicated in the novel’s conclusion. My one and only tiny grumble would be that I felt the plot could have been even darker.
This is a compelling novel and total page-turner. A pleasure to read, Little Fires Everywhere gripped and entertained me from start to finish.
Overall reaction:
Little Fires Everywhere is the second novel from Celeste Ng. It is my first read by the author, but I’m pretty certain it won’t be my last. I could easily have read this book in just one or two sittings, but lately life got in the way. That’s why it’s taken me quite a while to post my review so apologies for the delay.
Everything in Shaker Heights is planned and there are strict rules that residents must follow. When Mia Warren and her fifteen-year-old daughter, Pearl rent a home from the Richardsons, a prominent and influential Shaker Heights family – their lives will become intertwined in ways they never could have imagined. As Mia and Pearl settle into their new home, they quickly become aware of the rules. Houses must only be painted certain colours (to maintain aesthetic harmony), rubbish should never be left out in front of the house, lawns must always be cut promptly and so on. The city motto really says it all:
“Most communities just happen; the best are planned”
This book is filled with many scenarios with many questions and no perfect answers. Every situation feels tense and mysterious like various little piles of kindling that could easily ignite the fire at any moment. After a while, with the various situations between characters, it really feels like the flames are building and building. Eventually we are left with a series of fires ready to burn everything to the ground.
Little Fires Everywhere tells the story of two opposing families – the all-American dream versus a more bohemian and unconventional lifestyle. The book reads as a slow-moving character portrait filled with secrets, complex family dynamics and small-town politics. It's a deep psychological mystery about the intensity of teenage love, the power of motherhood and the danger of striving for perfection.
I loved the development of the characters which was fantastic. With so many characters and fewer than four hundred pages, it takes a great deal of skill to bring them all to life effectively. There were several different subplots within the story and the characters all felt very real. I found Izzy and Moody particularly interesting in terms of character development and how radically their young lives were effected. Every character seemed to go through a deeply emotional journey in this story, and the secret thoughts, feelings and emotions were handled with such care by the author.
The pacing was perfect, and I enjoyed seeing the multiple threads of the story intertwine until each and every character was implicated in the novel’s conclusion. My one and only tiny grumble would be that I felt the plot could have been even darker.
This is a compelling novel and total page-turner. A pleasure to read, Little Fires Everywhere gripped and entertained me from start to finish.
Overall reaction:
