Little Fires Everywhere

3.5/5 stars

There were moments when I thought this book was absolutely phenomenal. This is definitely a book that creates a lot of intriguing and debatable discussion on ethics, race, and motherhood. It really paints a picture that life and situations aren't strictly black-and-white but a very, very messy shade of gray.

However, the writing and the constant time jumps got annoying to me after while and I found myself kinda just ready for everything to wrap up.

Meh. I felt compelled to finish it, but never thought it broke the surface, unlike the searing analysis of class and privilege she clearly intended it to be. The 90s setting really only served to make plot points convenient. I liked the jumping around in character perspectives but felt like overall I was told/led too much for this book to be that thought provoking.

I'm still feeling pretty mixed about Little Fires Everywhere as I write this review. I enjoyed it, definitely so that means it gets 4 stars. I have a sort of love for slow moving books about family dynamics so that checked a lot of boxes for me.

There are some emotional situations in this book that really get you thinking and as a woman who hopes to adopt in the future, they really hit home. But I don't necessarily side with the adopters or the birth mothers in this book. This book shows a true emotional account about how these things are rarely black and white and I really appreciate it.

My one upset from this book? I wish we got some more of Izzy right at the end. But I do understand the emotional power of leaving the book with Mrs. Richardson and her thoughts about Izzy instead.

I went into this book with zero knowledge about the plot, yet it's been on my list for ages. I loved Ng's first novel, Everything I Never Told You, and I have to admit that I was worried that this book would fall flat.

This book blew me away. At first glance it seems like it's going to be one kind of story... and then it shifts, into another one. And another. Ng has this incredible prose, and her approach to omniscient narration really humanizes every character in the book. She explores racial undercurrents and classism deftly, and each character has a complexity you find in real life.

A fun read... just not for me.

Not as much of a thriller/mystery as I was hoping, but still a super enjoyable and fast paced (to a fault) read. The story is almost begging for a hundred or so more pages in the middle to develop the relationships and characters more. The best parts of the book are the reflections on motherhood, and specifically what makes a “mother.” Unfortunately a lot of the novel's best bits revolve around themes that don't particularly resonate with me as a reader. I could see this being a 4-star read for so, so many people.

The novel feels like it was engineered for book club discussions - with topics from adoption, whether a white family should be raising a Chinese American child, infertility, abortion, child custody, poverty, insular rich suburban life... The setting is in the 90s in a suburban Cleveland neighborhood, but it also feels outdated, like I'm reading a book that I've read before, twenty years ago. Nothing really surprising happens, the characters are either boring or unlikable.

The second that the adopted baby controversy was introduced I lost all interest. Mainly because I thought it was unrealistic for Bebe to have any legal claim to her child. She was neglectful to the point of abuse, and then abandoned her child at a fire station. Every state has safe haven laws, which have provisions to handle if a birth parent wants to regain custody later. In most cases “You also have the right to be informed by safe haven staff that by surrendering the child, you are releasing the child for adoption and that you have the right to petition the court in your state (within a set time period, like 28 days) to regain custody.” In that case, she would have had no legal grounds, and a large part of the book was unnecessary. The court scenes where the lawyer asks the adopted parents how they were going to raise the baby with Chinese culture was cringe worthy.

I did enjoy the descriptions of photography and Mia's artistic eccentricities. However, there is a bizarre paragraph mentions how she was the only freshman who didn't blush at nude life drawing because she helped her mother, an RN, with patients at the hospital. Just - what? It would be wildly inappropriate for a nurse to bring a child to work, much less to have an untrained person assist with patients in any way - much less see them in the nude.

I thought Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ainge, was an incredible story, both in plot and character development. Elena Richardson and her family live in Shaker Heights, pretty much a utopia community with perfectly manicured lawns and a tree in front of every house. Mia Warren, an eccentric artist, and her teenage daughter become tenants in the Richardsons' rental home, bringing with them a mysterious past and alluring the Richardson children. Trouble erupts when a friend of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese baby and a custody battle ensues, putting Mia and the Richardsons on opposite sides. Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover Mia's secret past, with dire consequences for both families.

I thought the characters were very believable and well-developed. They seemed to react to situations in ways I felt like a lot of people might have reacted.

I listened to the audiobook, and I thought Jennifer Lim did an excellent job at narrating the story. She used different voices for all of the characters, in particular, softening her voice when reading Mia and using a firmer tone for that of Mrs. Richardson. She also read the Chinese accent for one of the characters very convincingly. I thought her voice was perfect for this book and she was very pleasant to listen to. She kept up a good pace throughout the story, without reading so quickly that I couldn't grasp the plot. I had no trouble hearing soft voices, and the sound quality was perfect; there was no background noise or latency that I could hear.

Overall I thought this was an excellent story with fantastic narration. Jennifer Lim complimented the book really well. I always looked forward to reading it, and I was both thrilled and sad when it ended: thrilled that I finally got to find out what happened, and sad that this particular experience was over. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting story with an excellent plot and plenty of twists to keep them guessing.

Title: Little Fires Everywhere
Author: Celeste Ainge
Narrator: Jennifer Lim
Publisher: Penguin Audio 2017 (Unabridged)
Length: 11 hours, 27 minutes

I was really expecting to love this book. But I was incredibly frustrated and disappointed by it. I will write a fuller review in the days to come. But in the meantime I should note that this is probably more of a 3.5 star book, though I'm putting it lower than that to try and correct for all of the over the top and, in my opinion, undeserved fawning this book has received. The characters are flat and run together, the plot is over-sentimentalized and forced, and, perhaps worst of all, even though the book is obviously a trying to give agency and voice to characters of color, it robs those characters of their complexity, ultimately robbing them of the dignity they deserve.

Anyway, this was such a frustrating book, especially in its latter half. Again, I will be writing a much longer review in the next several days to explain this more fully. But suffice it to say, the book does not meet the hype.

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge - A book with a three-word title

This book suffered from something I feel like many books do: a slow, almost boring start with a lot of exposition and introduction and a plotline that really only picks up speed about halfway into the book.

Normally that would warrant at most 3 stars, but with the exception of the pacing of the beginning I loved everything about this book.

Celeste Ng managed to give every character a distinct personality. Everyone felt incredibly human and real, noone seemed to just exist for the plot, not even short appearances and side characters. The relationships and family dynamics were amazing as well. When the plot picked up speed, I was fully immersed, I felt every emotion, I even sympathised with characters I disliked a lot and that never happens. Never.

I really look forward to read other books by Celeste Ng, her writing really blew me away.
Between this and Big Little Lies I seem to also have a thing for suburban drama, so that definitely helped.

I think this is a great book. I originally had it at 5 stars but its not a favourite so I had to reduce it to 4 stars. I think that this is a beautiful book that covers family dynamics so well. It also talks about serious topics such as the conflict between people from different backgrounds and the possible effects as well as talks on abortion, mothering and adoption. It is beautifully written and would highly recommend!

While I ultimately enjoyed this book, I found it a little light on substance–more of a young adult novel than serious literature. (The focus of the book is really on the experiences of a group of high school students, although it does go somewhat beyond them.) Also, I was troubled by what appears to be an anti-adoption message, especially cross-racial adoptions. Is Ng saying that white couples shouldn't be adopting Asian babies? I'm glad I read the book, and I thought the story was told well, but there is this lingering doubt in my mind.

Ugh. Some of the characters made my skin crawl, especially Elena (Mrs. Richardson). Signs of great writing that I would have such a visceral response to the characters.

Author Question:
Why were all the adult white characters addressed by their surname but the minority characters were addressed by first name, Mia and Bebe. Just something I noticed, that seemed strange.