Title: Little Fires Everywhere Author: Celeste Ng
Published: September 12, 2017
Genre(s): Literary Fiction
Page Count: 338
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned--from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren--an enigmatic artist and single mother--who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.
Celeste Ng’s debut, Everything I Never Told You was a soft, contemplative novel about families and parenting, not an enjoyable read, but an insightful one. Now here’s Little Fires Everywhere, another novel about families and parenting, but one that was captivating and uniquely engaging, exciting in the way that a tale of unraveled secrets can be. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that Ng’s sophomore novel is more successful than her first, because the two book are similar in theme, but not in the task they set out to accomplish. Nevertheless, Little Fires Everywhere rises to a new level.
I believe that this book is primarily about mothers and daughters. As the story moves across location and across time, Ng is constantly examining mother-daughter relationships and the ways they can go bad. Patterns and cycles emerge, and even the most well-meant actions can backfire spectacularly.
What does it mean to be a mother?—this book asks. Is motherhood determined by genetics, by a determination to be a parent, by a possessing the resources to raise a child comfortably? Obviously these questions are at the forefront of the custody battle for the Chinese-American baby, found at a fire station. But echoes are found in Elena Richardson’s suburban home, and in the vagabond lifestyle Mia drags her daughter, Pearl, into.
What makes a mother?—Celeste Ng asks readers.
Little Fires Everywhere doesn’t have the answer, but it posits some suggestions.
