Little Fires Everywhere

Author: Celeste Ng
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Type: Large Print Trade Paperback
Pages: 482
Publisher: Random House Large Print Publishing
First Published: September 12, 2017
First Line: "Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the RIchardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down."

Book Description 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.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood - and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

My Rating: 4 stars

My Review: Little Fires Everywhere is a character-driven novel that looks at complex family dynamics, specifically mothers and their children. Some of these bonds are close, others strained and you know that secrets will flourish and be revealed.

The story takes place in Shaker Heights, a well-to-do suburb of Cleveland, where one must always follow the loooong list of what one can and cannot do. The book begins, quite literally, with a fire. A house fire, to be exact and a missing teen. The story quickly jumps back in time and we see how the large Richardson clan meet Mia and Pearl Warren, a mother and daughter who are renting an apartment in a house the Richardsons own. It doesn't take long for their lives to become enmeshed and when you add in a court case involving the adoption of an abandoned Chinese-American baby and long buried secrets, it's no surprise that sparks fly as these 'little fires' start igniting everywhere. Yes, the book is aptly titled.

Many POVs are used to tell the story and readers will feel their sympathies being pulled in different directions as the stories unfold. But there's so much going on, with so many POVs, that what we're left with in character development and plot felt diminished and lacking in depth. If I also tell you that there weren't big, surprising twists in the plot and I found the ending to be weak and unresolved you'd assume that I didn't enjoy the book.  And yet, I did!  This was a page-turner that I had a hard time putting down even with those issues! Go figure that one out. 

Overall, this is a good domestic drama that delves into the complicated mother/child relationship. This would make a good book club selection and ensure some lively discussions on the topics raised -- nature vs nurture, familial bonds, bi-racial adoption and yes, even those uppity, busybody housewives who stick their noses into other people's business. If it had more depth to the characters and a stronger ending it would have been an amazing read.

Favourite Quote: "Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way."