Sunday, April 22, 2018

#BookReview - Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Title:  Little Fires Everywhere
Author:  Celeste Ng
Genre:  Women's Fiction
Publisher:  Penguin Press
Release Date:  September 12, 2017


About the Book:

The runaway New York Times bestseller!

Named a Best Book of the Year by:
People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads, Book of the Month, PasteKirkus ReviewsSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more!

"I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting." –Jodi Picoult

“To say I love this book is an understatement. It’s a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” - Reese Witherspoon

“I am loving Little Fires Everywhere. Maybe my favorite novel I've read this year.”—John Green

"Witty, wise, and tender. It's a marvel." – Paula Hawkins

From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.

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.

Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more.
Buy Links: Amazon 
My Review:

After seeing so many fabulous reviews and noting that LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE was named the Best Book of the Year by... OMG... so many, I really had to dive into this one!  As I grudgingly turned each page for the first half of the book, however, I started thinking that maybe I had the wrong book.  This thing dragged on and on with mundane, everyday stuff and mundane, everyday people.  I almost gave up and put the book down to move on to something with a bit more action.  That's when things started getting interesting.  Yes, that's when things from the past started to emerge and tie together with other things.


Celeste Ng gives us a look deep into the soul of certain members of two seperate families and leaves us unable to tell wrong from right. Is it better for an Asian baby to be raised by non-Asian parents, simply because they have more money?  Or should a mother lose the right to raise her own child, simply because she made a mistake?  And are wealthy parents living in the prestigious Shaker Heights better parents than a single mother who moves from place to place, barely getting by?

And what happens when everyone just needs to start over?  A fresh start. From the soil up.

Great thought-provoking novel that would make a terrific Book Club pick.

My Rating:



About the Author:
Celeste Ng grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She attended Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan. Her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, won the Hopwood Award, the Massachusetts Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and the ALA’s Alex Award and is a 2016 NEA fellow. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

To learn more about her and her work, visit her website at http://celesteng.com or follow her on Twitter: @pronounced_ing.




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