Robin’s Reviews
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng caught my attention because of great reviews, but also because I live near the setting in Shaker Heights (a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio). Ng has also written Our Missing Hearts and Everything I Never Told You.
Book Summary
Mainly a character sketch, Little Fires Everywhere is a slow-burn story. The Richardson family lives in an affluent community. Mr. Richardson is a lawyer. His wife is a journalist for the local paper. She has a clear picture of the order to life: college, marriage, successful careers, children, in that order. Conforming to rules leads to success and happiness. She doesn’t understand that many of the rules she follows are just her ways, not necessarily the only right ways.
The four Richardson teenagers have distinct personalities reminiscent of The Breakfast Club. Lexie is a senior — the popular girl, a good student and the lead in the school play. Tripp is a junior — the good-looking athlete. Moody is a sophomore — quiet, bright, and compassionate. Izzie is a freshman — the misfit in the family. No one understands her and how she thinks. The others expect her to do weird or mischievous behaviors; therefore, Izzie often pushes their buttons on purpose.
The Richardsons lease a house to Mia Warren and her teenage daughter Pearl. Mia lives an artistic, gypsy-style life, not concerned with possessions or status. She and her daughter have moved 40+ times in Pearl’s life, each time to inspire Mia’s artistic photography. This time Mia has promised Pearl they will plant roots here. Pearl is excited to invest in making lasting friendships.
The two mothers are foils for each other, each a threat to the other’s philosophy of how to live life. The story also explores dysfunctional family dynamics, parenting styles, consequences of conforming and of not conforming, class and racial issues, friendship, privilege, accountability, and lies and secrets.
Pearl becomes enamored with the Richardson’s affluent lifestyle. Meanwhile, Izzy sees something special in Mia’s artistic free-spirit. She forms a bond with Mia that she can’t forge with her own mother. Mia also unexpectedly forms a bond with Lexie through a secret she’s keeping from her parents.
Mrs. Richardson is jealous of Mia’s connection with her children. When the two women have opposing opinions on Mrs. Richardson’s friend’s adoption case, she digs into Mia’s past, uncovering information that’s none of her business.
Although the book starts with the Richardson house literally on fire, readers see many “little fires” popping up throughout the book. Each simply needs some extra fuel to set the situation into a full-blown blaze. Just when I started to believe one character is the better person, Ng throws a situation at the person with choices no one would want to make. Readers realize they are all human, all flawed, all have cracks. No one is blameless. Whether or not readers agree with the characters’ decisions, they way they handle them is interesting. I got more invested in how everything would turn out the further I read, but I was hoping for more of a plot twist. However, the characters have stuck with me weeks after reading the book. As I said, Little Fires Everywhere is more of a character sketch.
Little Fires Everywhere brought to TV
Hulu has done a mini-series based on Little Fires Everywhere starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. Unfortunately, I haven’s see it yet, so I can’t do a comparison. I look forward to watching it in the future. Have you read the book and watched the show? What’s your take on the two?
If this book speaks to you, check out my review on Lies and Other Languages by Sonali Dev.
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