Long Monologue (Skip to the third graph to read the actual review): Hi everyone! Long time, no talk. I don't have a good explanation as to why I haven't been active on this blog except for the fact that I've been going through a creative slump these past few... years. As a full-time college student, I barely have time to explore my creative pursuits like writing, and that's something I seriously regret. Nowadays, society has taught us to live and breathe the "rise and grind" mantra. We're constantly bombarded with ads preaching the workday hustle, though sometimes (or most of the time) we need a break from the stress of everyday life. I understand that during this unusual and unfortunate time, many young adults are undergoing even more stress from financial uncertainty, health complications, and a slew of other unpredictable setbacks. I acknowledge that I'm fortunate enough to be able to sit in my bed and type out this blog post, and I'm incredibly thankful that I can utilize this time to take a step away from constant school work and work on myself.
Okay, enough with the long rant. You probably read this article for a book review, and a book review is what you'll get! But please note that my opinions are solely mine. You can hate or love this book — it's completely up to you. Also, if you're expecting a professional literary essay on why you should/shouldn't read this book, you're on the wrong page, sis.
When I first picked up Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, I'll be honest, I judged the book by its cover. The cover clearly says that it's a New York Times bestseller in big capital letters on top of the title page. Apparently, it's also a certified favorite by Reese Witherspoon, and who doesn't trust Reese Witherspoon's judgement? So naturally, I bought the book and trusted the thousands of positive reviews online.
While reading the online reviews, I expected it to be some kind of melodramatic, psychological thriller with a focus on mystery. The book has the word "fire" in it, making it all the more powerful and gravitating, but after I finished the book, I was a bit disappointed that the types of conflict and drama the novel promised in its synopsis wasn't entirely met.
To summarize briefly, the book is about two families in the 1990s living in Shaker Heights, a perfectly planned suburb of Cleveland filled with well-off, upperclass families. The Richardson family is the typical Shaker Heights nuclear family: a mother working as a successful journalist, a father serving as a defense lawyer, and four privileged children. The Richardsons are so well-off that they own an apartment building in Shaker, and Mrs. Richardson rents out one of their vacant apartment floors to Mia Warren, a single mother and traveling artist who just moved to Shaker Heights and struggles to get by. Mia also has a teenage daughter Pearl, who is fixated by the Richardson's perfect house, perfect children, and perfect lifestyle, thus befriending Lexie and Moody, two of the Richardson's children . Growing up, Mia and Pearl have moved all throughout the country, finding their home based on where Mia could find work. The central point of drama is when Pearl comfortably adjusts to the Richardson's lifestyle by constantly going over to their house after school. While spending time with the Richardson family, she learns all of the family's mannerisms: how they dress, how they speak, and most importantly, how they think. From there, the mystery unfolds, although it takes awhile for the action to start.
Personally, I thought it took too long for the action to unfold. I wouldn't call myself an impatient person, but I do lose interest in books that don't catch my attention within the first few pages. While reading the book, I noticed myself constantly putting it down because I just wasn't extremely interested in it. I've owned this book since January and just finished it, so it did take some time for the plot to grow on me. I am glad, though, that I decided to continue reading it.
The plot really gets juicy about 100 or so pages in, when Mrs. Richardson becomes skeptical of Mia's nomadic and unstable lifestyle, using her investigative journalism skills to dig up dirt on her unknown past. I'm not going to spill any major spoilers, but let's just say that Mia is even more interesting than she's introduced as towards the beginning of the book. There was a lot of unexpected drama that strangely tied in with each other at the end. Some of the important themes that are discussed include transracial adoption, teenage motherhood, microagressions, social class hierarchies, and the ties between art and identity. That's a lot of topics to pack into a 338 page novel, and I think the author rushed a lot of the plot in the middle of the book rather than starting it in the beginning. The introduction to characters was way too drawn out, and I wish there wasn't so much unnecessary wordiness that distracted from the main takeaways of the book.
Despite that the plot dragged on for awhile, I do think Little Fires Everywhere was interesting and insightful. It made me think about topics that rarely crossed my mind, and I love how the author didn't try to make you take sides with certain characters. As a reader, you can understand the motives of the Richardson and Warren family, and each character is at fault for much of the issues that unfold. I especially appreciate how the author tied the theme of Asian identity through transracial adoption into the plot. As an adoptee from China, I could really relate to the two sides of the argument Ng poses on adoption and motherhood, and whether a mother figure is defined through birth or through love, support, and stability.
As you can probably tell by now, this novel unpacks a lot of complicated issues between two families from entirely different social classes and backgrounds. At times, you may compare some of the conflict to a teenage drama series, which actually makes sense since the book just aired as a Hulu series.
Although it may take some time for the plot to grow on you like it did for me, I think you won't regret having read it. If you do decide to read it, please leave me a comment or message me telling me what you thought of the book!
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