Review: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

 

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. ~ Goodreads

Source: Audiobook via Hoopla

The Book Pusher: A Book A week blog 

Review: I rarely read best sellers/mainstream books but was finally convinced to try Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng thanks to Ethan's review. I went with the audiobook version, narrated by Jennifer Lim, which turned out to be a great choice.

Set in the 90's, during the Clinton administration, and Monica Lewinsky scandal, Ng writes a tale of two very different women. The affluent Elena Richardson -  wife to her lawyer husband, mother of 4, and journalist at her local paper, and Mia Warren - artist, waitress and single mother to 15 year old Pearl.

Their worlds collide when Mia moves to the idyllic, progressive community of Shaker Heights, Ohio. She rents a duplex from Mrs. Richardson, hoping to have finally found a place to settle with Pearl, after a somewhat nomadic upbringing. 

Little Fires Everywhere, primarily, through Elena and Mia, looks at progressive ideals, how they change and warp the wealthier one becomes, the "seeming" perfection of suburbia, social class, the impulsiveness of youth, and above all motherhood. 

Right from the start the two families become intertwined and headed for disaster. Pearl, raised unmoored from a sense of place, gravitates to the Richardsons. She becomes best friend to Moody, pines for eldest son, Trip, becomes confidants to daughters Lexie and Izzy. Pearl spends every day with the family and is enamored by the picture perfect, welcoming Mrs. Richardson as opposed to her free spirit mother. 

The Richardson's fall under the spell of the Warrens as well. Moody has a crush on Pearl, Trip starts to show an interest, and Izzy, never feeling like she belonged in the Richardson's family, thrives under Mia's tutelage and helps with her art projects after school every day.

Then a local explosive custody case, involving a Chinese-American baby, rocks Shaker Heights to its core. Mia is a friend and co-worker to the poor, immigrant birth mother fighting to get her baby back, after leaving her at a fire station, while Elena is best friends to the potential adoptive family and her husband is their lawyer.  

Ng creates and intensely voyeuristic experience.  With expertise, she weaves the stories of all the players, past and present, so seamlessly that you just get swept up into it. Instead of getting annoyed that the story is veering (seemingly) off course for a time - you appreciate the intricate layer this new information adds to the story. 

I mentioned earlier that this book is, above all, about motherhood and this custody case sets things in motion that neither woman can undo. Elena becomes more and more suspicious of Mia's past and uses her journalist skills and contacts to dig up the dirt. She calls in favors from people she calls friend - clear that every good deed she has done for them over the years was catalogued and expected to be reciprocal. It becomes personal and she crosses lines. She also loses sight of her own children's needs and actions. 

Mia, while coming from a better, more altruistic place, is still, none-the-less keeping secrets and has moral quandaries she struggles with both in her past and with her relationship to the Richardson children.

Ng explores subjects and scenarios that might not raise as many eyebrows these days. I recall in the 90's that test tube babies, surrogacy custody battles and adoptions where children being ripped away from their adoptive parents - live on tv were HUGE, polarizing stories. And big ratings grabbers. Ng expertly captures that time and place.

She also doesn't justify or judge her characters actions. She just lays out their complex stories, their history and motivations then leaves it to the reader to decide. I can see how this would make for an amazing book club book. I can easily think of a dozen topics off the top of my head to discuss. I haven't even touched the surface of what the book entails in this review.

The ending though...I was so thrown by the ending. It was abrupt - although I knew it was coming. It was wrapped up yet not. I'm not sure if I struggle with the way it was written or that I wanted to stay with these people longer and know where they are now, how they are handling this next chapter. Either way - it's not often that a book gets to me that way so I'll take it as a win. 

I do want to mention a few CW. These are mostly if pregnancy/motherhood issues are a trigger for you ---> infertility, surrogacy, adoption, miscarriage, abortion, women who change their mind about surrogacy/adoption, kidnapping, child abandonment, death of sibling