Little Fires Everywhere

🔥Book Review 🔥🔥 Little fires everywhere by Celeste Ng.🔥 Genre: Fiction.🔥 Storyline:Q. Did the story have a good beginning?A. A house was set to fire. Do you want any better beginning?Q. Was the story believable?A. Being contemporary in nature and a story about families, it was totally believable.Q. What was the most exciting moment in the book?A. When the house was set to fire. The beginning.Q. What do you think was the most important point, or climax, of the novel?A. Families. In our busy lives we just forget our families. They need us, so do we.Q. Were you happy with the ending?A. Hell yeah. Mrs. Richardson totally deserve whatever she got.🔥 Setting:Q. When and where is your novel set ?A. 1990s Shaker Heights.Q. Were they descriptions good?A. The description was ok. You know at times we read something where the characters are normal people and not heores, the story is ordinary and not some fantastic theory, the writing is simple and not lyrical, yet it leaves a mark. This is something like that.🔥 Characters:Q. Pick the main character in the novel you studied.A. Mrs. Richardson, Mia, Izzy, Pearl.Q. Did you like them? Why and why not?A. Each of them were so different from themselves and each of them taught me something.Q. If you could ask them any questions, what would you ask?A. I would ask Mia what would she do if she finds a guy in his life? Because she totally deserves one.🔥 Theme:Q. If you had to say what the novel was about in one sentence how would you describe it.A. A book which reminds us that we at times forget about the tiny yet important things around us but then regret when we lose them.Q. At what points in the novel was the main issue obvious?A. When Mrs. Richardson asked Mia to come work at her house.🔥 Language:Q. Did you find this book easy to read?A. Yes. The language was simple to comprehend.🔥 Conclusion:Q. Would you recommend this book and why?A. This book will be one of my favourite reads ever and would recommend it to everyone because we all have a family. And obviously it says how we should mind our own business.

This book made me feel a lot of things. As a daughter, I could understand what my mother thinks. As a future mother, I could understand how a parent can ruin or make a child’s life. As a human, I saw the dynamics of a family. All the characters are relatable and very beautifully characterized. I cried with Izzy, I laughed with Moody, I was excited with Mia and overwhelmed when Pearl was. The plot never gets boring. The author keeps the reader hooked revealing a secret every few pages.Sometimes our whole life gets defined by one mistake and though there’s no way we can change it, I think it helps if someone else helps you carry your burden. You never realize the bubble you are living in until someone invades and shows you there’s a whole another world.

I got the hardback and the jacket was just beautiful. It had almost like a velvety texture. The book is amazing. I have already read it and it's such a touching story. As good as the author's first book. It is a contemporary fiction. Do pick this up if you enjoy that genre.The delivery took a long time but it did mention the same at the time of booking the copy. So if you can wait, it is worth it. The copy I received was in good condition with just very minor damage to the jacket of the book.

There are three things that I seek from a good piece of fiction: (1) Great plot, (2) Good writing, and (3) Post-read mulling. In Little Fires Everywhere, I thought the plot was okay, the writing mediocre, and I can't wait to finish this review and move on to the next book!The premise of the book is interesting and it starts with promise, highlighting the title of the book and making us want to understand its meaning. The book could have been an interesting study of class differences and racial tensions through its diverse array of characters. There is the seemingly perfect Richardson family -- husband Bill, supercilious but thwarted Elena, clueless Trip, superficial Lexie who then has a life-altering experience, strait-jacketed Moody and the rebellious Izzy (my favourite and I suspect that of most readers). We have the mother-daughter duo of Mia and Pearl with a secretive past who are completely unlike anyone the Richardsons know and who manage to upend their lives. Even some of the relatively minor characters such as Bebe Chow have promise. However, critical parts of the plot (Mia's dark secret, for example) are so improbable, that they make some of the characters look artificial and make it difficult to remain vested with them. The class-related and racial issues are also treated quite superficially.The writing was disappointing for me as well. As I read, I usually highlight sentences whose construct I find particularly interesting or which I can quote at a later date. I ended up highlighting nothing in this book! Popular highlights on the Kindle include sentences such as: It was like training yourself to live on the smell of an apple alone, when what you really wanted was to devour it, to sink your teeth into it and consume it, seeds, core, and all.The writing, and the plot to some extent, seem contrived at places. Nothing underlines this as much as the description of the artwork created by Mia for different members of the Richardson family towards the end of the book. That was the last straw for me!Pros: An easy read, interesting premiseCons: Trite writing, improbable plot developments

After reading Everything I Never Told You, I was expecting something spectacular. The initial 30 pages saw my hope fading.The author expects the reader to like Mia, who is the moral centre of the book. The entire narrative felt forced to reach a specific conclusion. The good and bad lines are clearly drawn and you have nary a choice. Characters are introduced and their backstory is of no regard to the storyline. Irrelevant lines, unnecessary paragraphs. I sighed with relief when I reached the end.

Why oh why does this book get so many good reviews? It's sooo disappointing. Maybe but only maybe good enough for some people's idea of 'beach reading' and only if you're desperate. Little Fires is written in dull unimaginative prose with the story being a prime example of a clichéd tale of an inexperienced fairly poor young girl and artist mum living in a very American middle class suburb. Of course this goes wrong. Had to stop reading this rubbish so who knows it might be fabulous in the end but I will never know. PS i am not usually this critical and each to their own but with all the publicity and attention this title was given I think we deserve a lot better!

Suffused with layer upon layer of poignant irony, this hauntingly atmospheric novel clings to your consciousness like wisps of autumn mist. Whichever way you turn, it envelops you.The story is exquisitely told, unfolding with tantalizing slowness. It’s disquieting and addictive, unutterably sad, and it haunts you long after you turn the final page. Ng’s characters rise up from the pages, facet by facet, intricately formed; recognizable but so much more than bland stereotypes.Elena Richardson, journalist and mother of four, lives her perfect, black and white life. Obsessed by rules and order, she is controlling, self-righteous, judgmental and interfering. Her youngest daughter, 14 year-old Izzy, is the antithesis of everything Elena holds dear. Willful and impulsive, Izzy exudes a restless energy that Elena finds infuriating and confounding — she’s the proverbial cuckoo in the nest.Single mum and photographic artist, Mia, is the Richardson’s new tenant, and to Izzy, everything her mother is not: vibrant, passionate, spontaneous — and she doesn’t judge. Recognizing a kindred spirit, Mia takes Izzy under her wing and feeds her hunger for photography.When Elena and Mia find themselves on opposite sides of a moral dilemma, Elena starts digging into Mia’s past. The secrets she uncovers unleash a series of events that culminate in a moment of devastating, life-changing clarity for Elena.Ng’s messaging is both incisive and powerful. A neat, monochrome world may be some people’s idea of perfection, but what is life without colour? Without those flares of passion and excitement, of spontaneity? This is a book all mothers should read; the little fires in our children should be fanned, not quenched.Thanks for reading my review. I hope you found it helpful. You can find more candid book reviews on my Amazon profile page.

I bought this based on the rave reviews. Half way through it I went back to check if I'd missed that it was YA. This whole book could've been a short story without losing a thing. It's been padded with uninteresting side plots, rambling, unnecessary back stories and more banal information about Shaker Heights than you can shake a stick at, not to mention photography. Without giving anything away, the topic is ageless and polarizing. Greek plays have been written on it. But, in this book it's presented over halfway through via characters other than what the first half of the book went on and on about. Unfortunately, the writing does not make up for any of this. I think teenage girls would enjoy it. I did not.

Shaker Heights is a peaceful, well ordered community, with rules ranging from rubbish collection (and how it should be done) to the colour a resident paints their house. It is a respectable community, free of drama. That is until artist Mia and her teenage daughter Pearl turn up and lead to the unraveling of secrets. Renting an apartment from the Richardson family, Mia and Pearl become intertwined, albeit reluctantly from Mia's perspective, into their lives. Elena Richardson is a second generation Shaker Heights resident and mother to four children- Izzy, Trip, Moody and Lexie. Elena has always been troubled by her youngest daughter, Izzy, but thanks to the arrival of Mia and Pearl, she soon realises she needs to have concerns about all four. A court case involving the adoption of an abandoned baby, leads Elena to uncover the truth about Mia's past and ultimately results in the opening scene of the book where Izzy sets 'Little Fires Everywhere.' Celeste Ng gives each character their own identity and lets the reader see how they became the person they are today. The writing is descriptive and at times appears to go off on a tangent when, as I reader, I wanted to get on with the plot, but it was an enjoyable read, nonetheless.

Characters were interchangeable, barely developed or distinguishable from each other. Descriptions onerous and repetitive. It seemed like it was hard to write, and so, it was hard to read, (and not only for the subject matter). Only two of us in a pretty literate book club finished it, and only one felt it had merit. Author was/is editor of Sunday Style Section of NYT, and in my mind this may be why it was so well-received. In my mind it missed a strong editorial hand, including cutting it to about half length, and working on character development.