The #1 New York Times bestseller!Now a Hulu original series starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.“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 … danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” —Reese Witherspoon
“Extraordinary . . . books like Little Fires Everywhere don’t come along often.” —John Green
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.
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, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more…
Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more.
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Thought provoking societal conflicts.
A very compelling read…..I am so glad that I got to read it. …A must read !!
I tried to read this book 4 times and stopped, finally after the 5th time I was determined to finish it. After finishing it, I was disappointed with the ending. I feel like the book is missing the ending. Not sure why this book lives up to all the hype.
This book is more like a YA, I will probably not watch the show.
I am giving this book 3 stars because the characters were enjoyable enough to keep reading.
The conflagration that engulfs the Richardson family begins with a spark in Shaker Heights, a planned development outside of Cleveland. To the outsider, Shaker Heights is the depiction of a picture-perfect community, and it is the guiding principle for those that live within its confines. However, its walls cannot contain the dreams, emotions, or desires of its inhabitants.
It is Mia Warren, an anomaly, an artist, whose roots are her daughter and her art, who begins to tug at the strings that hold together Elena Richardson’s illusion of Shaker Heights. She marries her college boyfriend and they move to her hometown of Shaker Heights. As a successful attorney, her husband provides Elena and their four children with all the amenities of success- a beautiful house, a nice car, invitations to all the acceptable social gatherings. At one time, Elena had dreams of being an investigative reporter, but she substitutes her dreams of being a successful writer to becoming a successful housewife. Her skills never leave her, however, and she continues to write for the local paper. It is her investigative acumen into discovering Mia’s background that ignites the spark that engulfs her.
When Mia and Pearl, her daughter, rent part of a duplex owned by the Richardsons, Elena provides them with an opportunity to becomes members of a community. She does so out of a sense of compassion. This mother and daughter have few possessions because of their transient life-style. The lifestyle, however, seems to suite them. Eventually, the lives of the Richardson family, with their four children, and Mia and her daughter, Pearl, become enmeshed. While Izzy, the youngest of the Richardson clan becomes more comfortable at Mia’s house, Pearl becomes a figure often found at the Richardson home. She builds a relationship with each of the other children, Moody, Lexie, Trip. When Elena Richardson tries to disentangle her family from Mia’s, she becomes the spark that burns away the façade she has created of her perfect life.
Thoughtful and engrossing tale of realistic life challenges
I am now enjoying the episodes on HULU….
I don’t like novels that everyone else does. I prefer debut fiction. I do not do book club books. SO… why did I read this novel? It is set in Shaker Heights, Ohio which is next door to where I went to University. I have ridden the Shaker Trolley, shopped the town stores, and marveled at the stoplights that remained green as long as you did the speed limit! Unbeknownst to me, this novel also touched on Bethel Park, Pa with which I am also well known, as my wife lived there and I spent summers there with her and her family.
I was not aware that there was a TV show based on this novel, and still do not care. A vagabond, “Hippie” and her daughter become part of this faux community, and wreak havoc with their neighbors insular upper white middle class existence, replete with its artificial sustenance, but ignorant of its cultural diversity and reach. An Asian baby, an inconvenient pregnancy, and a decades old secret converge to create a conundrum that no one knows how to face.
An admirable book with perhaps, a limited, yet appreciative audience. Well written, and perhaps stoked by the television series. PLEASE read the BOOK!!!
It’s hard for me to write this review. I was caught up on all the hype about it and was on hold for the audio for quite awhile. I even stopped another book I was listening to, to finally get into this one when my turn came. I just don’t get the hype. Maybe it was just the wrong time to read it, maybe it’s the subject – indiscriminate teenage sexual encounters (two other books I’ve recently read had teenage pregnancies or rape, also). It’s not that it wasn’t written well. Just wasn’t for me. Maybe also because I needed more closure at the end. I wanted to see Lexi’s mother find out the truth.
One thing I DID like about it was the descriptions of the art that Mia created with her photography! I kept wishing I could actually see the works she created.
Gives you many things to think about, especially the consequences of our choices.
This was a compelling story that had me eager to find out what had happened to set in motion the shocking event we see right at the beginning of the book. It was an interesting contrast between the perfect Shaker Heights Richardson family and the vagabond artist lifestyle of Mia and Pearl. For all the many differences between the various families in the book, they all shared a fierce love for their children that had them doing difficult, heartbreaking, and sometimes bizarre and crazy things.
I did not care for the head-hopping change of POV sometimes from one sentence to the next. It made it hard to keep track of whose thoughts we were hearing. And there are a lot of thoughts! These people are thinkers who rarely tell anyone else what is going on in their lives, which is what causes so much trouble. I also thought the end of Bebe’s story was a little unrealistic. But overall it had me wanting to know more from beginning to end.
I must be one of the last people to read this – captivating. Very memorable characters. Fantastic portrait of teenage life.
I loved the protagonist of this book, even though she carried her own imperfect responses to life. I loved the artistic expressions and I loved her sense of justice and insight into others’ hearts. At first, I thought the book was going to be a bit annoying with typical teenage angst, but it quickly begins to surprise and engage the reader with twists and mystery. There are a few spots of profanity which I didn’t think was necessary. I also watched the series on TV, which was okay, but the changes the producers made different from the book were upsetting. Celeste Ng’s written version was much better.
I listened to the audio version of this book and absolutely loved it! I give it five stars and recommend it to all.
I DID THIS FOR MY BOOK CLUB AND EVERYONE LOVED IT. MUCH DISCUSSION!
I wanted to listen to this book before I watched the Hulu show and am so glad that I did. This book is definitely one you need to pay attention to because you don’t want to miss a thing. A lot of characters and parts in this book that makes it so intense and has you constantly guessing what is going to happen. I can’t wait to watch the show now and compare the two.
A page-turner. A contemporary “soap opera” revolving around a family and individuals that intersect with their lives
You will find yourself choosing sides between the mothers in this book toward the end. Because of choices made by one of them, the course of their children’s lives and their lives are changed forever.
Really enjoyed this one! Great characterization and loved how she pulled all the pieces together. A complicated story about complicated people.
I typically don’t read what everyone else is reading. I kept seeing ads for the show and decided I wanted to read the book before watching it. It was a really good book. I enjoyed it immensely.
I’m so excited to have finally read this after hearing about it for so long. Sometimes when books are hyped up a lot, they don’t often live up to their hype. This one definitely lived up! The story was so engrossing and it was a constant source of excitement to keep reading. I love when a book is turned into any movie or tv show so I was doubly excited about this book for that reason. Knowing the cast, I had faces in my head of what the characters looked like. I will say, that after having read this amazing book, as often happens I’m let down by the show. The show itself is really good! I love the stars. On its own it’s very good. But I’m having to separate the book away while watching the show. There’s so much different and it’s almost in some ways a different story. So I recommend this book completely but watch the show while putting the book in the back of your mind.