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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Enlightening – theme of family secrets and the repercussions and impact.
I enjoyed the book and the look at the “Haves and the have nots,” in America but I felt the ending ruined the book for me. It was very contrived and predictable, yet unrealistic. Very disappointing.
Woefully this book suffered the unfortunate fate of being over-hyped by the time I read it. If I had stumbled upon this book unaware, I would have gleefully proclaimed a hidden treasure. Instead, I read emphatic reviews & waited months for my library copy to arrive. It was almost there for me. I just wanted a bit more- grit, vulnerability, messiness, upset. Im not sure which, just a little more.
This book started out with a bang. The ending faded a little for me. Would be a good discussion book.
The best book recommendations come not as titles scribbled down during a conversation or links added to an email, but as fully-formed physical objects—delivered at regattas. Almost every time I see my world-champion friend Kim, she passes off a stack of books for my To Be Read (TBR) pile. Over the years I’ve learned that these recommendations often prove better than my own choices—especially the ones in the literary fiction wheelhouse.
Last summer, Kim delivered a stack that stood, neglected, for six months. By the time I finally picked up Little Fires Everywhere, a rare hardback that I’d been eager to read since it came out in 2017, I first thought I’d purchased it myself (probably with my annual Christmas gift certificate from Island Books). It was only when I opened the flyleaf and found Kim’s name (code for “I want this back”) that I realized: this particular recommendation had overlapped exactly with one of the books already on my mental TBR list.
The story is about several families who live in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a planned community laid out in the 1950s whose occupants are expected to play by the rules. At first glance, the Richardsons are the epitome of Shaker Heights; three teenagers, a lawyer-father, and a reporter-mother who also grew up in the neighborhood. Fly-by-night artist Mia Warren and her teenaged daughter represent the opposite end of the lifestyle spectrum; they move into a rental house (belonging to the Richardsons) in search of a little more stability.
As the four kids’ lives become increasingly intertwined, several surprising and secret alliances develop. Into this fertile soil, author Celeste Ng plants an abandoned child who is adopted by another neighborhood family and later reclaimed by her birth mother. All the neighbors takes sides—overlaid with plenty of racial and class overtones and judgment. Sprinkle in a few more historical secrets that are gradually dug up by the mother-reporter, and the result is a page-turner that stirs up our pre-conceived notions about family.
But while our notions are stirred, they aren’t quite shaken. Characters don’t quite deepen enough to break away from stereotype. The artist is flighty; the suburban mother never thinks to question even the pettiest of Shaker Heights rules—like the one that specifies where garbage cans should be kept (out of sight behind the house, even on trash day). I found myself wishing for characters who were a little less predictable, who didn’t just consciously draw outside the expected lines but wrestled with a few internal contradictions as well.
With key points of view covering the range of perspectives, the story neatly unspirals into both recent and distant past—once the first chapter explains both the title and who lit all those little fires. When reviewing a book, I like to quote a particularly noteworthy passage; with this one, nothing stands above the rest. It’s all a steady, artful drumbeat of careful prose, building and layering toward the inevitable climax. Knowing the “who” and “what” up front frees the reader to ponder the “why,” as well as the occasional “why not.”
By covering so many sides of this timely story, Ng has plenty of latitude to delve into the most unanswerable question: what makes the best parent? And how much does the answer vary, depending on the child? Along the way, the author (who grew up in Shaker Heights and Pittsburgh) pokes a little lighthearted disdain at the idea of humans—who come in all sizes, colors, and schedules—conforming to such a carefully pre-planned ideal of a world.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well-written family sagas and stories that make us reconsider our pre-conceived notions about family. I’m guessing Kim recommends it too, since she wants her copy back again. I won’t hand it over until I hear what she thought—which may well be wiser and deeper than what’s collected here.
PS Thanks for reading. I publish about one review a month and I’m always looking for the next book. Have you read anything you’d recommend?
Not my normal read. A typical suburban family drama with some extreme circumstances and relationships that make it a book you can’t put down. A sort of mash-up of Pigs in Heaven (Kingsolver) and The Help
What’s amazing to me about this book, is the fine juggling of characters, the complexity of the plot, and, perhaps most of all, the seamless way the author pulls everything together. She makes it look easy and, for me, that is an amazing gift.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
2017
audiobook, fiction
Is there a perfect neighborhood where everyone is happy and living the idyllic life? If you asked Mrs. Richardson she would brag about Shaker Heights where she grew up and raised her own family. It is no surprise that she thrives as a writer for the local newspaper given her propensity to manipulate others for her own benefit. She justifies her actions by convincing herself she’s helping a greater cause, those she deemed as less fortunate.
Little Fires Everywhere introduces us to Mrs. Richardson standing outside in her bathrobe in the middle of the afternoon. If she hadn’t been awake so late interfering in her neighbors’ business she wouldn’t allowed herself to sleep late. She awoke suddenly to the sound of fire engines and made it outside in time to watch her house on Parkland erupt in flames.
Mrs.Richardson begins to resent the tenants renting the upper level of her inherited duplex on Winslow Road. It isn’t long before Mia Warren, a 36-year-old single mother to 15-year-old Pearl, realizes the “rules” of living in Shaker Heights. The Warren family have lived a rather vagabond lifestyle attributing it to her work as a struggling artist. Pearl has always adjusted to each new place finally feeling settled in Shaker Heights.
Initially, Pearl and Moody become friends when they realize they are in the same high school classes. Soon, she is welcomed into the Richardson’s family like a second home to Pearl. Sometimes it’s the differences which attract people to each other. The hypocrisy and judgements of others have a way of circling back. The characters are carefully developed with truths and lies being slowly uncovered as the story unfolds.
The story is thoughtful, rich with substance leaving the reader in deep contemplation about the lasting effects of our decisions and resulting consequences.
The title for this book couldn’t have been better. It was the perfect description of what happened in this story, not only literally, but more importantly in describing how characters unwittingly set little figurative fires all over the place. The story is an excellent depiction of the impact people have on one another’s lives and how what we think we know, what we’re oh so sure we know about others, at times couldn’t be further from the truth.
I love the way the author was able to weave between characters’ pasts and presents without causing disruption to the story. A captivating story, a pleasure to read, I will certainly add more of Ng’s books to my TBR list!
Beautifully written tale of families and secrets, exploring how key decisions have a ripple effect throughout a community and beyond. Even better than Ng’s debut Everything I Never Told You, which was nothing to sneeze at. Lovely, yearning, unmatched.
This is the story of two families – the Richardsons, who are a prominent family in Shaker Heights, Ohio. They have 4 children, a beautiful home, and a picture perfect life. The Warrens are a nomadic family that have moved continuously. Mia and her daughter Pearl have never stayed in a place long. Mia, an artist who barely scrapes by with the art she sells, picks up and moves when things get rough. She landed in Shaker Heights when Mrs. Richardson offered their small investment property to Mia to rent. In exchange Mia would work part time for the Richardsons so she had time for her photography.
Things are going well for a long time. Pearl becomes fast friends with the three eldest Richardson children – Lexie, Moody, and Trip. Izzy – the youngest Richardson child is broody and a family outcast who is shunned by her older siblings. But Mia and Izzy form a bond in the time that Mia works for the Richardson family feeling that Mia actually understands her. Pearl falls fast and hard for Trip.
When old family friends of the Richardson’s attempt to adopt an abandoned Chinese baby, a custody battle erupts and divides the town and even divides the Richardson family. Secrets of the Richardson family and the Warren family start to surface during this time that will devastate both families.
I loved this book. Celeste Ng is a terrific writer. I didn’t want to put this book down – finished it in a day and a half because there were so many twists and turns – I needed to see where it was going. What I love about Celeste Ng’s books is that she starts with the ending. Meaning – she gives away the whole reason for the book right up front, and then works the character development. She did this in “Everything I Never Told You” and I found it so refreshing and different I hoped she would write more novels.
The only problem I had with this book was a little bit of the Chinese story. And that was only because that type of thing is person to me. We adopted a little boy from China 11 years ago, and I would never want people to think that he isn’t “Chinese enough” because he is being raised by white parents. I think Celeste tried to be sensitive to adoptive parents, but it did give me a twinge none the less.
Grab this book and read it – and if you haven’t read her other novel – read it first.
I knew the families in this book. The character development was excellent. I enjoyed the story, the characters and the writing…that adds up to a five for me!
I definitely enjoyed this book, it was so worth the read. I felt like once it was over, I wanted a little bit more but at the same time I liked that not everything had a solid end. It left a lot to the imagination and I love when authors do that.
I decided to see for myself what the fuss was about with this book. It was well written, interesting and a quick read. I will also read her first book
It was one of my favorite books to read last year.
It kept my interest.
This book made me feel like one side was right. Then it made me rethink it another way. Im still not sure who was right other than the youngest daughter. Im interested in reading more by Ng.
Loved it
Loved all of Celeste Ng books – this is another winner.
Beautifully written. Deeply insightful. This story, these people, and this town have rooted in my imagination and won’t let go. A truly remarkable book.