LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE

Little Fires Everywhere is, without doubt, one of the best books that I have ever read. The subtlety by which the author hits the reality using fiction as a tool is simply mesmerizing. The book portrays a strong storyline with an intriguing backdrop. Moreover, she has thought of everything - there is no loose end. No grammatical mistakes as well. Kudos to the author and the editor. We all dream of a perfect world. But is it worth it? Is it something one should look forward to? The author tries to answer such questions with this story. It is a must read novel. If you haven't read it already, you are missing on something very interesting. Verdict: Highly recommended.

Little Fires Everywhere is Celeste Ng’s second book, reading which I want to read her first one. The book is slow and Ng spends a lot of time in character building, which is done beautifully. An affluent family, the Richardsons, in a gated colony in Cleveland, rents out their second home to an artist, Mia Warren and her young daughter, Pearl. The Richardsons have four children, each with their unique and well developed character. The book is nuanced and layered. Mrs. Richardson charges Mia low rent because she wants to feel generous, by giving her a fair chance in life. She even offers Mia a job as a housekeeper in her house. But as time passes Mrs. Richardson despises Mia for all that she is – carefree, poor, austere, unsystematic, living a vagabond unplanned life, exact opposite of herself. This makes Mrs. Richardson dig into Mia’s past life, which reveals us a lot. Half way through, the book picks up speed, the plot thicken, pulling together stray ends. A court case over a baby and its custodianship divides everyone. Complexity of the case leaves us uneasy and unable to decide on whose side are we on. The title brings up all the fires – big and small – the actually fire, or little fires which Izzy, the rebel child, youngest of the Richardson’s puts in every room of the house as reaction to everything that she sees as unfair, and which turns into a large uncontrollable fire charring the whole house down. And then there are other fires – individual passions, strong sense of justice, fierce battle of two mothers for a child that they call their own, traits and incidences which ignite people. I think Little Fires Everywhere has been one of the best books that I have read in a while and among the many reasons why I liked it, the most important is that this books reminds us that the world and the people in it are not black or white, but are a rainbow of greys. This array of colours leaves you with the question, can you really call anyone ‘good’? And can you really, wholly take their side? Subtle is the new powerful.

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 premise Cons: Trite writing, improbable plot developments

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.

Fell in love with Mia's photographs! All the while reading the description of the photographs or how they were being taken, i had an urge to see them.. to verify how much they matched my imagination! If Mrs Richardson was snobbish about how she lead her life by planning and following rules, Mia too was proud of her vagabond lifestyle. The resentment between them felt to be mutual. Loved Izzy and Moody, didn't really understand Pearl. The story was nicely told and characters nicely portrayed. Although I felt the author diverted too many times from the current story at hand and indulged too much into backstory. Sometimes i tend to forget what i was reading at the first place. For e.g. after the court's decision on the case, the bailiff was empathetic towards Bebe. But the mention of him having a daughter about Bebe's age was not really necessary. People can be empathetic even without having a related backstory. Also, Bebe's judge's story about having a daughter who wanted a Chinese looking barbie was not really necessary. It too was divulging from the main topic at hand. This reminded of a friend who would start telling an interesting story and then would remember something in the between and will start talking about that instead. Overall, a good read.

🔥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.

It's a light yet not a flippant read. It's not a page turner. It tugs at you in a gentle unobtrusive way. The characters are very real. And the story telling efficient and thought provoking. When the book ended, I was a bit sad to let the characters go.

Amazing book....its a must read... Beautifully portrays all the dimensions of a mother and a child relationship.....heart touching novel......loved the characters...especially mia.... Very inspiring....a mother who lives for her dream and daughter.....has a difficult life but still makes the best out of it....