I’m very excited to be on the blog tour for Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Her debut novel Everything I Never Told You rates as one of my favourite books ever so I was very excited to be able to get a copy of her new book.
Little Fires Everywhere is now available to buy in ebook and Hardback here.
Book Blurb:
Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours 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 principal is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia’s.
Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of long-held secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood-and the danger of believing that planning and following the rules can avert disaster, or heartbreak.
My Review:
Little Fires Everywhere is a book that I think will stay with me for a long time as i thought it described some very interesting, thought provoking subjects.
The description of the relationship throughout the book was startling and I enjoyed reading about their history and or formation. What struck me the most was the different things people can take out of a relationship compared to the other people that are involved. I found this fascinating that something could be construed in such a different way. It has definitely made me think more about my own relationships.
The Little Fires the title refers to are all the flash points that occur throughout the book. The author describes these beautifully, introducing the reader to them slowly and then gradually revealing the cracks in the relationships or the jealousies that some relationships can cause. It was very interesting seeing how such jealousies were formed and how the various characters acted on them.
The biggest question asked in the book is also the most intriguing and i can see it causing a few heated discussions in book groups is what makes a good mother. This is hinted at throughout the book, not only during the adoption case but also by the different mother styles of Mrs Richardson and Mia. It was very interesting to see the affect this could have on the children and how the children reacted to the different styles.
My favourite character was Isabelle. I loved her attitude towards things that she felt were wrong and her determination to right wrongs and her willingness to stand up for other people. I did feel that she was misunderstood and that rather than being naughty she was actually trying in her own, misguided, way to help. I felt sorry for her as I felt that no-one really listened to her points of view and that her thoughts and opinions were largely dismissed. As adults I think it is too easy for us to do this to children and that maybe we should try and listen to them more and talk through their opinions rather than dismissing them. My least favourite was Mrs Richardson who annoyed me with her constant strive for perfection in both herself and her children. She seemed to be a bit of a busy body trying to get people to conform to her way of thinking and getting involved in things that weren’t really her business. I thought she would be a hard person to have as a mother, especially if you were a free spirit like Isabelle.
The setting of Shaker Heights was perfect and really helped add something to the story. It was almost a character in itself lurking in the background, having an unsettling influence on all the characters. I didn’t like the amount of control or rules that the place had on its residents, which at times seemed almost like a dictatorship at times.
This is Celeste Ng’s second novel and the second novel that I have read. I really enjoy her books and will definitely be looking forward to any future books she writes. As mentioned previously I think this will be a great book for a book club or other group as I think there is a lot of interesting things to discuss. It also might be a good book for schools as it addresses the subjects of race, politics and class which could be a good way for the children to learn about such things.
Huge thanks to Grace Vincent and Little Brown for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
Author Information:
Celeste Ng grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker heights, Ohio. She attended Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan. Her debut novel, everything I Never Told You, won the Hopwood Award, the Massachusetts Book Award, the Asian/ Pacific American Award for Literature and the American Library Association’s Alex Award. She is a 2016 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow and she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Follow The Blog Tour:
If you liked the sound of this book from my review, please follow the blog tour and find out what these other blogger are saying!
Over The Rainbow Blog 