Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

"Rules existed for a reason: if you followed them, you would succeed; if you didn’t, you might burn the world to the ground."

Synopsis: 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 has been a highly anticipated book on my obnoxiously long to-be-read pile for a couple of years now, and it was quite an experience. Before we get into it, however, I have a confession to make: I committed one of the gravest sins a reader can commit before reading a book. I watched the show first. Five times, to be exact, so I was prepared to read all of the intricate details of one of my favorite shows. Much to my surprise, the vast majority of those details were completely different, and I'm not mad about it.

The shining star of this novel is the complex family dynamics we see with the Richardsons in comparison to Mia and Pearl. To put it bluntly, it's one giant, horrific mess. Whether it's the appalling treatment of Izzy by her mom, Lexie facing the aftermath of her abortion, or Trip and Moody becoming at odds over their shared feelings for Pearl, there's no question that this group is in desperate need of some family therapy. It's a trainwreck that you can't look away from, and that doesn't even take into account the escalating tensions between Mia and Elena.

If you have any familiarity with Little Fires Everywhere, then you know the primary storyline revolves around Mia and Elena's shared obsessions with each other. Between Mia being concerned by the pull the Richardson family has on her daughter, Pearl, and Elena relentlessly digging through Mia's past, the tensions are sky-high. This is an excellent example of incredible storytelling because the conflict and rising tension between these two characters is so consuming. In one chapter, you're favoring Mia and appalled by Elena, while in the next your opinions might flip entirely. It's mentioned repeatedly how these two women come from completely different worlds, and by the end, you walk away understanding both. This isn't always easy to accomplish as a writer, giving a reader a clear view and understanding of where all of their main characters are coming from at relatively equal levels, but Celeste Ng does it with literary elegance.

While Mia and Elena’s storyline is the central focus, Little Fires Everywhere also delves into controversial territory that is the court case between the McCulloughs and Bebe Chow. Essentially, the wealthy McCulloughs are trying to adopt the daughter of Bebe Chow, who she was forced to leave outside of a fire station when she lacked the funds to provide for her. But Bebe has gotten her bearings since then, and she wants her baby back, leading to the explosive court case that splits the residents of Shaker Heights. It poses some heavy questions for the reader, ones that particularly left me feeling at a loss. What is considered a "better life"? Is it a wealthy home that can provide every opportunity imaginable, or is it a potentially difficult life with a biological parent? Is it right to punish someone's desperate choices when they do not have the same resources as the fortunate do? Truthfully, I'm not sure. As someone who has in some ways had a life of privilege, however, this book certainly made me wonder. And that's not the only complicated topic it covers.

It may not be quite as polarizing as the court case, but there is also an extensive look at abortion, yet another topic that tends to leave people divided. Becoming pregnant as a teenager is, for many, a frightening reality to face, and it will have a lasting impact on their life no matter what decision they make. Little Fires Everywhere gives us a glimpse into the weight of this in a very realistic matter, once again leaving the reader to wonder what they would have done if such an instance were to occur. Celeste Ng does an excellent job of delivering these topics both delicately and profoundly all at once, creating a truly insightful reading experience. This can also serve as a trigger warning for anyone uncomfortable with the topic, as an abortion does take place during this book and is discussed quite a bit.

I won't discuss this too deeply, as it would be a major spoiler for the book, but Mia's past holds a lot of controversy as well. If I wasn't already aware of the plot, it would have completely taken me by surprise, and it is written so well. It served as yet another instance where the story opened my eyes to something that I was not very familiar with, and it added yet another interesting layer to the narrative.

As I stated above, there are significant differences between the book and the show, and at first, I thought it was going to lead me to give this book a lower score. In the beginning, I was worried the plot would be lacking in comparison, but I was quick to realize that this was not the case at all. Little Fires Everywhere is truly magnetic, and it is sure to leave you wondering that critical question - what would I have done?

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars