I really enjoyed this book. It had an interesting plot and the story moved along at a quick pace. The author tried to tackle a lot in this book, so in some ways, I wish it was longer. I would have liked more character development and would have liked to see some aspects of the story that were glossed over, play out.

"Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way."

I've seen some mixed reviews regarding this one but Little Fires Everywhere really does deliver a heart-wrenching narrative.
It is clear right from the beginning what we can expect from the end but that's the least important bit. What matters is the slow build up from the characters, as if a fire is slowly building before finally causing havoc in the end. The characters are immensely flawed and they explore the topics of motherhood, adoption and what it means to be yourself.
I devoured every single page of it and I really hope more people pick this one up!

"...passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing. It so easily went out of control. Better to control that spark...or perhaps to tend it carefully like an eternal flame."

This book came highly recommended to me by many different people. And I wanted to love it as much as they claimed I would. The characterization in this novel was extremely well done -- it's just unfortunate that I basically detested them all. Sure I had some, albeit brief, moments of empathy at one turn of a page or another -- but for the most part, I couldn't understand their motivations, their actions, or their decisions. I guess my reaction says more about me, personally, than it does about the book. I didn't find most of the narrative to be believable and the construct -- is love between parent and child about biology or is it about the nurturing -- to be an overly done theme. The relationships between them all rang so false and actually, I thought quite ridiculous in some instances. No spoilers, but I couldn't find a one to root for. Sure we're all flawed, and the parent-child relationship is fraught with issues at all ages and stages of life, but some of the things that happened in the book just left me more angry than sympathetic. I know I tend to prefer books where I can make some sort of personal identification with at least one character, but that was absent for me in this story.

The writing was decent, if a bit melodramatic at times, and I highlighted a bit here and there when I found a particularly interesting turn of phrase. But overall, I just don't feel the love so it missed the mark for me. This was the first novel I've read by this author, and I might be tempted to try another in the future -- as long as it wasn't a domestic drama.

This would make a great choice for a book club as there are so many things within that beg discussion and debate. I think that hearing other opinions always helps me to understand and further support my own position on the topics.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the e-book ARC to read and review.

One of the best reads of the year. I simply could not stop reading it.

Ng has once again written a book that is riveting and captivating. Slowly the story of the characters of the Richardson and Warren families are unraveled and readers get to decide whether they are who they originally seemed to be. Mrs. Richardson grew up in the posh Shaker Heights suburb of Cleveland. She loved her life and returned there after college to raise her family. Now, a mother of four teens, she is the model of the community. Her children came in quick succession and are unique as all siblings are. The older son Trip is charming and athletic, a catch by most girls’ standards. Lexi is stylish and popular. Moody is quiet and thoughtful. The youngest, Izzy, marches to a different drummer. She drives her mother crazy and is willful yet good-hearted.

When the Warrens come to town, there’s a mystery about them. Mia, the mother, is a brilliant and talented photographer who only stays in one spot for a short time before moving on. She lives alone with her teenage daughter Pearl and has dragged her daughter all over the country, never setting down roots. But this time she has agreed to settle in for the sake of her daughter. Pearl is an excellent student who has grown up living on a shoestring, with only a few possessions that might fit into her mother’s car when it’s time to move on. She has never had real friends or anyone other than her mother as a constant.

Mrs. Richardson likes to feel she gives back to the less fortunate and lets Mia rent the family’s rental property and even offers her a cooking and cleaning job in lieu of rent. Pearl is befriended by Moody and then almost adopted by the entire Richardson clan. She spends most of her time at their home and enjoys picking up some of their leisurely habits. But when Mrs. Richardson finds there’s something mysterious about Mia, she is determined to dig up whatever dirt she can find.

There’s an adoption controversy that pits Mrs. Richardson and Mia as they get involved on different sides. Mia is sympathetic to the young Chinese immigrant mother who is fighting to reclaim her baby while Mrs. Richardson is actively working to see that her barren good friend gets to keep the Chinese infant she has been caring for. Sides are drawn and the community weighs in on who should be allowed to raise little May Ling – her own mother or the people who have been caring for her.

Ng covers adoption, societal issues of class, abortion, teen sex and parental issues in this riveting book. Not only is there a tension between Mia and Mrs. Richardson but between the mothers and their respective daughters. Mia’s strange lifestyle seems selfish and odd but as her story unfolds and as she interacts with the Richardson children, her true nature is revealed. The same is true for Mrs. Richardson in her machinations to uncover secrets and help her friend keep the baby.

I had some slight issues with the end of the book, but the overall strength of the book made it a favorite. A wonderful story that holds the reader’s interest and brings the 90’s to life with the cultural details of the time. Strongly recommended.
4.5*

Wow. From the moment I began, couldn't put it down. I wanted to hand it to everyone I know so we could have a discussion. Timely, important, revealing,

I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. Very sharply observed characters with an ending that circles back to the beginning in a satisfying way.

This book was much slower going than I'd expected. There we both a lot going on and nothing happening. I wanted a more driving plot, however the characterization was solid. Each character was well - thought out. If this has been combined with a better plot, I would have been thrilled.

This book reminded me of Pretty Little Liars. It takes place in a well-off suburb where everything is planned and everyone has their role in the community. The book starts out with a house fire and then takes you back to the events leading up to this fire.

The characters are well developed - even the secondary characters really enhanced the storyline. This book made me think, made me happy and made me sad. I finished the book not really knowing who's "side" i was on.

Having read Celeste Ng's first book Everything I Never Told You. I was looking forward to reading her second book. This was a very good book. Shaker Heights could be any town and the Richardson family could be any family you know; I liked the character of Mia at the beginning of the book ,but felt she was the cause of all the drama. Mrs. Richardson seemed like a decent person but got too involved in the adoption issue. The Richardson kids were good kids that had their own issue to deal with. I recommend this book.

It was a bit of a time investment up front, but it paid off in spades. Really well done, and it was so interesting to get to know the community Ng built. Believable and important.

I really liked Little Fires Everywhere. Love the diffrent characters with there diffrent personalities. Sometimes it moved a bit slow, but I really enjoy Celeste Ng's writing style.

In Ng's sophomore novel, Little Fires Everywhere, she returns with her critical eyes on suburbia, privilege, and motherhood. The opening chapter opens up with the burning of a home of an seemingly perfect family in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Shaker Heights is an idyllic suburb where residents are happy with the status quo and are resistant to change. Unwelcome change comes barreling into the Richardson family when Mia, a boho, charismatic, and mysterious artist moves in with her teenage daughter Pearl become tenants in a rental house Mrs. Richardson inherited from her parents.
Mia and Pearl live a very different life from the Richardson family. Unlike the Richardsons, an affluent couple and their four teen children who live in a big house with white picket fences, Mia is an artist who makes enough money for them to get by and are constantly on the move whenever inspiration hits Mia for a new art project. With the juxtaposition of these two families, we get to see how class and money affects them as well as the mother-child relationships, especially as Mia and Pearl intertwine their lives with the Richards, albeit Mia reluctantly and Pearl eagerly.
The book is quite quiet as we observe how these characters interact with one another. It is told through various points of views and it takes it time slowly developing the different bonds between the characters. I really appreciated how the teens and adults are both given enough page time and attention. Many times in adult fiction the children are brushed aside, but they are really important to the story. I liked Pearl for the most part as the everyday girl. I could understand how she wanted to mimic her lifestyle to that of the glamorous neighbors, but I also wished that she had her own personality. Out of the Richardsons, I felt most connected to Moody, the middle child who was reserved and kept his feelings towards Pearl to himself mostly. I also liked Izzy for her tenacity and determination to always stand up for what she believed in but at times she was a bit much.
The book's pacing picks up when "little fires" are sparked and set fire to the Richardsons' secure, stable world and how they do or do not adjust their worldviews. A particular fire is when Shaker Heights is the center for a public, legal custody case of a Chinese American Baby. Overall, Little Fires Everywhere is enjoyable and insightful read. It would make a good book club pick as there are plenty of themes to discuss such as loyalty and betrayal, honesty and trust, and what does motherhood mean.

Wow...just wow. Celeste Ng has written a compulsively readable book, and one that I'll be recommending to so many people. All of the hype around this book is well-deserved.

Having loved "Every I Never Told You", I was extremely excited to read this new book by Celeste Ng. And she really didn't disappoint. Turning her observant eye on the trials and tribulations of suburbia, the story centers around the Richardson family, with their perfect house, their perfect lives and upstanding member of the local community, mother Elena.
Set in Shaker Heights in the suburbs of Cleveland, it all start off a bit like Stepford Wives, in a world where it feels like barely a blade of grass is out of place. Into this perfect world burst Mia Warren and her daughter, Pearl, who rent the Richardsons' second house, immersing themselves in life in Shaker Heights and also the Richardson family, who all seem drawn to them like moths to a flame...
Mia and Pearl are a non-traditional family unit in the ordered world that they find themselves. A single mother / daughter, with a mysterious past, an unknown father, a nomadic lifestyle and absolutely no intentions of conforming to the norms of the 'burbs.
Elena's sons are drawn to Pearl, her daughters to Mia, whereas her husband becomes everyone's mortal enemy by defending an adoption case for some old friends against an impoverished Chinese girl who befriends Mia. As the present spirals out of control, Elena starts digging into the past to try and restore order, with devastating results for both Mia, Pearl and her own family.
This is another fantastic read from Ng. She creates vivid characters who come to life off the written page, weaving believable narratives around them to create phenomenal fiction. I can't wait to read whatever she pens next!

I actually enjoyed this one even more than I did Everything I Never Told You. Thrillers seem to be all the rage in my library, and twisty/turny plots are flying off the shelves. I will be adding this one to our collection.

Books that connect the current to the past are always a great option, and this is one of those novels. The people and families in this book will always be intertwined. A mobile family and a family living the white picket fence life collide as the mobile family rents from them. I would recommend this book for group discussions.

Little Fires Everywhere took me by surprise. I expect a book to occupy my time; what I got is a book that is so powerful it occupy my mind long after I finish this book. It has a very intriguing and important underlying message that even though a bit lost to me, it still moves me. I’m really lost on how to write a review that would do this book a justice, so just go read it yourself!

I was anxious to read this book, as I recently finished and loved Ng's Everything I Never Told You. In this book as witht her first, Ng uses vivid yet accessible language and really gives the reader a good sense of the characters. This is the type of novel that will appeal to a wide range of readers, The plot is interesting, and the charcters are well developed as well. In addition to those elements, Ng also allows readers the opportunity to think about issues such as race and class and lifestyle choices, which adds another layer of depth for readers to mine, should they choose to do so.