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readingnookreviews's review
4.0
“Uncle Tommy, Uncle Jimmy, Uncle Tony, Uncle Robbie: all of them big men with names like little boys, who stayed for a while and made my mother cry and then drifted out of our lives.”
Another beautiful and poetic short story by Celeste Ng. I didn't want it to end! I loved the connection of mother and daughter, between young and old, and the memories that kept surfacing in the main character's life.
Another beautiful and poetic short story by Celeste Ng. I didn't want it to end! I loved the connection of mother and daughter, between young and old, and the memories that kept surfacing in the main character's life.
cassiejean's review
5.0
Actual rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up.
I cannot get enough of Celeste Ng's writing!
I cannot get enough of Celeste Ng's writing!
caro_94's review
4.0
This was a great short story about a woman with eidetic memory, who works as a maid at a motel. Ng has a style of writing that's always encapturing, be it novel or short story and this was no exception. The premise is very interesting and even the essay the daughter wrote in school sounded super intriguing.
air_estel's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
beccaoquendo's review
There’s just something about Celeste Ng that I really enjoy, and she does a wonderful job of writing about all the uncomfortable things we tend to not want to talk about.
deanna's review
4.0
Gorgeous writing as always from Celeste Ng!
Every Little Thing is a short story about Bri, a single mother with an eidetic memory that can potentially be triggered by anything and everything. Bri works at an New England hotel and we follow her as she works to back to back shifts while being force to come face to face with her past over and over again as she interacts with one guest in particular, an underage young woman who is staying at the hotel with her older, married "boyfriend."
At the time of posting this review, Every Little Thing is available to read online here.
Every Little Thing is a short story about Bri, a single mother with an eidetic memory that can potentially be triggered by anything and everything. Bri works at an New England hotel and we follow her as she works to back to back shifts while being force to come face to face with her past over and over again as she interacts with one guest in particular, an underage young woman who is staying at the hotel with her older, married "boyfriend."
At the time of posting this review, Every Little Thing is available to read online here.
sapphirestars's review
5.0
Celeste Ng is so powerful in her ability to make you feel for a character and be swept up in their emotion and their heads. Her ability to do this in a short story as well as a full novel is astounding. Love this read and this story with Brianna working as a hotel maid. It tells us so little and so much at the same time.
fictionofthefix's review
5.0
That was just incredible. It packed so much emotion in such few pages. The little details blew my breath away:
It started then, the phone still clutched to my ear. Early morning, the first day of first grade, crumbs of sleep still sharp in the corners of my eyes. A haze of cigarette smoke around the coffee table, Uncle Tommy snorting over the comics, the Want ads fallen to the carpet. Two quarters sticky in my fist: half a day’s lunch money. My mother bent double over the couch, searching behind each cushion for the rest. And again: I’m eight, the kitchen chair wobbling as I swing my feet, the toes of my Keds just scraping the linoleum. The phone jangles in the other room, my mother’s footsteps heavy and slow on the bare floor, then her voice, brittle as glass: No, Jimmy’s not here – who is this? and Spaghetti-Os turn to cement in my throat.
Will most likely hover over my mind for a while in the same way [b:Girls, At Play|40010422|Girls, At Play|Celeste Ng|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530353030l/40010422._SY75_.jpg|61961253], Celeste's other short story did.
It started then, the phone still clutched to my ear. Early morning, the first day of first grade, crumbs of sleep still sharp in the corners of my eyes. A haze of cigarette smoke around the coffee table, Uncle Tommy snorting over the comics, the Want ads fallen to the carpet. Two quarters sticky in my fist: half a day’s lunch money. My mother bent double over the couch, searching behind each cushion for the rest. And again: I’m eight, the kitchen chair wobbling as I swing my feet, the toes of my Keds just scraping the linoleum. The phone jangles in the other room, my mother’s footsteps heavy and slow on the bare floor, then her voice, brittle as glass: No, Jimmy’s not here – who is this? and Spaghetti-Os turn to cement in my throat.
Will most likely hover over my mind for a while in the same way [b:Girls, At Play|40010422|Girls, At Play|Celeste Ng|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530353030l/40010422._SY75_.jpg|61961253], Celeste's other short story did.
sofialister's review
4.0
i don’t know how ng comes up with these stories but there were like 5 different plots in the 50 pages and i’m left wanting more
such a cool concept, i’m not sure if the disease is real or not but it’s awesome in this story because we get so much character depth in such a short space of time and it doesn’t feel forced at all
such a cool concept, i’m not sure if the disease is real or not but it’s awesome in this story because we get so much character depth in such a short space of time and it doesn’t feel forced at all
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