Reviews with content warning for Child death - Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere, or Bad Things Happening to Pregnant People for Three Hundred and Thirty-Six Pages.

I would have LOVED this book if it had just been about the boring lives of the Richardsons. Reading three hundred pages of Lexie or Trip or Moody or Izzy or Mr. or Mrs. Richardson's everyday existence would've been so nice. The first few chapters were somewhat like that, but then the plot got plot-y-er, and I didn't really like that.

First of all, there are like four hundred million different storylines happening in this novel. Pearl, Mia, all of the Richardson children, the Richardson parents, and random other people from the ensemble of characters all narrate bits and pieces of this story, starting off when it's convenient and dropping out when their personal stories are over for the moment. There were bits I liked, but I really, strongly did NOT enjoy Mia's whole backstory.

Honestly, I kind of hated Mia.

A surrogate who essentially steals the child is somehow the best mother in the world because she calls her kid 'my darling' a lot? Yeah, I don't buy it.

While I tolerated her character in the beginning, her struggling artist thing was not winning her any pity points by the second half of the story. Also, potential hot take, but I think

Mrs. Richardson was right and Pearl would've been better off with the Ryans. No offense to Mia, but I don't think what she did was right at all.

And what was up with Lexie using Pearl for everything? Although Lexie was probably my favorite character, I did not support the ways in which she used Pearl. Not v. nice. Come to think of it, Moody was the only one who was even remotely respectful of Pearl. Yes, she a Lexie were 'friends,' but what kind of friend

makes you write their college essay and books an abortion appointment under your name?

What the heck was up with Izzy? Was she just a very angsty teenager, or did she need some sort of therapy? What kind of sane person burns down their own house? I have many questions. Love the fact that she plays the violin dramatically and stomps around in (I assume) Doc Martens, because I can relate to both of these things.

Anyway, as I've already mentioned, like, 90% of the bad things that happened in this book was because somebody got pregnant and didn't want to have a baby or wanted to have a baby but couldn't get pregnant. Almost all of the various plots involve babies and/or the lack of them in some way.

A final thought: What is Moody's real name? I'm pretty sure Trip can be a name, but I really don't think anybody in their right mind would name their child Moody. Especially when their other children have normal names like Alexandra (Lexie) and Isabelle (Izzy). Alas.

While Little Fires Everywhere refers to the 'little fires everywhere' Izzy started in her house, I think it mostly refers to the small ripples of destruction a single person can cause. 4.25/5 stars.

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isareader's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Starts off as a story that you feel like you’ve heard/read before - a nice neighborhood has people who are a little different from their neighbors move in and shake things up, but this book transforms into so much more.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s not often that I find the telling of a story to capture so many complexities and intimacies of characters and issues as well as this story did for me. I thought this book introduced and tackled many of them quite exceptionally (A lot of times in TV shows, movies, or other books, I think, “There could have been more details about this” or “I didn’t like how this issue/conflict was brought up and then resolved without much discussion”, and I didn’t feel this way with this book!).

All of the characters remind me of someone I know or knew and the moral dilemmas they all face ring a painful truth of how difficult decisions don’t always have a clear right or wrong way to the answer. I especially loved Ng’s attention-to-detail writing style and the mystery of the story (and ending) that keep you hooked. Minus .25 because I think chapters could be organized better with character anecdotes.

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skyba3's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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blumoonie's review

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This story explores the meaning of family, love and home. How rules are made to be broken, how if you love someone too much it will turn to simmering hatred. this book left me feeling gutted and vulnerably wide-open, like a fire had ripped through.

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abbruzzese's review

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emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

You’ll always be sad about this. But it doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice. It’s just something that you have to carry.

one of the cardinal rules of writing is that the first page—the first sentence, even—is supposed to hook your readers. this book did not do that, but i am so glad i stuck it out and kept going! this book is good! the plot is always moving & it was the perfect subway read because it was easy to pick up wherever i left off.

now, for the characters...

pearl & mia are perfect. i loved them. wouldn't change a thing.
lexie & izzy were okay characters, but it def felt like they were plot-movers if not their own people.
trip felt sooo forgotten as a character, would have loved to see him incorporated into the plot more.
mr. richardson was replaceable. he had one somewhat important role in the story and even then, it could have easily been written with anyone else & not changed a thing.
mrs. richardson made me want to break fucking necks. but i guess that means she was well-written?
and finally, moody...
girl what the hell happened? he's a sweetheart, he disappears from the plot, and then he turns back up as an asshole? how does he go from <i>"he would crack dumb jokes and tell stories and dredge up bits of trivia, anything to make her smile"</i> to <i>"i thought you were smarter than the sluts who usually agree to do it with him. but i guess not.”</i> ??? celeste ng, please explain wtf you were trying to accomplish with this regressive development bc i am NOT having it. i could maybe understand moody's bitterness over pearl liking trip if the brotherly conflict arc had been explored <s>at all</s> a little more, but it wasn't, so this whole sibling jealousy thing comes out of fucking NOWHERE.

anyway, other than my nitpicky critiques of the characters, i enjoyed this book! i might have to take a peek at what else celeste ng has written.

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erinwolf1997's review

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emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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vedpears's review

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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