Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

83 reviews

therestisconfetti's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

My god. I am in awe of this tour de force of a piece of masterful writing. The way Ng so deftly manoeuvred the plot, weaving a web of complex characters. The way she fleshed each and every person out, and somehow make them all loveable and despicable at the same time. Despicable is a strong word, I admit, but it is how I view many of them. They are all flawed, but they are all human. How is it possible that I can understand and love and hate each and everyone of them simultaneously? 
I still don’t like Izzy even by the end of the book. It’s not to say her motives are impossible to understand. But she gets on my nerves even more than Mrs McCullough, whose flaws can be summarised in that one almost snarky sentence at the very end of the novel: that she already loves the new baby she’s yet to have with all her heart like she did Mirabelle, the new baby’s birth parents wouldn’t put up a fight, that the new baby wouldn’t have known another mother. 
The themes explored in this book are so obviously written by a person of colour and a mother that I kept cringing and laughing with delight. Ed Lim’s ‘lamentations’ (for a lack of better words) really struck a chord with me: is this the world my children are going to live in? Early, yes, but a concern to consider nevertheless. It’s true that the world has improved, and I am fortunate to live in a society/community where I still have my culture around. But - how would the children react, being forced and torn between two often conflicting worlds? And the fact that I can totally relate to both mothers - well, the trio if the meddling (oops) Mrs Richardson is to be counted - shows how much Ng has really considered this morally grey story. I understand that the message is a mother deserves to be with her child, but somehow I feel that in the elaborate and intimate arguments in favour of the McCalloughs, there is a part of Ng questioning the final decision. Obviously at the end, May Ling’s reunion with Bebe shows that Ng is on Bebe’s side. But why not make the other side more hateful, if there is not some sympathy for them after all? 
The story is not THAT original, but that’s not a flaw of it. In fact, it’s what makes this compelling story even better. It had me literally on the edge of my seat, and I couldn’t stop reading or thinking about it. It made me uncomfortable because I see myself in them - these beautiful and ugly people. I doubt I’ll read it again because the way it made my toes curl with unease was almost too much to bear. But I can’t wait to read another book by Celeste Ng. Perfect score for a perfect book. 

(I can’t resist so here goes: someone tell TJR this is how you write from the POV of a POC - not lecturing, especially about something you wouldn’t have experienced at such a level. I had to say it.) 
(And THIS is how you build characters and write a coming of age story.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Abandonment

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Violence

reygov's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Infertility

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

natfoster's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Kidnapping and Abortion

Minor: Sexual content

unusuallyy's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

very well written with an amazing flow between different events. explores regular issues teenagers face, issues adults face (especially women), and provides all sides of multiple stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Infertility, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual content

arson (and not in a silly goofy way)

samanthaleereads's review

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Classism, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Kidnapping, Racism, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content

holapaola's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

The first book I read for leisure in a long time. I found that it was an excellent book to do so - the relationship development between characters kept me reading while the themes of the overarching plot gave me something to think about.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury

zoe_archambault's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Racism, Alcohol, and Child abuse

Minor: Miscarriage

lectricefeministe's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Abortion, Classism, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Sexual content, Death, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Cultural appropriation

kdailyreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Infertility, Death, Classism, Abandonment, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, and Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia, Car accident, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Bullying

Minor: Dementia, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Cancer, Rape, and Blood

vannahcabana's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This book really surprised me. It’s quite mysterious and not at all what I expected! It begins with the end of the book and then goes through the storyline. Lots of twists and turns! At first it was a little complicated to keep up with all the characters and their stories, but I finally understood the differences after several chapters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, and Pregnancy