Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere kept me hooked until the very end with its web of secrets and morally gray concepts. Following the neighborhood drama of Mia and Pearl, the Richardsons and the McCulloughs through classism, adoption trauma, and every kind of family challenge you can imagine felt like a roller coaster ride. There were so many storylines and at times the plot felt a bit overcrowded, with some moments feeling out of place. However, in the end, just about all the loose ends were tied up in a fascinating way. My loyalties were pretty divided and shifted frequently. I'm still conflicted about how the book "should" have ended, but this made the actual ending all the more thought provoking. While it’s not a thriller or true crime novel, it often felt like one, with moments of tension and suspense that kept me flipping pages. I devoured it in a day.

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thegardenlesbian's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This is a story about mothers: what does it mean to be one, who can be one, who gets to define it, the lengths one will take to be one. The writing is fantastic and I loved the pacing —very slow at first, like watching a street on a Sunday. Nonetheless, it builds up and then goes quite fast. As a daughter (and an eldest daughter of an eldest daughter), it made me think a lot about motherhood, what they go through, what they sacrifice, what they long for, what they think could have been. The class and race aspects of the book give it an added profoundness, intersecting the questions above with them and creating new ones (can motherhood be revoked?, can it be bought?). In conclusion, it's an amazing novel, one I'll probably re-read sometime.

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sweetcari's review

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emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Haunting and reflective. I think I’ll be thinking about this one for a long long time.

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joshpow3ll's review

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emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I don't normally read books like this. I don't normally read small town dramas about an outsider coming into a perfect community and blowing it all up. And yet I loved it.

The initial chapter, providing a dramatic reveal of the ending, I think was necessary considering the rest of the first half really took its time to build the setting and wide ensemble of characters. But past the first half, everything accelerated and fell into place quite quickly. It took me a few days to start, but only a few hours to finish.

It did feel pretentious at times, particularly with some dictionary-reaching choices of vocabulary and delves into art theory, but I'm glad I didn't let them get in the way of an enjoyable read.

The politics and well-meaning liberal speak about race in the 1990s was also interesting to read in comparing how far popular culture has come since then. To me it didn't come across as too preachy, but I think my conservative relatives would disagree with me on that!

Interested to see what else Celeste Ng has in store for her readers in the future!

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tell_them_stories's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.75

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april_liebt_libros123's review

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

Phenomenal book. A very complex coming of age story in a way that spans generations; a reminder that we've never arrived, and that there's always some learning and changing to occur as we learn more about the world around us. This book is a classic for sure, one I see being used as coursework literature material for generations to come. This book discusses class, race, womanhood, girlhood, existentialism, and quiet literally every facet of American life in a subtle, tangible, relatable way that's poignant yet never preachy. A story for the ages for sure. Everyone should read this book

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rach_marie'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

4.75

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idesofmarch's review

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emotional reflective 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

3.5

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