A review by madelinequinnee
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

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

5.0

Wow, this was incredible. 

I think this book did a really good job of reflecting how a lot of people in this day and age think. There are a lot of Mrs Richardsons in this world, women who think they’re very open minded and ‘woke’ for lack of better word, but deep down have the same prejudices as openly racist or classist people. We hear how she supposedly believed everyone was equal, yet she had many opinions on Bebe and her situation that could be seen as microaggressions. She also white knighted herself when it first came to Pearl and Mia, how she thought renting the house out to ‘lesser fortunate’ people was her doing a big good deed for the world, and then basically forcing Mia to take the housekeeper job since she couldn’t see how working at the restaurant on minimum wage could be fulfilling to anyone. 

I personally found Lexie becoming one of my favourite characters by the end of the book. To begin with, she seemed like your typical shallow, rich teen girl who only cared about superficial things, but as we got to know her, we saw how smart and emotionally intelligent she was. Her abortion story was heartbreaking but one that mirrors a lot of young girls from her background own’s. We got to see her grow and become more understanding to other people’s situations after going through her own troubles, and I think that was really interesting. 

I think Moody is a good example of the ‘sensitive, art type’ who is really just an incel behind that act. The way he reacted when he thought Pearl was the one who had an abortion really showed his true colours. 

Overall i think this was a wonderful book! 

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