Review by illegiblescribble - Little Fires Everywhere

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illegiblescribble 's review for:

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

3.0

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

a slow burn drama ostensibly about two families that ends up discussing the different forms motherhood can take and the validity of choosing whether or not one wants to be a mother.

after hearing all the hype for both the book and the show, i was let down by “little fires everywhere.” while i liked the show more – the characters felt significantly more fleshed out, and i liked the changes that were made – neither the book nor the show left a lasting impact. for a story that is purportedly about a legal dispute over a baby, so much time is spent centered on mia and elena and their weird obsession with one another.

none of the adult characters are likeable, which feels strange for a book that so obviously is attempting to make a moral standing. while the teen character are all flawed, their youth and naïveté lends them a significantly greater amount of sympathy due to their potential for growth.

i expected more depth from the conversations this book was attempting to start centering race, adoption, abortion, and privilege. i think the show was able to achieve more depth through casting black actors as mia and pearl and through allowing the teen characters to have more of their own personalities and storyines. however, i believe there are other books out there that do a better job at making the reader think, such as kiley reid’s “such a fun age.”

Content Warnings