A review by kwalker314
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

challenging emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

absolutely loved how this story unfolded. what a beautiful (and at times heartbreaking) depiction of motherhood in all its forms. i loved how the story was built around the parallels and contrasts between mrs richardson and her kids, mia and pearl, and bebe chow and mei lin/mirabelle (and to a lesser extent,

lexie and her unborn child and

), and the way we got to see the richardson kids grow to appreciate and empathize with mia's way of life/parenting style, even as lexie in particular got on my nerves sometimes.

the plot was a bit slow-moving at the beginning but i felt like it really picked up once bebe was introduced, and i particularly enjoyed the court scene where ed lim calls out the mcculloughs for their complete carelessness around the predominant themes/cultural roots in mei lin's toys/books. i also found the scene where lexie

goes to mia and pearl's home to recover and mia takes such sweet care of her

to be so compelling and compassionate. the same goes for izzy's relationship with mia! i just really love found-family themes, particularly when it involves characters that are at last given the love and care they deserve from a parent figure after so long with birth parent(s) that don't give them that at all.

i was a bit disappointed at the relative bleakness of the ending, but i get the sense this wasn't supposed to be the feel-good story i was hoping for, as tough as it is to internalize the themes of this book that probably necessarily lead to the ending we got. that said, i will definitely be reading more of celeste ng's work in the future!