Little Fires Everywhere: Reese's Book Club
Books | Fiction / Literary
5
Celeste Ng
The #1 New York Times bestseller • Named a Best Book of the Year by People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and more“To say I love this book is an understatement. It’s a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” —Reese Witherspoon“I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting. . . . Be ready to be wowed by Ng's writing—and unsettled by the mirror held up to one's own beliefs.” —Jodi PicoultFrom the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Our Missing Hearts comes a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned—from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren—an enigmatic artist and single mother—who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town—and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs. Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood—and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.
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More Details:
Author
Celeste Ng
Pages
368
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2019-05-07
ISBN
0735224315 9780735224315
Community ReviewsSee all
"This book moves you to be more empathetic"
Chloe
"I honestly don’t know how to rate this book. I kind of hated I but it engaged me; I found it thoughtful but disagreed with many of what I feel are the conclusions about freedom and art and rules and stability. This was a lot more “literary” in the artsy sense than I usually like my books and one doesn’t really like any of the characters, and it doesn’t fully conclude. But it was well written - 5 stars for writing, 2 stars for content? I could rate this anywhere from 2-4 stars."
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Teresa Prokopanko
"I had watched the series that was made based on this book when it came out, and had been fairly neutral on it so hadn’t felt moved to read the book, but earlier this year I read Ng’s Everything I Never Told You and enjoyed that a lot, so decided to give this a read. It had been long enough I only remembered the very basics of the plot, but what I did recall was not liking most of the characters and that’s still the case for the book. <br/><br/>I feel there is an interesting discussion to be had about freedom vs. stability, the idea of being a free spirit and following your passions vs. staying in one place and creating roots and structure, but I don’t feel this book effectively explores that, giving one side much more empathy and understanding than the other. <br/><br/>I did like how the metaphor of fire was carried throughout the book."
Liesl Prentice
"2-3 stars. I need time to consider this more. Very soft 3, for now."
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Paul Garcia
