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Last year, I read Celeste NG’s first novel ” Everything I Never Told You.” I related to the characters and found myself wanting to read more from the author. So I added “Little Fires Everywhere” to my ever-growing TBR list. The novel had slipped my mind until I saw the trailer for the Hulu adaption of her novel. I picked up a copy of the novel as a birthday gift to myself. For months it sat on my bookshelf. Life is like that sometimes and things get put on hold.
Since I had a nine-hour driver ahead of me from Kansas City to Denver, I thought it’d be perfect to listen to the novel while I drove to Denver. With my Audible plus membership, I was able to download the audiobook version and listen to it on my drive to Denver. It gives you access to their catalog of included audiobooks, podcasts, originals, and more in the Plus Catalog. It’s been helpful in tackling the books on my TBR list. So I was finally able to take “Little Fires Everywhere” off my TBR list, share my thoughts on the novel, and watch the Hulu adaption.
The Story
Little Fires Everywhere takes place in the quiet suburban town of Shaker Heights. Mia and her daughter Pearl arrive in the affluent planned town of Shaker Heights, OH, and form a relationship with members of the Richardson family. The relationship between the parents and the four children are the main focus of the book as well as the transracial adoption of a Chinese American baby by another white family in the area, the McCulloughs. The novel follows complex relationships of social, class, and legal between all the individuals. As you read through the novel you start to realize how much they judge one another. NG’s work brings to light how those who fail to consider other ways of living can limit the relationships that we are able to build.
The book opens in such a way to set up the focus on class with the Richardson’s house up in flames. While the neighbors gather around to see what’s happening, the reader is taken through the events of the summer. It sets the tone of the neighborhood, a gossipy privileged community. It’s a place where people have 800-people weddings and four-car families. As well as a utopia that isn’t welcoming to change.
As the book develops, the reader not only gets a feel for Shaker Heights but gets to know the residents as well. Elena Richardson thinks she is performing a charity by renting her house out to those who are “deserving.” Not only does’ she judge those with less economic support she also expects them to be submissive in return for the “favor.” In the book, Mia and her daughter are her latest case. After Elena pays Mia a visit, she intrigued by the way she lives and also amazed by her art. Mia and her daughter disregard the status quo of the carefully ordered community. They live differently, they don’t have a lot, shop at thrift stores, and do what they can to make ends meet.
Final Thoughts
“Little Fires Everywhere” took me back to the privileged neighborhood I used to live in. An upper-class neighborhood in the Northland of Kansas City. Whenever something out of the ordinary was happening, everyone was outside gossiping and trying to figure out what was going on. It was a where the residents weren’t welcoming to change and its benefits. “Little Fires Everywhere” made me think a lot about social class, and how it plays a part in how we interact with one another. How we judge one another when we’re all the same. Mia and Elena were mothers in different situations trying to do the best for their children. They both had the same goals but did different things to reach them.
Since I’ve finished the novel, I plan on watching the Hulu adaptation. Season one is only eight episodes, so I plan on taking a Saturday to binge-watch the series. I’m looking forward to watching the series and I hope I enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the novel. Have you read the novel or watched the Hulu adaptation of the novel?
If you’d like to read the novel for yourself, you can grab a copy of it here.
Related post: A Review of Welcome to the new World
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I haven’t read anything by this author yet. I’m glad to hear you have enjoyed her books so much that you sought out more of her books. And I totally understand the buying a book with intend of reading it soon after but then not touching it for a while, I do that all too often. This sounds like quite an interesting read. I don’t think I have read anything like this before but I am admittedly quite intrigued by your review, so I will need to check this one out.
Thanks for stopping. It’s definitely an interesting read and worth checking out. I’m hopeful after the semester ends I can get back into reading regularly.