I didn't read Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You, but obviously heard great things about it. (And must read it at some point.) I've had a bit of a lull in the arrival of new books of late however, so when I saw this in an online catalogue, jumped at the chance to read it.

I'm a little worried however, exactly how I'll describe the transfixing allure of this book and if I'll do justice to it. But I shall try....

I think the most interesting and the very clever thing about this book is that it starts with a moment that is - essentially - the end. Sort of. It occurs to me circular plots used to be more of a thing, however more recently we're offered prologues reflecting some past event and then move forward from there. Or we jump back and forth to see how our characters move from the past to the present.

Ng opens this book with the Richardsons' house on fire. No one - at least none of her family - doubt it was Isabelle (Izzy) the youngest of four children. Only her brother Moody (second youngest of the siblings) suggests they offer her the benefit of the doubt.

And then we head back in time.

I made a note halfway through the book that we were STILL embroiled in the backstory, waiting to jump forth to learn more about Izzy's fate. I didn't realise at the time the entire book is an explanation of how 'we' (well, Izzy her family, Mia and Pearl) got to that point and place in time.

Although Ng writes well, it's more the plot itself that draws we readers into this mesmerising tale. She develops complex characters - not at all black / white - although they may appear that way on first glance. Ng delves into their shiny and smooth exteriors to give us a glimpse into what lies beneath. Mirroring that of the Shaker Heights community in many ways.

Pearl's journey (#sorrynotsorry) was probably one of the more interesting. (And I think - though it's bizarrely hard to recall even though I only read it last night* - that most of the book is told from her point of view, with snippets via Mrs Richardson now and then.)

Because of the way the book opens, I assumed the focus would be Izzy, but - although we spend more time with her later - the central character of this book is really Pearl. And she is a delight. She's insightful, but surprises us. Often. 

"It was as if she glanced at a pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces and saw the whole picture without even consulting the box. Pearl's mind, it became clear, was an extraordinary thing, and Moody could not help but admire how fast her brain worked, how effortlessly. It was a pure pleasure, watching her click everything into place." pg 35

Pearl's used to the transient life she's been living with her mother but keen for something different and her mother promises some stability so her smart talented daughter can live a more normal life.

She didn't however, count on Pearl's submersion into the Richardson family. it worries her mother, but before she knows it Mrs Richardson (always looking for a philanthropic project) draws Mia into the family circle as well, though she (surprisingly) bonds with the usually surly and much-maligned Izzy more than her siblings.

Interestingly it's not the obvious wealth of the Richardson children that Pearl initially envies. It's the stability, or sense of presence she's never had. Something (I suspect) that comes from finding your place in the world and knowing you belong there.

"They were so artlessly beautiful, even right out of bed. Where did this ease come from? How could be so at home, so sure of themselves, even in their pajamas?" p 39

Things obviously fall to pieces, which culminates in Izzy's ultimate act of rebellion and it's interesting to follow the myriad of threads (or small fires I guess) which get us there.

Much of the 'backstory' includes more backstory. We revisit Elena Richardson's younger years and better understand her feelings towards Izzy - though it's bloody frustrating and incredibly unfair.

"... the feeling coalesced in all of them: Izzy pushing, her mother restraining, and after a time no one could remember how the dynamic started, only that it had existed always." p 102

We also meet a younger Mia and discover how she came to be living in the Richardsons' rental property.

We eventually get back to the house fire at the beginning and though there's some sense of closure and some answers, I was happily left hanging in many respects. It's not the sort of novel in which we expect everyone and everything to end 'happily ever after'.

It's deeper and more complex in many ways and reminds us that people aren't always who they appear to be; and that Atticus Finch remains correct in his assertion that we can't understand others' actions until we've walked in their shoes... and perhaps even then we can't ever recreate their circumstances and state of mind.

I very much enjoyed this book by Ng which touches on a number of social issues as well as the parent / child dynamic, and wraps them up in a complex, mesmerising and (just slightly) heartbreaking story.

As an aside, the only slightly weird thing for me is that the book is obviously set in the past but it felt like it took a while to work out when. There was mention of an early mobile phone, before context added by reference to the (then) President Clinton.

* I suspect this is because the book 'feels' as if we get into the heads of the Richardson siblings, which gets us even more invested in the plot and their lives.

I really love Celeste Ng's writing and after enjoying her first novel 'Everything I never told you' I had high expectations of this one - I wasn't disappointed. Mia and her daughter Pearl live nomadic lives, travelling from place to place living a hand to mouth existence with Mia taking on just enough work to make ends meet and devoting the rest of her time to her art. But when they arrive in the planned community of Shaker Heights and become tenants of the wealthy, suburban Richardson family Mia tells Pearl that this is the end of their itinerant ways and Pearl begins to make firm friends with all of the Richardson children. Things are not quite as they seem however, and as the lives of the Shaker Heights inhabitants become more entwined, secrets of the past unfurl with wide-reaching effects. Celeste Ng writes beautifully evoking a wonderful sense of time and place and allows the plot to develop at a perfect pace. Thoroughly recommended.

4 stars!

“The earth is all scorched and black and everything green is gone. But after the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that too, you know. They start over. They find a way.”

Little Fires Everywhere is my first book by Celeste Ng and I didn't even think I'd get approved by NetGalley since the book was already published when I requested but here we are. Fun fact: I requested two editions of this book, the US and UK one because the US one was already published and I never thought I'd get either but somehow, I did. This is a slow burn book, it demands time to read it and you can't do so in one sitting, I think it took me almost two weeks to finish it but not in a bad way, more like, I needed to take my time with this one and read it in small pieces. Ng's writing from the first pages hooks you in and in just the first chapters, this world comes to life and these people become like a real life scene you can't look away from.

The book takes place in Shaker Heights, which I didn't know was a real place and pretty much everything that happens in the book - as far as the inner city politics go - is true, which was amazing to read about and a lot of things made me want to actually google stuff and read up on it, so fascinating. Little Fires Everywhere starts with two families, polar opposites, that have one thing in common, their teenage kids are friends. Mia and Pearl are the newcomers that move to Shaker Heights and rent a house from the Richardsons. The story takes its sweet time, told from a third POV, it travels from character to character whether it's the main two families or the students and teachers, tells bits and pieces of their past, present and sometimes future, it creates the perfect narration and it brings this odd city to life with the details and the amazing writing.

Mia and Pearl is a duo that has traveled all around the country, as Mia uses each place as inspiration for her art and they live paycheck to paycheck. Half way into the book and after the mother/daughter pair have settled in and they are now making friends and living a normal life with a steady home, an event shakes things up even more when another family close to the Richardsons adopts a Chinese baby. By that time the book has already introduced the main characters and as a reader I was in the process of figuring them out when, half way in, the adoption happens.

Elena Richardson and Mia are on opposite sides of the custody battle and that gives Elena the excuse to search Mia's unknown past. The book asks really hard questions about parenthood and what really makes a parent, is it biology or the ability to take care of a child better than the biological mother? So perfectly titled, Mia and Pearl's arrival sets little fires in this quiet city set a few decades ago - I didn't appreciate the Lewinsky references, can we let that woman be already?! - that makes this story all the more appealing with the lack of technology that would have changed it a lot.

Despite the fact that it took me time to read it, it wasn't because it was boring or I wasn't interesting. The story is intense and just a few chapters can cover more narration and storyline than I'm used to reading but it made me want to keep coming back to it after I'd put the book down. If you're in the mood for a slow read with lots of city politics and different characters then this is the book for you, personally I will be adding more books by the author on my TBR list.

Can't stop thinking about this one - I absolutely love Celeste Ng's writing. Really absorbing, rounded and believable characters. Great story - I raced through it. Loved the complexity and the contrasts of the two mothers.

Little Fires Everywhere is an intricate and observant novel that shines a light on false perfection and the intricate way in which everyday things are interlinked. Shaker Heights is a carefully planned suburb of Cleveland, where everything has order and they pride themselves on being progressive. Elena Richardson embodies much of Shaker’s ideals, but when the Richardson house is found burnt down, the recent past must be unravelled to see how the arrival of the Richardson’s tenants, the artist Mia and her teenage daughter Pearl, affected the four Richardson children, their parents, and the whole community, showing how underneath things aren’t always quite as they seem.

The narrative structure is particularly impressive, with an omniscient narrator flashing back from the burnt house to tell the story from many perspectives in a way that foreshadows and hints at past events in a satisfying way. Key moments and details that will clearly cause a ‘little fire’ later on, be misunderstood or reinterpreted by other characters, are apparent to the reader, but also not overly signposted by the writing. Through this, the book has a great sense of connection and coincidence as the present and past come together in the relationship between the Richardsons and their new tenants and in the battle over the custody of a Chinese-American baby that grips Shaker Heights and puts Elena and Mia on different sides.

Little Fires Everywhere is a novel somehow both charming and tense, with the drama between the characters built upon tiny moments and the overall narrative one that doesn’t reveal surprises so much as fill in the gaps to show how interpretations can be different. The teenage characters are a highlight and this is the kind of adult novel that can also be enjoyed by older teenagers. This tangle of characters and detail is an impressive book with a very satisfying linking of structure and themes and a very apt title in multiple ways. The ‘little fires’ are what makes the novel blaze.

Unpopular opinion, but I really didn't enjoy this book. I wanted to. I really wanted to, and after seeing nothing but great reviews for it I was sure this would be in one of my top books I've read this year, but sadly it isn't.

Truth be told, I found it extremely boring and long winded. The descriptions dragged and I didn't particularly care for any of the characters. The main plot point that initially drew me into the story wasn't properly explored until about 45% through and even then it was resolved fairly quickly.

Celeste Ng can write, there's no doubt about that. However, this just wasn't for me and I'm deeply disappointed.

You should go into this book expecting what it is: a slow-moving character portrait filled with complex family dynamics and small-town politics. If you know what this is, like with Ng's Everything I Never Told You, and don't go into it expecting fast-pacing and high-octane drama, you will probably find this quiet read to be extremely engrossing and emotional.

I have to be in the mood for this kind of read, but when I am, it packs a powerful punch. These characters are so vivid, so real, so caught up in the little fires of everyday life in Shaker Heights. There's several stories going on in here, but the book begins with literal fires lighting up the Richardson household and the knowledge that the youngest daughter, Izzy, the wild card, has disappeared. Presumably because she is guilty of the arson.

Then we move back from there. We start to get a portrait of the events leading up to this dramatic fire. We see the poor artist, Mia, and her daughter, Pearl, move into town and the effect they have on all members of the Richardson family. Further back, we get the past stories of almost every character who comes into this book. It is such a rich work in which the personal stories and experiences of secondary characters play a huge part in influencing how events unfold.

And, behind it all, is a court case that will affect all the characters lives. A custody battle over a Chinese baby who could be given every toy, every desire, every opportunity by her rich and white adoptive parents - but is that all? Is that enough when her poor birth mother is ready and willing to care for her? Things become very tense. The town becomes divided. And I felt an emotional wreck by the end of it, too.
Mrs. Richardson, however, could not let Izzy be, and the feeling coalesced in all of them: Izzy pushing, her mother restraining, and after a time no one could remember how the dynamic had started, only that it had existed always.

The Richardson family, along with Mia and Pearl, Bebe, and the McCulloughs, all pulled me into their lives. I despised a character at one point, only to find pity for them a couple of chapters later. The relationship between Izzy and her mother was a real point of interest for me. How Mrs. Richardson's fears about Izzy affected her behaviour toward her, which in turn affected how Izzy behaved. All leading to the ultimate question: was Izzy always what Mrs. Richardson feared she was? Or did Mrs. Richardson create what she most feared through her treatment of Izzy?

Little Fires Everywhere is a great example of how small character dynamics can create a powerful and fascinating story. I love the empathy the author shows for all the people in this book - even the manipulative, morally corrupt and undeserving. No one is merely good or bad. And that is what makes the book so effective. Whose side am I on? I'll let you know if I ever figure it out.

This book is simply wonderful. It tells the story of the Richardson family, well-to-do and living in the affluent town of Shaker Heights. When new tenants Mia, the artist and her daughter, Pearl move into the neighbourhood, they impact on all of the Richardsons in startling ways. What I really enjoyed about this book was the foreshadowing. We know from the outset what will happen and the book then goes about the delicious process of telling us how we get there. The characters are incredibly well drawn and totally believable. They are all flawed in their own unique ways and all skirt the border between right and wrong. The narrative flows with a fluidity that makes it one of those books that you just keep on reading without realising. There are some great debates here about what makes a good mother, whether cultural difference should be embraced or ignored and what place art has in the world. All of the issues, some quite painful and 'hot button', are viewed with objectivity and the book stays away from drawing any conclusions - that is left up to the reader. I think this would make a great book club read and I really look forward to reading Celeste Ng in the future - she is an author of consummate skill.