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
From 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.
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
I'm surprised to feel so lukewarm about this book after enjoying Everything I Never Told You and seeing so many rave reviews. I found the middle section about Mia's youth the most interesting, but I failed to fully connect with the bulk of the novel. I found the idea of a supposedly idyllic suburbia hiding dysfunction overdone, and most of the characters were flimsy and lacked believable motivation. There were some interesting themes, especially regarding motherhood and who is able to access it and embody it appropriately. A strength was the compassionate exploration of how often "neglectful" parents are actually parents who lack resources but not love. However, the story felt a little disjointed to me - I love a good multi-arc narrative that ties together satisfyingly, but the threads of this story just did not feel as tightly-woven as they could have been. It felt like there were several separate novels happening, and while some of the details sprinkled into the story earlier did become relevant later on in a fairly gratifying way, something felt a little messy to me. I particularly wished there had been more attention paid to Izzy, who seemed like an interesting character: rebellious and hard on the outside, but very emotional and vulnerable just under the surface. Because she plays such a pivotal role in the narrative - particularly the way it's framed at the beginning of the novel - I hoped for a more robust exploration of who she truly was. There were certain things that felt far-fetched, which took me out of the world of the novel. The constant use of fire metaphors was kind of clever and kind of annoyingly conspicuous.
There are some interesting things to chew over here, but ultimately I found this a lot more shallow than Everything I Never Told You. I don't feel like this will be one I return to, even in thought.
