Julie's Review: Little Fires Everywhere

Author: Celeste Ng
Series: None
Publication Date: September 12, 2017
Publisher: Penguin Press
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via Edelweiss+
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: A must read
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Summary: 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. ~amazon.com

Review: Little Fires Everywhere should be the book that everyone is talking about this fall. It is such a well-written and crafted story. There are a few different story lines but they all converge together in the end and they each add an element to the overarching themes. Each of the characters have flaws but they also have redeeming qualities that perhaps, in time, will outweigh the flaws.

The book starts with the Richardson house being on fire and goes back to the events that lead up to this event. From there we are introduced to the tenants, Mia and her daughter Pearl plus the entire Richardson clan headed by the matriarch Mrs. Eleana Richardson. It's easy to look at their life and to think they have it all, great jobs, great kids (for the most part), great house = great life. As we know things aren't always what they seem but they aren't that bad. It would be easy to dislike the Richardson family but I found them likable. They worked for where they got to and prided themselves on building their lives. None of their kids are perfect as we find out but the one that is considered the "black sheep" of the family is the youngest daughter, Izzy. Izzy and her mom are alike and therefore they butt-heads. 

Mia and Pearl are travelers/vagabonds and when they end up in Shaker Heights, Mia promises Pearl that this is it, they are staying put. So Pearl starts to make friends and make an effort at school. Her best friend is Moody Richardson and soon she is at their house after school hanging out and getting to know his siblings, Lexie and Trip. It's not hard to see the writing on the wall when it comes to Trip and Pearl. What I liked is that the Richardson kids are pretty much typical teenagers who find themselves in situations that occur on a regular basis and deal with them as teenagers would.
Pearl is wise beyond her years and as things start to unravel, she's the one who can see the situation the clearest.

There were times when I vacillated between liking Mia and wanting to throttle her. As her back story is uncovered, I spent most of my time wanting to throttle her because of the choices she made. It also made me understand as a reader, why she was always on the move. She did have an uncanny way of reading people and demonstrating that in her art.

I truly enjoyed reading each story-line and then having them all converge in a way that was realistic. If you read one book this fall, I highly recommend Little Fires Everywhere.


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Julie's Review: Everything I Never Told You

Author: Celeste Ng
Series: None
Publication Date: June 26, 2014
Publisher: Penguin Press
Pages: 304
Obtained: from a friend
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Interesting look at how family secrets effect each family member
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Summary: Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party. When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened. A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another. ~amazon.com  

Review: Everything I Never Told You is a poignant family story about how the secrets we keep affect each of a family's members differently. How as parent's we some times can pin our hopes and dreams on our kids without knowing how it can effect them. For the Lee family and their children, being the only Chinese family in a small Ohio town has it's own issues.

Each of the family members in the Lee family has their own secrets, some more harmful than others. Marilyn hasn't been happy for years and the family has swept her disappearance years prior under the rug. Unfortunately, the fallout of her leaving and coming back have had long-term ripples that turn into tidal waves. Lydia is the favorite of the family. It is clear that she is the golden child. Marilyn has all her hopes and dreams pinned on her. James is the working father and husband who doesn't have a clue that something is wrong at home until it's too late. He's also the father who has no clue how to relate to his kids or help them to fit in, except in the most awkward way.

Marilyn has her own issues and a lot of them stem from her relationship with her mother. I don't think she married James to spite her mother but I don't think she had any clue about how difficult it would be for them with no one to help them work through it. She doesn't understand and won't until it's too late how her leaving the family left deep scars.

Hannah, Lydia and Nath all deal with their own issues with their relationships with each other and with their parents. Nath feels largely ignored or that his parents have no interest in what he's interested in. Hannah is the youngest and feels like she's on the outside looking in at her family.

It isn't until the later part of the book that we understand what Lydia was feeling and thinking. You can't help but feel sorry for her. Her parents can't see through their own goals for her to even ask if that's what she wants for her life. Marilyn is the epitome of a helicopter mom before that term was en vogue.

Everything I Never Told You will make you pause and think about how your parents shaped you and how you will shape your children. It is a book that makes you pause and think.


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Brittney's Review: Everything I Never Told You

Author: Celeste Ng
Series: None
Publication Date: May 31, 2015
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 320
Obtained: Purchased
Genre: Literature
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Emotional & tender – a glimpse into a family coping with grief
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary:

“Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia's body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another. – powells.com

Review:

There is a reason this title was selected as a New York Times Notable Book of 2014.

After the death of their daughter, the Lee family goes through absolute hell in dealing with their loss. And as both police and family try to piece together details of Lydia's passing, the reader is left with many questions: How did she die? Who was at fault? Did Lydia want to die, and had she given up?

Celeste Ng weaves a story complete with flashbacks of James & Marilyn's first meeting, their marriage, their successes and failures. And over time, pieces of the puzzle slowly take shape. At first glance, you might think that Marilyn is living her life through her daughter, and pushing her too hard to fulfill her own dreams. By the end of the novel, the picture is clear: you'll never expect the ending.

A tale of heartache, overcoming grief, and how to move on, this book gets one of my few 5/5 scores. Don't skip Everything I Never Told You. Grab a copy and a comfortable chair and clear out your afternoon. You won't be able to stop after the page one.

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