Every one of her characters was flawed, yet all had redeeming traits that made me ‘umm’ and ‘err’ over who I thought was in the right. Once again, the writing was exquisite, but more exciting than that was the fact that I actually loved the characters this time! I really appreciate how Celest Ng is willing to make her characters real people. Thank goodness I gave her another chance. They were just too unlikeable in that novel for my taste.

Having read Everything I Never Told You by the same author, I knew I loved Celeste Ng’s writing style but did not love her characters. But Mia and Elena clash, and as their kids get more and more entangled, the secrets both have been trying to keep hidden come pouring out. She’s kind-hearted for the most part, even going so far as to offer Mia a part-time job as her housekeeper and having Pearl over for dinner on the regular. They move to Shaker Heights under the promise that this time they’d stay for the long-haul, and rent a house from posh Elena Richardson.Įlena is your classic high-achieving mother who expects her kids to be high-achievers too. Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl have been moving place to place, sometimes living in their car, to accomodate Mia’s career as an artist and her apparent inability to stay still. The ‘little fires everywhere’ (in my opinion) refers to the many, many mistakes that each of the fairly large cast of characters makes throughout the novel. The ‘mystery’ of who set the fire really isn’t a big part of the novel in my opinion. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this could be considered a ‘coming of age’ novel, since there are so many aspects teenage angst in this book.

It’s about how our actions as parents can unwittingly affect our children, especially as they move into young adulthood. Instead, it is a story of motherhood and the thin line between right and wrong.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng is not, as I had originally anticipated, a thriller or suspense novel.

Little fires everywhere author