Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
A friend who is a reader recommended this one and said she could not put it down. I agree that I could not put it down, but more because I am on vacation and its like 18 degrees outside and I have done my shopping and groceries and house cleaning and the kids are enjoying their Christmas presents so why shouldn't I just curl up and read this book kind of way, not that I found the book un-put-down-able in and of itself. That said, I did enjoy it and I immediately looked up other books by Ng to add to my "To Read" list.
The story revolves around two families, one a traditional family with deep roots in the community, the other a single mom and her daughter recently arrived in town. It had hints of Big Little Lies to it so if you liked that book, this one will be right up your alley. Here, the relationships are between the teenage children in both families and between the children and the moms. The "Dad" is largely absent, the money maker whose main job in the story is to tell the mom that their wayward daughter would be "fine" and to be the inside source for details on the latest court battles. Father's are not valued in this book or portrayed as valuable, a significant lapse in the plot in my opinion.
Ng's mothers have complicated relationships with their children and she seems to explore these narratively rather than allowing the story to tell about them. We get an in depth description of why Elena and Izzy's relationship is so fraught, but with respect to Trip, we get an elongated version of "my kid is a shallow cutie who I love in spite of his limitations how did I not know what he was up to?" The author wants us to think this is a picture perfect family but the kids seem to drift in and out of the house and wander here and there in this picture perfect town and no one ever really knows where they are or what they are up to and there certainly doesn't seem to be much parental supervision. Elena is supposedly this great mom with a razor sharp sense of right and wrong but boy, she could use some of Chidi's ethics lessons. I found that Izzy's role challenged my disbelief just a little too much. I liked Moody and Lexie; I thought Trip was a little too one dimensional. I liked Mia the artist, probably better than Mia the mom.
Ultimately I liked the book just fine and I think the Hulu mini-series will be at the top of my viewing list in 2019 (assuming it comes out on schedule). I'd recommend the book, though not as a highly as other's seem to be doing.
Rating: #4, Liked It.
The story revolves around two families, one a traditional family with deep roots in the community, the other a single mom and her daughter recently arrived in town. It had hints of Big Little Lies to it so if you liked that book, this one will be right up your alley. Here, the relationships are between the teenage children in both families and between the children and the moms. The "Dad" is largely absent, the money maker whose main job in the story is to tell the mom that their wayward daughter would be "fine" and to be the inside source for details on the latest court battles. Father's are not valued in this book or portrayed as valuable, a significant lapse in the plot in my opinion.
Ng's mothers have complicated relationships with their children and she seems to explore these narratively rather than allowing the story to tell about them. We get an in depth description of why Elena and Izzy's relationship is so fraught, but with respect to Trip, we get an elongated version of "my kid is a shallow cutie who I love in spite of his limitations how did I not know what he was up to?" The author wants us to think this is a picture perfect family but the kids seem to drift in and out of the house and wander here and there in this picture perfect town and no one ever really knows where they are or what they are up to and there certainly doesn't seem to be much parental supervision. Elena is supposedly this great mom with a razor sharp sense of right and wrong but boy, she could use some of Chidi's ethics lessons. I found that Izzy's role challenged my disbelief just a little too much. I liked Moody and Lexie; I thought Trip was a little too one dimensional. I liked Mia the artist, probably better than Mia the mom.
Ultimately I liked the book just fine and I think the Hulu mini-series will be at the top of my viewing list in 2019 (assuming it comes out on schedule). I'd recommend the book, though not as a highly as other's seem to be doing.
Rating: #4, Liked It.
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