To start, Ng is a phenomenal writer. The imagery is clear and does what is intended - for you to imagine. The story has a graceful, elegant flow, moving seamlessly from one character perspective to another, who are - as characters - multi-layered, thoughtful, and relatable. This book sparks fiery discussion questions, chief among them, ones that Ng bluntly poses herself like, What would you do?
A present-day intensely real topic, especially with social media being the launchpad for our opinions, the book is set in the late 1990's in the idyllic Midwest suburb of Shaker Heights. Elena Richardson naively believes that a life following strict structure and rules is a life to be lived undisturbed and unpunished. Many of us know this not to be true, enter newest resident Mia and her teenage daughter, Pearl. Mia rebukes the rules and lives a life of relative uncertainty. When a mutual acquaintance of the two women try to adopt a Chinese American baby, Mia and Elena are suddenly pitted against each other in a poignant reminder that we don't need something to be racist to still have the very subject of race be a driving force.
This is an interesting story that Ng chooses to tell, a simple tale of the lives of a neighborhood as they slowly veer off course through choices they probably shouldn't have made. Then again, as Ng asks, what would you do? The problem is that I find myself asking a different question; the same question I posed on page 90: why does this story need to be told? There are several storylines that are brilliantly engineered and beautifully woven together to form the tapestry of the tumultuous relationship between the Richardson family and pretty much everyone else, but Mia's choices are especially confusing, and the major theme of motherhood, the ties that bind, and nature vs. nurture are overshadowed by tales of teen sex.
A fellow Goodreads reader gave Little Fires Everywhere one out of five stars. Though I like to reward beautiful writing, I can understand why this person had that particular reaction. In my self-described professional reading opinion, the characters fell short of truly being able to empathize and sympathize with them. It was difficult to get a true sense of them, and the book was more or less like a stop on the J. Peterman Reality Tour and we got a brief glimpse into their lives, didn't like what we saw, then quietly went back to our own. Literary rumors have this book becoming a television series, which I am totally on-board with; maybe that is what it will take to truly make Ng's characters come alive.
