Little Fires Everywhere: Reese's Book Club
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
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
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Community Reviews
Stunning read, I am left with chills and feeling awe inspired but such an amazing work of literature.
The setting in regards to the place in time this book was to have taken place is spot on. It is amazing to read details of a time period and be transported back because that is exactly how life was.
I laughed, cried, smiled, remembered, and everything in between.
Great example of how messy and complicated and beautiful real life can be.
I laughed, cried, smiled, remembered, and everything in between.
Great example of how messy and complicated and beautiful real life can be.
This book is going down as one of my favorites ever. EVER. I don't know if I am still reeling and will regret saying this later but I don't think so. I finished the book last night but the subtle brilliance of Celeste's story has left me wondering, even this morning, am I guilty? complicit? I cannot stop pouring over the characters, the art, the metaphors. Race tension also plays a consistent part.
I'm not going to re-hash the whole plot here or synopsis even. I recommend just reading as blindly as you can.
The overriding theme here, aside from motherhood and what exactly makes one a mother, is judgement without context. We all do it. But here, beware, Celeste will school you before you know what happened.
I need my friends to read this so we can talk about it!
I'm not going to re-hash the whole plot here or synopsis even. I recommend just reading as blindly as you can.
The overriding theme here, aside from motherhood and what exactly makes one a mother, is judgement without context. We all do it. But here, beware, Celeste will school you before you know what happened.
I need my friends to read this so we can talk about it!
Nice story but very sappy.
Nice story about identity, parenthood, life in the suburbs but kind of predictable and very sappy & sentimental. Solid 3 stars.
Nice story about identity, parenthood, life in the suburbs but kind of predictable and very sappy & sentimental. Solid 3 stars.
A solid MEH. This critique of suburban life didn't inspire anything in me save a bit of boredom at the lackluster plot and a lot frustration at the continuous 90s pop-culture references (Jerry Springer, Monica Lewinsky, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Charlie's Angels...). We get it, this was set in the late 90s. Ugh. As a commentary on the clash between nonconformity and conformity, this was a fail. It is starkly black and white in its portrayal of class war. One the one hand you have the robots, incapable of original thought, merely moving through life as programed. They follow rules, they have stable jobs, they drive nice cars, and, the most horrific effrontery of them all, they provide fresh food every day for their children! The horror of these less-than-human creatures!! And on the other hand we have Mia. A creative genius, brilliant, a photographer and artist extraordinaire, unaffected by the evil lure of making money (because kids only need to eat occasionally), and so generous she gives her child not one town to live in and make friends (like those Shaker Heights robots) but 46. Forty-six towns! The characters don't lack depth, exactly, but the background seems to only exist to underscore the dichotomy of Mia and the robots. Mia's back story is filled with her love of her younger brother, how caring she was toward him, and her sacrifices. And the robots? Mistakes. Highlights of how imperfect their lives really are because they chose stability. This was not a horrible book. It was just flat.
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