Book Review - Little Fires Everywhere

A little late in reviewing this book which was also doing a lot of rounds on social media in the first part of this year. I read this a couple of months back and somehow couldn't get to writing about it till now. 

Little Fires Everywhere, the second novel by the American author - Celeste Ng has a very promising title and starts of in that direction too. This is about two families in a rule bound community called Shaker Heights and how their lives entwine over the course of time. 

Mia and her daughter Pearl are tenants of Mrs. Richardson and her family's flat, not too far from their house. Mia is an artist, drifter and single mother. With her unconventional choice of career and part time jobs to scrap through, she carries an aura of enigma around her. 

As Pearl and the four children of Richardson's family - Lexie, Trip, Moody and Izzy get to know each other and start to spend more and more time together, they are slowly drawn into the intricacies of each other's lives. Added to this is the mystery behind Mia's past, which slowly unravels through the book and ends up stirring up their until then peaceful lives. There is also a parallel plot of Mrs. Richardson's family friends whose foster child's custody comes into question and pits Mia and Mrs. Richardson against each other in this battle. In her blind obsession to win, Mrs. Richardson relentlessly digs into Mia's past and ends up bringing unexpected hard to her own family. 

While this book is slow paced and more a character analysis of individuals, it was an easy and fast read. I did find a lot of issues with the plot which were too glaring to ignore. Also, this book had the feels of an young adult fiction to me. It could give you company on a long flight or an overnight train journey with its non committal story line. 

I gave it a 3 stars on Goodreads.

Happy Reading!
SSB