Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere is an award winning novel by Celeste Ng. Taking place in the picturesque Shaker Heights, Ohio, the book puts a twist on the whole, "small town with secrets" trope. In this story, even the most innocent of characters is hiding something.

The author incorporated character tropes I've definitely seen before (like a clueless, popular girl) while also developing characters whose personalities were much more complex, like Pearl, one of the protagonists.

I thought the plot was very original. There were several unique overlapping story lines, such as a white couple having a custody battle to adopt an Asian baby, that I've never read in another book. There were compounded layers of plot in the story, dealing with themes of teen sexuality, family tension, surrogacy, art, and identity.

The only thing that really bugged me was the ending. The book begins with this dramatic scene of a house on fire which actually turns out to be the end of the story. The whole novel I was waiting to see how everything led up to that dramatic climax. When I finally got there I thought, "That's it?" The crazy ending didn't seem justified based on the rest of the novel.

I also thought the book made too many overt references to fire. We get it. Stuff is metaphorically burning inside of the characters.

Overall, I would for sure recommend this book. It falls perfectly in the gap between Young Adult novel and Official Adult book.

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