"Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere utilizes an ensemble cast to weave a tale that explores race, class, motherhood, and art. It is also a methodical, character-driven drama. The book is set in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and takes place in the 1990s. The primary characters include Mia Warren (an itinerant photographer), Mia’s daughter Pearl, and the Richardsons, a white, upper-middle class family who Mia rents an apartment from. The driving conflict is a custody battle over a newborn between the baby’s biological mother, a recent Chinese immigrant, and two long-time residents of Shaker Heights. This battle both captivates and divides Shaker Heights, and drives many in the book to action.

Pros:

The characters are all believably rendered, and each has a distinct voice. This is no mean feat, given the size of the ensemble cast. By the time the book finished, I was invested enough in the characters to actively wonder how their stories would continue to unfold.
The setting is similarly deft, and serves to both portray and skewer white, middle-class communities that consider themselves progressive and, “race blind.”
Though the book explores lots of big ideas, it does never comes across as ham-fisted or preachy.

Cons:

Some of the events over the course of the book seem to fit together too neatly. No one turn broke credulity / believably for me, but taken as a whole, they start to. This includes questions like: why didn’t Mia take out a loan, or attempt to, for her schooling? Why did the abortion clinic director forget that she didn’t lock her computer when leaving the room, or that the list of recent patients was only a click or two away when she stepped out of her office? Why did the art museum just so happen to have one of the portraits featuring Mia and Pearl, especially if only one or two were ever sold / in circulation?
(nit-pick) Ng has certain phrases that appear somewhat regularly throughout the book. They include a character, “knowing something instantly.”
(nit-pick) While the use of 3rd-person omniscient perspective facilitates the use of an ensemble cast, it can occasionally serve to tell instead of show with regards to character feelings and beliefs. This is especially true in the case of Mrs. Peters, the music teacher at the local high school.

Conclusion:

It is easy to see why Little Fires appeared on so many “Best Of,” lists in 2017. It is both sprawling and intimate, asking the reader to reckon with both character drama and big ideas. Though this book may not be for everyone, especially given the slow pace, I found it more than worth the trip.

Check it out here.