An evocative and complex portrait of suburbia

A highly readable, wonderfully absorbing tale about motherhood, secrets and lies, set in the affluent, verdant perfection of Shaker Heights - a purpose built suburb on the edge of Cleveland, Ohio.

The plot centres around two families, the well-heeled, comfortably complacent Richardsons - mother, father and four children - and the hard-up Warrens, single mother Mia and her daughter Pearl, tenants of the Richardsons with little known past. In between is a tug-of-love court case surrounding an abandoned Chinese baby adopted by friends of the Richardsons. This sparks high and conflicting emotions in Shaker Heights, forcing the town to take sides between the baby's birth mother, a desperate Chinese immigrant, and the McCulloughs. It leads nearly into the unwanted revealing of well-concealed secrets for both the Warrens and the Richardsons.

The story is skilfully told, weaving various narratives together. It is a character-led tale, well observed. The novel opens at the end, as the Richardsons' perfect home burns to the ground then takes us back to the beginning when the Warrens first arrive. The plot picks up pace as events take their toll and deeds have dire consequences. Lives begin to unravel and skeletons are revealed, and perfection of the family structure splits apart. It is a multifaceted novel full of interesting dimensions.

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33 people found this helpful

An ambitious and tender novel - not a thriller!

'Little Fires Everywhere' is a straight-up thriller...' says the Sunday Times quote on Amazon. No, it isn't! From the cover and title I thought this was going to be a psychological thriller, too, and it opens with a house burning down, so it's an easy mistake to make. But whilst it is a page-turner, for sure, it's quite possible (thank goodness) for a novel to be unputdownable without murders and mayhem. 'Little Fires Everywhere' is better pigeon-holed (if it's pigeon holes you're after) as a character-driven novel which focuses on two sets of people - a wealthy family and an artist and her daughter - and explores how they impact one another’s lives. Set against the backdrop of the perfect American suburb, it's well written and structured, rich with detail and a diverse cast of characters, held together by an omniscient narrator.

It explores race, culture and creativity, teen angst, love and family ties, but for me the overarching theme was motherhood - others will disagree I'm sure, which only goes to show we all read and hear stories differently. One thing I particularly liked was the portrayal of Mia, a fine art photographer - whereas sometimes artists in novels and films are portrayed unconvincingly (the same is true of musicians - I've yet to see a Sherlock actually play the violin) - the descriptions of her work were so vivid I felt I could see her work spread before me.

In the middle the narration sags a touch, but what shines throughout is a quiet and subtle sense of morality, and having just devoured a psych thriller that started well but got sillier and sillier, it was a wonderful antidote to listen to a novel that comes together brilliantly and where the end was satisfying and true to all the characters involved.

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4 people found this helpful

Sensitive issues and real characters

Wasn't sure at the beginning but ended up really enjoying this book. Well written.

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Slightly different to the TV show

I struggled with this at first, took some getting used to the narrator. But overall I liked the book more than the show, the show had waaaay too much drama in it, the book was easier to follow.

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Beautiful storytelling

beautifully engaging but left wanting more. The story captivated and turned quickly. The themes intertwined with each other, I just felt that I needed more closure- personal preference.

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interesting story about little incidents

relationships, attitudes, classicism, race all covered in this book, I enjoyed it had and nice hopeful ending

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Little and not so little secrets everywhere

Two very different families become entwined and secrets become uncovered. I enjoyed the characters past histories and how their personalities developed. A great story.

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Great story

Took me a little while to get into it because I was worried it might be soap opera-esque which I’m not really into but it wasn’t and I enjoyed it. I found the accent of the narrator hard to listen to at times but that says more about me than the narrator!! My British ears find thick NY accents a bit Hollywood. It’s not a criticism just a note. It’s not worth criticising since the story and performance really were great - it’s simply a matter of taste.

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slow start interesting end

it took me along time to get into this book but towards the end I wanted everyone to know the truth. some people didn't. so not a totally happy ending. along of time was spent detailing people's lives but I was left thinking did we need to know all that when it didn't seem to part of the story.
having said that I was expecting a big reveal but some people did not get what they needed to know. I guess it is like life. people always come Thier own conclusions dispite the facts

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Excellent

Gripping, thought provoking and enjoyable. Definitely recommend. I really enjoyed this story and the narrator was great too.

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