What a show!! I generally don’t like shows like this (I.e. Drama shows?) but this is such a profound project that peeks into race, family, and society, that it is hard not to praise. I began watching this series after hearing the background on Reese Witherspoon’s decision to help produce a television adaption of the book. (It was an awesome story of women supporting women! Definitely look into it!) Both Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington play amazing adaptations of each character. They create very human representations of both women— making you struggle, at times, to “pick a side” between the two. Mia and Elena are both flawed characters— just like us in real life. Both have characteristics about them that make them great mothers, but both also have ... MoreWhat a show!! I generally don’t like shows like this (I.e. Drama shows?) but this is such a profound project that peeks into race, family, and society, that it is hard not to praise. I began watching this series after hearing the background on Reese Witherspoon’s decision to help produce a television adaption of the book. (It was an awesome story of women supporting women! Definitely look into it!) Both Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington play amazing adaptations of each character. They create very human representations of both women— making you struggle, at times, to “pick a side” between the two. Mia and Elena are both flawed characters— just like us in real life. Both have characteristics about them that make them great mothers, but both also have characteristics and secrets that make you pause and go 🤔. This is an entertaining show that definitely makes you think. While watching this, you will challenge yourself on some of your values, beliefs, and feelings related to identity, family, and what makes a “mom.” I couldn’t stop watching this show and I highly recommend that you give it a chance, too. I think you will be surprised with how this show makes you feel and what this show makes you think.

“Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way.” Little Fires Everywhere by @pronounced_ing takes place in Shaker Heights, which is your typical suburban rich neighborhood: good school district, gossipy, status quo needed. It follows the Richardsons, the family you'd expect to reside, as well as Mia and her daughter Pearl, the family they'd probably prefer in the neighborhood over. Elena Richardson was born and raised in Shaker and is obsessed with the status quo and when Mia threatens to destroy that she'll do anything she can do to prevent it. I really enjoyed this book, while it was slow at the beginning it really ... More“Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way.” Little Fires Everywhere by @pronounced_ing takes place in Shaker Heights, which is your typical suburban rich neighborhood: good school district, gossipy, status quo needed. It follows the Richardsons, the family you'd expect to reside, as well as Mia and her daughter Pearl, the family they'd probably prefer in the neighborhood over. Elena Richardson was born and raised in Shaker and is obsessed with the status quo and when Mia threatens to destroy that she'll do anything she can do to prevent it. I really enjoyed this book, while it was slow at the beginning it really picked up and was a great social commentary. This book illustrates performative allyship with the Richardsons and their social circle through their white savior complex. Celeste Ng creation of the character Mrs.Richardson was my favorite part of the story, and not because I liked her, I really hated her, but for what she brought to the book and how much it emphasizes a key problem in society now. Celeste Ng uses Mrs.Richardson to emphasize the idea of how comfort is a key component in stopping real and meaningful change. Mrs. Richardson was a perfect illustration of the people we see now in Black Lives Matter movement and others, people saying they want to change and help others, but in reality they do it because it looks good and the second it inconveniences them they show their true colors. You see this with the Richardson family with the relationships they keep and how they treat others, especially Mia and Pearl, their tenants. Like Ng says in her book "sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over," especially when it comes to making real and meaningful change. I would suggest this book to people who are okay with getting a little uncomfortable and who enjoy a book centered around characters and their relationships.

BOOK REVIEW: Beautifully written book. Ng truly captures the reader with each character. The books follows two families from different backgrounds, race, and social-economic status. The beloved suburban family’s life gets turned upside down when the mysterious outsiders move into the neighborhood. An absolute page turner that Keeps you wanting more. And this is why overall I didn’t feel completely satisfied with the book. There’s a lot of loose ends that don’t seem to fully tie up. I finished the book needing my questions to be answered. The main character could have shown a little more emotion and be more personal. For being such a big time best seller it leaves a lot the imagination of the reader. For me personally I needed a resolution to the problem that doesn’t ... MoreBOOK REVIEW: Beautifully written book. Ng truly captures the reader with each character. The books follows two families from different backgrounds, race, and social-economic status. The beloved suburban family’s life gets turned upside down when the mysterious outsiders move into the neighborhood. An absolute page turner that Keeps you wanting more. And this is why overall I didn’t feel completely satisfied with the book. There’s a lot of loose ends that don’t seem to fully tie up. I finished the book needing my questions to be answered. The main character could have shown a little more emotion and be more personal. For being such a big time best seller it leaves a lot the imagination of the reader. For me personally I needed a resolution to the problem that doesn’t arise until mid-book. Writing was great but I felt there was a lot of unnecessary details and dialogue. Waiting to watch the Hulu series on the book to see what differences there are.

This show is SO good!! The cast truly makes this series phenomenal... Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon shine. The show is about how the two women become intertwined in each other’s lives whether they like it or not and their family members play crucial roles in it as well. Reese Witherspoon’s character rents out an apartment to Kerry Washington and then hires her and everything unravels from there... is addicting! You can’t stop watching. I tried to just watch one episode at a time but I ended up binging the whole season at once. I can’t wait for the next season!!

I loved this book. I really, really loved it. Though the pacing wasn't exactly quick, I was completely engrossed by it, because the characters were so complex and fully drawn. I loved the fact that the author doesn't really take 'sides' (well, perhaps Mia's a little bit), but she depicts her characters with an immense share of empathy for their flaws. Cecile Ng is a person who has so much love and understanding for all other humans, for their motives, for what makes them tick. But what I loved most and what made me pause and think was the theme central to the book: motherhood. We see mother-children dynamics from so many points of view: Mia-Pearl, Bebe-May Ling, Mrs McCullough - Mirabelle, Mrs Richardson and her four children. And then, there's the searing question ... MoreI loved this book. I really, really loved it. Though the pacing wasn't exactly quick, I was completely engrossed by it, because the characters were so complex and fully drawn. I loved the fact that the author doesn't really take 'sides' (well, perhaps Mia's a little bit), but she depicts her characters with an immense share of empathy for their flaws. Cecile Ng is a person who has so much love and understanding for all other humans, for their motives, for what makes them tick. But what I loved most and what made me pause and think was the theme central to the book: motherhood. We see mother-children dynamics from so many points of view: Mia-Pearl, Bebe-May Ling, Mrs McCullough - Mirabelle, Mrs Richardson and her four children. And then, there's the searing question at the heart of the book: what makes a mother? And how far can a mother go when she acts in the interest of her child?

This series is so good. I really enjoyed the show. Beware, there is only one season. Wish there were more. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. About the fates of a picture perfect family and an enigmatic mother and daughter.

A slow-burning character portrait

I reading the blurb for this novel, I had no idea what to expect. The blurb implies complicated layers of relationships and, that somehow, the peripheral adoption of a Chinese-American baby triggers an investigation into the tenant, Mia, with "devastating cost."Nothing about this plot seemed predictable to me. I couldn't guess where it might go, which made it so enjoyable and so gripping to read the entire way through.From the beginning, Ng's portrait of a wealthy family is perceptive and startling. She calls out privilege and explains what it looks like: "easy confidence," "clear sense of purpose," "sureness" and "ease". The Richardson children are (with the exception of Izzy) uncritical and self-absorbed. Seeing them from Pearl's fascinated point of view could ... MoreI reading the blurb for this novel, I had no idea what to expect. The blurb implies complicated layers of relationships and, that somehow, the peripheral adoption of a Chinese-American baby triggers an investigation into the tenant, Mia, with "devastating cost."Nothing about this plot seemed predictable to me. I couldn't guess where it might go, which made it so enjoyable and so gripping to read the entire way through.From the beginning, Ng's portrait of a wealthy family is perceptive and startling. She calls out privilege and explains what it looks like: "easy confidence," "clear sense of purpose," "sureness" and "ease". The Richardson children are (with the exception of Izzy) uncritical and self-absorbed. Seeing them from Pearl's fascinated point of view could be unsettling at times. It reminded me of friendships from my own adolescence. Friendships where I had been wholly - ignorantly - unaware of any imbalance in power or wealth, but where certain friends must have felt it keenly.In spite of this unreflective privilege, Ng goes to great lengths to portray even the most unsympathetic characters generously. Even the McCulloughs - who astoundingly and egocentrically give their Chinese-American baby a new, Anglicised name - are given pages devoted to detailing their grief, pain and desperation to have a child.The most masterful characterisation is, surely, Mrs Richardson, whose determination to validate her own life choices motivates her to undermine those of others. Mrs Richardson is depicted as a fearful woman who is easily threatened by anyone who challenges her rigidly narrow ideas about right and wrong. Ng doesn't overdo this point, and allows the reader to discover Mrs Richardson's motivations for her behaviour, even when she is herself ignorant to what drives her. She is a woman who must believe that she made the "right" choices because alternatives might open her up to judgments or criticism, or - even worse - regrets.

Shallow and thoughtless

This book was full of shallow characters, all of whom seemed to be stereotyped. It was tired Tropes. I felt my intelligence as a reader was insulted throughout the book. It felt mid century in its characterization of married people. It was predictable in its ending and just seemed to presume a lack of depth of intellect of the reader. The " dolls are all blonde at the store"...... when? In 1974? That's been used too much it's a 50 plus year old story, used yet again to make particular characters seem even more shallow. No new ideas here.