Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere

Thursday, December 19, 2019

I knew Little Fires Everywhere would be a book that made me cry. I knew it, and I was correct. 

I cried from frustration at the character’s display of privilege and ignorance, and anger at Mrs. Richardson and her selfish actions.

I feel like we all know a Mrs. Richardson, someone who has lived a pretty charmed life with very little adversity. Someone who has trouble seeing beyond themselves and their specific little world. Someone who can’t understand that the world isn’t black and white, that it is complex and full of people making difficult decisions that may or may not work out. The person that cannot empathize because “I would never find myself in that situation to begin with..” Oh yes, I have come across many Mrs. Richardsons, and each one had made me want to pull my hair out and scream in anguish and frustration at their self imposed tunnel vision. 

Oh, Mrs. Richardson, the type of woman who understands the issue when it happens to her.

    It goes without saying that Ng is a masterful storyteller. Her omniscient point of view allows the reader to empathize with every character...even Mrs. Richardson. Ng’s writing effortlessly flows from the past to the present, from one character’s thoughts to another. It is all so seamless, and absolutely necessary for a novel like this, one with multiple view points and characters of varying ages and backgrounds. No character is without flaw, no character is without wrongdoing. They are so human, so complex...it is difficult not to relate to them.

    The theme is without a doubt Motherhood..what does it mean to be one, and are some more worthy of it than others. 

    As different as these women are in the novel, a sense of loss connects them all by the end.