Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Twitter
  3. Follow us on Instagram
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • About CBR
    • Getting Started
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
  • Our Team
    • Leaderboard
    • The CBR Team
    • Recent Comments
    • CBR Interviews
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • How You Can Donate
    • Book Sale
    • CBR Merchandise
    • Supporters and Friends of CBR
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Follow Us
> FAQ Home
> Genre: Fiction > There is a fire that never goes out

There is a fire that never goes out

Little Fires Everywhere by Celest Ng

May 20, 2020 by octothorp 1 Comment

I was totally blown away by this book, and I was not expecting to be. I kept expecting the plot to be twisty, in a way that would have undermined the story, but it was surprisingly free of manufactured drama. That’s not to say that the story unfolds in a completely predictable or straightforward way, but it was refreshing to read a book where the plot isn’t propelled by people being too credulous or stacking coincidences.

We open on an upper middle class home as the only person home discovers small fires in each of the rooms, apparently deliberately set. The brother and sister living there return from school to find the fire department, their parents, and a conspicuous absence of their younger sister outside; sure even before noticing she’s gone that she was responsible.

The intersection of the Richardson family with the Warrens – A mother and daughter (Mia and Pearl) renting out an apartment from the Richardsons – is the catalyst for Izzy, the youngest Richardson’s anger, but their intertwining and unwinding is the joy of the book, and far be it from me to do a worse job than Ng in outlining it and suffering by the comparison. Pearl’s friendship with the Richardson children, and Mrs. Richardson’s well-meaning condescension sliding off of Mia like water off a duck’s back make for the perfect kind of tragedy, understandable and inevitable.

The denouement is more perfect than it should be. I’m so excited to read more Ng, and also to see the late Lynn Shelton’s interpretation of a wonderful, wonderful book.

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Celest Ng

octothorp's CBR12 Review No:63 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Celest Ng ·
· 1 Comment

About octothorp

CBR12 participantCBR11 participantCBR10 participantCBR  9

I buy books faster than I can read them. View octothorp's reviews»

Comments

  1. randirock says

    May 27, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    I love this review! I’m looking forward to reading this one!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Recent Comments

  • Ellesfena on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodOn Your Toes, Susie! I had completely forgotten that book until just now. I agree about the Betsy-Tacy books too, those were so magical. Did...
  • Nart on Don’t Judge THIS Book by the Cover (seriously)Couldn't agree more. Whoever designed the cover really did the author dirty. It's such a lovely, soul filling book sold as a cheap... Well... Beach...
  • Emmalita on Spoiler Alert: This Book is Nothing but Fun & Sexy TimesI loved this, it was one of my favorite reads last year. Olivia Dade has become one of my auto-buy authors.
  • Malin on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodAs a child, I loved the works of Astrid Lindgren, especially Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (the first chapter book I ever completed on my own...
  • ElCicco on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodWhen I was little, the cupboard full of books was right outside my bedroom, and when I was supposed to go to sleep, I would...
See More Recent Comments »

Want to Help Out?

CBR has a great crew of volunteers, and we're always looking for more people to help out. If you have a specialty or are willing to learn, drop MsWas a line.

  • How You Can Donate
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo
  3. Google Pay
© 2021 Cannonball Read | Log in