Review: Little Fires Everywhere, a novel by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, published September 12, 2017, review copy thanks to Penguin Press
Genre: literary fiction
Objective rating: 5/5

This is a story not only about Chinese-Americans but about adoptions, infertility, mother-daughter relationships, and teen angst.  Set in an affluent suburb of Cleveland, Mia and her daughter Pearl arrive and hope this time this is a place they can stay after years of wandering around the U.S.

But the adoption of an abandoned Chinese infant by an American family brings conflict to the town and involves Mia and her daughter. What happens when the mother of the child appears and wants her baby returned?

I loved that the book involved so many different issues and themes. The characters are complex yet believable and the plot very revealing of human nature.

I highly recommend this novel for those interested in the above themes and those who enjoy good literary fiction.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Everything I Never Told You

Title: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
To be published June 24, 2014; Penguin Press HC

Book description:
"A haunting debut novel about a mixed-race family living in 1970s Ohio and the tragedy that will either be their undoing or their salvation. Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair.

 When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.

A gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another." (publisher)

I am intrigued by the book description of the plot involving this family and their tragedy. How about you? Would you wait for this book?