Reviews with content warning for Death - Little Fires Everywhere

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

96 reviews

miller8d's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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lmjones's review against another edition

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I got about half way. It took me a minute to get interested in the story from the get-go, so I actually started watching the mini-series to see if it would spark more interest or if the story just wasn't going to be my jam. It did spark interest. I like seeing the difference between the original novel and the adaptation, but in the end, finishing the mini-series (I don't care about spoilers, so this wasn't a big deal to me) cemented my decision to not finish the book. I loved aspects of it - obsessed with the portrayal of an artist at work that actually felt based in reality, good character development, excellent writing - but overall, I felt like it was just going to be too depressing to finish with multiple messed up mother-daughter relationships, so much self-righteousness, and without much hope of redemption or repair. The book does touch on motherhood being difficult and the way traumatic events related to motherhood can effect the future relationships with the children involved in that trauma. I would say that's what the story ends up being about. But I personally appreciate a little more merciful writing for all the women trying to be mothers and messing it up along the way. I craved reconciliation for Elena and her children, and even between MayLing's biological mother and her adoptive parents (which by the way, this story feels pretty insensitive to the adoptive parent community.) It just seemed like there was no hope for moving forward. Not my kind of fiction.

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lilybarna's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

The ending picks up quickly and makes the book for me. I felt so much build up and for the first 2/3 of the novel I felt I was missing something, but it all comes together at once for a final 1/3 that kept me gripped. Big rec for people who want to explore mother daughter relationships, avoid if you do not!

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mercerhanau's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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marissasa's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This story delved right into the messiness and drama of motherhood for a few women in Ohio in the 90s, and followed their stories along with their children and family members. I really liked the juxtaposition of the typical WASP mom character in Elena against the artistic, transient, free-spirited single mom character in Mia. Their kids' behaviors and stories felt very true to the mothers they raised, and it was interesting to see from all of their perspectives in addition to the two mothers'. It was a bit slow in the first half of the book but it really picked up towards the end and I felt like the reveals made sense for the characters and I was invested in them at that point. I am definitely going to watch the tv show for this now that I have finished reading the book!

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