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Hello All, I can start the book on the first!
How about you?

I just purchased it this weekend and plan to begin either this coming weekend or next week! I am so excited!

Lynn wrote: "I just purchased it this weekend and plan to begin either this coming weekend or next week! I am so excited!" :) I listen so many good things about it. Also I know the TV series is coming soon so I want to read it before watching the trailers and then getting the image that TV show me like it happen with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Shining. I can´t imagine a differe face for those characters and is a shame, because I like to compare how different look the actors to the image of the character in my head

Hi there, I got hold of a copy of Little Fires Everywhere yesterday and believe I can join this buddy read with you all.

That’s great, Trisha Biden!

Hi! I read this for my book club earlier this year and enjoyed it. Will follow along with the discussion

Hello all!

I am currently in page 106. ready to start the Chapter 9. So I decide to stop for a bit and made a few comments. Since some of the comments have spoilers please be aware...

Spoilers in

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(view spoiler)[

First of all despite the book starts with Izzy turning fire to her house (at least that it what it seems at the moment) is clear that the story is focus in Mia and Pearl .

I really like the prank with the toothpicks in the school doors was a great revenge from the professor. I was laughing just trying to imagine her with her coffee thermo and running to the bathroom.

I am sorry to see how despite the fact that is clear that Moody loves Pearl she does not correspond but instead has a crash on Trip. Who is clearly the classic boy that is having fun around and not interested in anything important.

I really want to know the relation of Mia and this very famous photographer. It is putting an interesting twist to her past.

I am also wondering if is due to Mia's influence that Izzy started the little fires everywhere

I really dislike Mrs. Richardson it seems that she is not giving an opportunity to Izzy and instead of assume her own faults with her is used as a scapegoat. This can be part of the reason of the fires.
(hide spoiler)]

How are your thoughts? Any ideas about it?

Hello
I bought the book 2 months ago, and haven’t started it.
This looks like the perfect opportunity for me to read it.
Looking forward to discuss it with you this month.

Sara wrote: "Hello
I bought the book 2 months ago, and haven’t started it.
This looks like the perfect opportunity for me to read it.
Looking forward to discuss it with you this month."

Welcome aboard! I won't get to start this until next week, but am looking forward to everyone's thoughts!

Hey all, I've been travelling all this while, with intermittent internet access and thus, haven't been able to update this thread. I finished the book today and here is what I feel - I liked how the book started, initially focussing on the Richardsons and then gradually diverting the focus on to the Warrens. (view spoiler)[ Until almost 70% of the book, I was completely drawn to it, however, as the plot came closer to an end, I was a little disappointed with the turn of events and especially, the climax. Not what I was expecting! After having invested so much energy in building Izzy's character, it was like shoving her off from a cliff. There were 3 or 4 endings that I had chalked out on my mind's blank slate and was rooting for the ones where the major characters get to see Izzy in a different light, in a contrast to how they have seen her before. But alas! Izzy justifies Mrs.Richardson's fears and does the unthinkable. I did like the brief part where Mrs.Richardson longs for her long-lost child - something I'd really wanted to see from the very beginning.

The McCulloughs-Bebe court case also intrigued me. I just couldn't decide whose side to take. Mrs.McCullough was as much a mother as Bebe, and deserved Mirabelle. Having said that, I feel a part of my heart was convinced of giving Bebe a second chance to mother May Ling. What a tough decision to make? Were any of you able to make a call?

Overall, the book was good, but could have been better, had the author tweaked the ending a bit. Also, I'm dying to know what happened to Izzy? Did she get to reunite with Mia? Or did the cops get her and brought her back to the Richardson house? How will Mrs.Richardson treat Izzy if they get to meet again? (hide spoiler)]

How is everyone else finding the book? You could also check out my brief review of the book in my profile feed.

I got this book a few weeks ago and just saw that this was going on. I would like to be added if that is possible. I will be starting this tomorrow.

I have only read the first two chapters so far, but this book starts off with a bang. It just grabs your attention and starts with the action and then backtracks. I like it as it grabs your attention and you want to know where this is going.

I finished the book actually the same day that I put my comments about the 100 pages and in general my thoughts are:

(view spoiler)[
I have mixed feelings with the ending. I did like the story of Mia is very interesting and is a nice twist that I wasn't expecting.
I did not like the role of Izzi at the end. Her logic behind the burning of the house do not make any real sense at all. Her character is a spoiled child that does not understand what to do in life. There was not a real meaning behind burning the house, it was just a series of misunderstandings.
My favorite part of the ending are the pictures. I really like how Mia manage to find the perfect picture for everyone. How she show to all of them what is behind, in such a way that the picture is important and has a meaning to the person that it belongs.
In my case I think that the book makes clear that Mrs. Richardson will always look the face of her daughter because at the end she never found her. But this is my view, books are very subjective.
I agree with Trisha that the part of The McCullough's and the baby is very difficult, I was all the time jumping between what is in reality the good choice. In my case I will say the mother and I think that Miss McCullough knew it when they say that the kid did not cry when it was taken away by the mother because she felt the connection and the love. And no money in the world can replace that.
Is a good book but I think it has more show than it deserve. Nevertheless I am waiting for the TV show... (hide spoiler)]

How is everybody else doing?

I just finished this book. About halfway through some thoughts were (view spoiler)[ Elena thinks that her opinion is right and everyone should just agree with her. When it comes to Izzy, she doesn't see her as the person she is. With the baby, Elena was very one sided. I get she wants to be there for her friend, but this is a complicated issue and she doesn't seem to understand that. Then she just wanted revenge on Mia. She is a shallow person but I liked how Mia saw into her at the end and why she is the way she is.
I had mixed feelings when it came to the adoption of the baby. When considering the well being of the baby, you need to look at who can care for the baby as well as the difficulties of a Chinese baby being brought up by white parents and Bebe's attorney did make these points. This might come from what I have seen. I know a family that adopted a baby from Korea and as a teenager she is having a really hard time. She wants to know about her culture and where she came from, on top of why her mother gave her up for adoption. This does not happen in all situations, but it can and it can be harder if the adoptive parents do not understand the culture of the child they are adopting. (hide spoiler)]

Am about halfway through. Will be reading this yet this evening and hope to contribute to the discussion. My IRL book club will discuss tomorrow afternoon.

Trisha wrote: "Hey all, I've been travelling all this while, with intermittent internet access and thus, haven't been able to update this thread. I finished the book today and here is what I feel - I liked how th..."

My book club felt she left it wide open for a sequel. We all had the same questions regarding Izzy and her future. For that matter, there is much to cover with Mia and Pearl's future(s) as well. We also (view spoiler)[got stuck wondering about Mia's parents and what their reaction might be to meeting Pearl and learning the whole story. We all agreed they'd been very cold toward Mia at the time of her brother's death. Some could understand that they were mired in grief at that point, but really? Turn away your only remaining child just because she has done something to better herself? Especially when they were totally unwilling to even help finance her education? (hide spoiler)]

Ashley wrote: "I just finished this book. About halfway through some thoughts were Elena thinks that her opinion is right and everyone should just agree with her. When it comes to Izzy, she doesn't see her as th..."

True. Elena meant well but she certainly will never change throughout her lifetime, IMHO. She was just like my mother except that she also had some real money behind her. Fortunately, mother did not or she would have been even worse than she was.

I agree about cross-cultural adoption. Perhaps the best and most effective parenting I've seen in such a situation is a single white female faculty member who had developed a cross-cultural program between our department and the corresponding department in a Chinese higher education institution and she finally decided at age 31 that she would adopt a child from China since she travels there and stays 1-2 weeks at least twice a year. She made sure she could teach her daughter some of the basic language in Chinese (can't remember which dialect) and gathered educational materials and had Chinese artifacts/decorations in her house and taught her traditional celebrations/holidays in both countries. Now that was successful!

I probably reflect a minority perspective when it comes to the consideration of the adoption of May Ling. Having worked in the mental health field, I always hope that someone will at least be given a second chance. It is soooooo easy for those of us who have a privileged upbringing (I'm specifically thinking about white middle-class) to just assume other people (1) know what "social safety-net" programs are available, and (2) are capable of logically completing paperwork, following up, etc. Basically this involves acquiring such knowledge and being able to culturally interpret the requirements, etc. I contend that until you are out there in the field advocating for people, you just have no realistic concept of just how difficult navigating such programs and acquiring assistance can be for others. And unfortunately, those least able to understand and acquire such benefits are those who need them the most and are most vulnerable to negative situations and consequences. I really wanted the judge to allow her one more chance, but with support/intervention from social support programs and professionals. It is absolutely amazing what can be done to educate people and help them succeed with proper support. I just don't believe the "average" person can truly understand until s/he works with these folks directly. It is an eye-opener as to how much we expect people to just "know"...

Teaching English as a Second Language students also helped me realize how much cultural knowledge we expect children to learn--just in their first few years of life! It is mind-blowing!

I loved the way Ng intertwined several different outcomes regarding "family," especially biological vs. adoptive, created vs. being born into, etc. (view spoiler)[I could understand Mia's perspective in telling Bebe about May Ling. And honestly, I was glad Bebe kidnapped her and returned to China. And, it just occurred to me. Not only was Izzy an arsonist, but Bebe was technically a kidnapper! Granted, of her own child, but still... Two criminal acts. (hide spoiler)]