Little Fires Everywhere — 16 Jan 2025 — #14

On 16 January 2025, at 8pm EST we will discuss Little Fires Everywhere (2017) by Celeste Ng (352 pgs.) alongside the Hulu adaptation of the same name produced by Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon (who star as Mia and Elena, respectively). It was also Reese’s Book Club pick.

This will be our 14th book and a month shy of our two-year anniversary.

Some sparse notes ahead of our discussion that may be useful to consider for the story (in the novel and the TV show). I will reserve my perspectives for our meeting and round-up. From prior conversations, it seems like many of us have much to say about this! It is no wonder this is a classic book club book.

Little Fires Everywhere has been translated into 30 languages.

Celeste Ng was born in 1980, and so would have grown up in the the 90s like we did. When Ng was ten years old, she moved from Pittsburgh to Shaker Heights, Ohio, where the novel takes place.

The book begins with the fire and ends with the reader finding out who started the fire; the TV show ends with fire and sets up who would start the fire. Did the show adequately set that up? Did anyone wonder if it would be the same or different from the novel?

What makes a mother?

The story focused on mother-daughter relationships and the circumstances that make us either have or choose choices. There is a heavy tension to motherhood and being a daughter throughout.

The tension between May Ling/Mirabelle is much more complex and painful to consider in the TV show.

Witherspoon and Washington in conversation with Natalie Portman dive into the racial politics of the show and how that was a needed departure from the solely class politics of the novel. From 6:58 to 10min

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxnwpZz_d2pXjp2jZl2DE84zyw9hp1AiJP?si=S5AsqMBXVGYAnAUZ

They talk about how they added race into the story with Mia being Black, and how after talking with Ng, Ng said she imagined Mia as a woman of colour but she didn't feel like she could give her a race, or write a race in. This makes so much sense with the unease I felt when reading it, and sharing that with some of the members.

Washington only found out as an adult that she was conceived via a sperm donor.

If you are inclined, Ng has a Book Club kit on her website.