Little fires everywhere book review questions năm 2024

Hey friends! How are we holding up? Honestly, the only reason I know what day it is today is because a new episode of Little Fires Everywhere is on tonight… therefore, Happy Wednesday! ?

As many of you already know, Little Fires Everywhere was my March Book Club pick because I wanted to read it before the miniseries started. I found the book to be a little bit of a slow burn at first (no pun intended!), but by the end, I realized I was SO invested in all of the characters.

About Little Fires Everywhere

The story takes place in Shaker Heights, a suburb where everything has been planned as much as possible to avoid the unexpected. Elena Richardson, and her perfect family, are the embodiment of those ideals. We meet them while they are living their seemingly perfect lives… and then Mia and her teenage daughter Pearl come to town.

Mia is an artist and single mother who never stays in one place for long… the opposite of Elena. Yet their lives intertwine when Mia rents a house from the Richardsons. Pearl becomes friends with Elena’s son Moody, and soon starts spending time at the Richardson’s house, bonding with their family nearly every day.

The plot really starts to unfold when we learn that family friends of the Richardson’s are attempting to adopt a Chinese-American baby, though. Mia knows who the baby’s real mother is, and the press picks up on the case. Everyone in the town seems to have different opinions about it – including Elena and Mia. And as Elena questions Mia’s motives and tries to uncover secrets about her past, more chaos unfolds around the two of them.

Little Fires Everywhere Book Club Questions

Feel free to print these questions out and bring it to your local book club meeting (once we can all meet in person again!), share some thoughts in the comments of this post, or participate in the discussion in my Lake Shore Lady Community Group! And if you’re also local, a bunch of gals have created their own LSL Chicago Book Club! Request to join their Facebook group to find out more about their in person meetings when they start again!

Discussion Questions:

1. What did you think about the author’s decision to give away the ending at the beginning of the book? Did you like that choice or not?
2. What did you think of Izzy as a character? Why do you think she had such a hard time connecting to her family/mother? What do you think her biggest motivations were?
3. Elena and Mia are two very different women (especially in status and parenting styles) and yet they both fiercely love their children. Which mother/daughter relationship did you relate to the most?
4. The two families intertwined very quickly despite the fact that they are extremely different. What do you think attracted Pearl to Moody, Tripp, Lexie, and Elena so much? What about vice versa? And why do you think both Izzy and Lexie found comfort in spending time with Mia?
5. The adoption is a huge controversy in the book… who do you think the baby should be raised by?
6. The Richardson’s talked a lot about how you shouldn’t get pregnant if you’re not ready to take care of one – as if people like them are too responsible to ever let that happen. Do you think that is one of the reasons why Lexie uses Pearl’s name at the clinic?
7. Elena has gotten stuck between following the rules and standing up for what she believes in many times. Do you think she understands her own privilege? Do you think she’s as generous and as open minded as she thinks she is?
8. What did you think of the way Mia handled her pregnancy with Pearl? Do you think she was wrong or justified? And should she have told Pearl the truth sooner?
9. I found it interesting that Shaker Heights is a planned community to minimize the unexpected… and yet this book reveals so much chaos. Do you think the concept of the planned community was working before Mia came along?
10. What do you think happens to all of these people after the book ends?
11. In the mini series, Mia and Pearl are women of color. How do you think this changes the story?
12. What other changes have you liked/disliked so far?

my april book club pick

Since there is a LOT going on in the world right now, I thought I’d pick something really light and fun for April… so my pick is Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams! It’s described as a hilarious, heartwarming romantic comedy and it takes place in London. The book starts by revealing a missed connection post in their daily paper that our main man wrote about our leading lady. I haven’t finished yet, but it’s adorable and sweet and the perfect escape. Anyone want to read it with me and discuss next month?! Woooo!

PS. You might also like Husband Material Book Club Questions, Big Magic Book Club Questions, and How To Download Library Books to Your Kindle!

Reading Little Fires Everywhere with your book club? These Little Fires Everywhere discussion questions will get the conversation going!

Released in 2017, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng proved to be a smash-hit novel. Later adapted into a TV show starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, it’s a challenging story that is the perfect pick for a book club.

Little Fires Everywhere is the tale of two very different families. First, there are the Richardsons: Elena, a reporter for the local paper, successful defense attorney Bill, and their three teenage children.

The Richardsons live an idyllic life in Shaker Heights. It’s an ordered life – predictable, reliable, orderly.

But their world is upended when the Warrens – photographer and artist Mia, and her quiet teenage daughter Pearl – come to live in the Richardson’s rental home.

The Warrens live a nomadic life, the kind of life that Elena cannot comprehend for herself.

In the background, a custody battle rumbles on. When a baby is abandoned on the steps of a fire station, local couple Linda and Mark McCollough happily take her in.

They name her Mirabelle, and it seems like fate that she would end up with them. But what happens when the baby’s birth mother comes back onto the scene?

It’s an interesting tale, full of conflict and complex family dynamics. If this novel is your book club pick, here’s a list of Little Fires Everywhere book club questions to get the discussion going!

Please note there will be spoilers ahead for those who have not yet read Little Fires Everywhere.

Firstly, let’s talk about foreshadowing.

(1) Early in the book, Pearl asks Mia if she was wanted. Mia, after a bit of thought, responds ‘Oh, yes. You were wanted. Very much.’ (p.51)

Did you see the twist about the surrogacy coming? Did you pick up on any other hints about the big secret Mia was hiding?

(2) Some of the Richardsons seem to take ownership of Pearl in different ways, with Lexie, Moody, and Trip perceiving her in different ways.

How does each child react to Pearl, and what does that say about their personalities and biases?

(3) Elena seems to force her good deeds upon Mia. When Elena offers Mia a job, Mia observes that ‘when people were bent on doing what they believed was a good deed, it was usually impossible to dissuade them.’ (p.79)

Do you think Elena genuinely wants to help people, or does she perform good deeds for another reason? How do you think you would respond if you were in Mia’s shoes?

(4) Elena has many negative thoughts about her youngest daughter Izzy. It seems to stem from her difficult pregnancy and birth.

Do you think that their relationship would have been different if Elena had received help in processing her own feelings after Izzy’s birth? Do you think the same situation would happen today, or do you think awareness around postnatal mental health is better?

(5) Izzy seems to want to interrupt the status quo. She is unafraid to ask difficult questions, and she reacts strongly to what she perceives to be an injustice.

What do you think the motivation is for Izzy’s behaviour?

(6) The Warren’s nomadic lifestyle has an obvious impact on Pearl. She doesn’t feel rooted to her past. Mia thinks about her one rule: ‘Don’t get attached. To any place, to any apartment, to anything. To anyone.’ (p.138)

How do you think Mia copes with this lack of connection with others? What are the implications of this when it comes to Mia and Pearl’s relationship?

(7) Shaker Heights sounds idyllic to some: a neat, ordered, predictable town where everything runs like clockwork. Shaker Heights has a huge impact on Elena – it has ‘infused her to the core’ (p.179).

How has Shaker Heights shaped the Richardson family? How do you think it has impacted the children to live such a stress-free, idyllic lifestyle?

(8) During the court battle, lawyer Ed Lim questions Linda McCullough about Mirabelle’s (or May-Ling’s) Chinese heritage. He ponders the idea of representation in books, toys, and other media for children.

Do you think Mirabelle (or May-Ling) would have had enough of a connection to her birth culture had she ultimately stayed with the McCulloughs? Do you think representation has improved in recent times?

(9) Little Fires Everywhere explores the concept of motherhood and the secrets mothers and daughters keep from each other.

What did you think of Elena and Mia’s contrasting parenting styles?

(10) On the surface, Elena and Mia seem like completely different people. However, there are similarities – for example, you see some of Elena’s journalistic tendencies in Mia when she researches the Ryan family during the surrogacy process.

Are Elena and Mia similar in other ways?

(11) There are plenty of fire metaphors throughout the book, culminating in Izzy’s final act. We know the fate of the Richardson house from the first chapter of the book.

Did you like knowing the final outcome right at the start? Would you have preferred to have the fire unveiled at the end?

(12) Izzy contemplates her family as she prepares to set the house on fire. She seems to have a damaged relationship with everyone. After the fire, she sets off, armed with information about Mia’s past. (p.372)

What do you imagine happened to Izzy, in the end? Do you think she would have found the Warrens eventually?

(13) At the very end of the book, Elena contemplates her ruined relationship with Izzy.

Do you think they will repair that relationship eventually? How could Elena begin to make things better with her daughter?

(14) Quietly, Bill begins to have doubts about the custody battle. He contemplates Elena and her fondness for categorizing everything as either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.

‘In fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on.’ (p.310)

What did you think about Bill’s character? Was he as well-developed as some of the other characters in the book? Would you have liked to see more from Bill’s perspective?

(15) And finally, the obvious question. Celeste Ng explores a complicated issue with the custody battle. You have to feel sorry for both Linda McCullough, who deeply loves and cares for the baby.

However, the pain that Bebe feels is almost unbearable to contemplate, too.

Izzy thinks about this as she watches Bebe break down after the final verdict: ‘If a soul could leave the body, she thought, this is the sound it would make: like the screech of a nail being pulled from old wood.’ (p.340)

If you were a resident of Shaker Heights, watching this custody battle unfold, which side of the argument would you land on? What do you think would be the best outcome for May-Ling/Mirabelle?

I hope these questions can help to facilitate a juicy book club discussion! If you want to chat about Little Fires Everywhere online, leave a comment below with your answers to the questions.

Megan Bidmead

Guest writer

Megan is a freelance writer based in Somerset, England. When she’s not writing about books, video games, and pop culture, she’s running around after her two kids and trying to squeeze in the occasional walk in the countryside.

What is the message of Little Fires Everywhere book?

The novel explores the consequences of keeping secrets and the ways in which truth can disrupt or heal relationships. Art and Creativity: Art, particularly photography and the act of creating, is a recurring theme.

What was the point of Little Fires Everywhere?

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

What does fire symbolize in Little Fires Everywhere?

In this Hulu series, based on the best-selling 2017 book of the same name by American writer and novelist Celeste Ng, fires are the metaphor for both family disaster and dangerous, unaddressed festering distrust between the races.

What is the moral of Little Fires Everywhere?

In the novel Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng has several moral messages obtained by researchers through its investigations namely motherhood, brave, love, togetherness, honesty, independent, discipline, wise, and diligent.