Sunday Review: Little Fires Everywhere| Celeste Ng

 

 

 

 

BOOK: Little Fires Everywhere

Author: Celeste Ng

Publication date:  September 12, 2017

Pages: 81 pages

 Genre: Fiction, Coming of Age 

Publisher: Penguin Press

 

 

 

 

Set in Shaker Heights, Ohio in the 1998 Little Fires Everywhere is complex novel about motherhood, families, secrets, race, and socio-economic differences. Shaker Heights, were the author Celeste Ng grew up is one of those places that I would personally dread: a small uber-smalled town in the middle of America were everything seems glossy and perfect with legacies of white affluent families abundant. No better family amplifies this message as well as the Richardson’s, with the mathriac of the family Elena Richardson working overtime to uphold the status quo. In walks an elusive artist single mother comes Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl. Their presence will divide the Richardson family and an adoption will divide the town, ending in secret revelations and fire. While Celeste Ng’s writes with passionate beauty, Little Fires Everywhere left me with more questions than answers. Particularly, why should I care about all of these hollow-shelled one-note characters with no development?

What I Liked:

First what I did like: the writing is exquisite and it did feel pointed. Celeste works really hard doing a lot of world building. I can totally see Shaker Heights in my mind. I think she gives a lot of great source material for the HBO adaptation to work with. There are several points in the novel in which I was stunned by how great the writing is. For instance and pause for spoilers: towards the end of the novel The Richardson family go to the Winslow House to find that Mia and Pearl have vanished. In their wake, Mia left photographs titled for member of the Richardson family. Celeste is one of the few writers I know of who manages to make descriptions of art both imaginative and well received. Meaning, I actually can see and were interested in the descriptions of Mia’s pictures and how the related to each member of the Richardson family. Adversely, throughout the novel Celeste hits you with equally beautiful images.

What I didn’t Like:

To be honest with you, Little Fires Everywhere was a novel that I felt little to no connection too. Since the novel was so overhyped, I expected a lot. While the language is beautiful, but the story itself and the characters along with it were all lacking. All of the teenagers from Pearl to Moody to Trip, Lexxie, and Izzy, I felt were very one-note. There was little to no development from any of them, even when they were experiencing real issues. Izzy’s character in particular was one that I liked and had a lot of hope for, but I felt like the way she ended up was too simplistic and obvious for me. Celeste pretty much tells you what happened to her in the first few pages of the book and the explanation that pans out to why underwhelmed me. Another thing I didn’t like was I felt like some plot points were unexplored and under-utitlitzed. For instance, the adoption/kidnapping plot that happens which is used as a main story-line in the plot summary is not introduced until half-way through the book and is so underused. I feel like Celeste forced in a connection with the mother who’s name I can’t even remember and Mia’s past. I feel like there was also a missed opportunity there to create a deeper dialogue about inter-relationship adoption. Instead, there is just a couple of small chapters about it in between Elena’s horrible prying of Mia’s past that left me feeling conflicted. And this is a spoiler also: the fact that the courts decided to give the adopted Chinese baby to the white family and the Chinese mother steals the baby and goes back to China, made me feel really uneasy. I’m not sure what Celeste was trying to say there, but the point was lost on me. I think she was trying to again halfheartedly connect that to Mia’s past, but the way it is done is underwhelming to me. Overall, I feel like most of the storytelling in Little Fires Everywhere is not very good. it wasn’t really a mystery that captivated me and what I believe the themes explored didn’t really resonate with me.

Would I recommend:

I’m not sure. I think the book is worth reading, but it isn’t really what I thought it was. It is less of a mystery and more of a disjointed exploration of motherhood. There are aspects that I really enjoyed and themes I enjoyed, but others I couldn’t stand. The writing is really well done, but the storytelling is confusing. I would say give it a try if you like slice of life with small mystery themes.

TLDR: A BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN DISJOINTED STORY WITH INTERESTING THEMES. FOR THE SLICE OF LIFE READER, NOT THE MYSTERY READER

RATING:  ★★★☆☆

Did you love Little Fires Everywhere? How do you feel about overhyped books? Who was  your favorite character? Let us know in the comments:

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Review: We Are Never Meeting in Real Life| Samantha Irby

 

 

 

BOOK: We Are Never Meeting in Real Life

Author: Samantha Irby

Publication date: 

Pages: 272

 Genre: Personal Essays, Memoir

Publisher: Vintage Books, Penguin Random House

 

 

 

Samantha Irby is everything I’ve ever wanted to be: funny, confident, secure in herself, secure even in her flaws and above all a really good fucking writer. I first heard about Irby’s work a couple of years ago on where else but the internet. She was becoming extremely popular on Twitter among the likes of Luvvie Ajayi and Roxanne Gay. Black female writers who were funny, smart, a little bit messy and above all visible. Visibility of black women creatives is one of the most crucial foundation builders for the next generation. We don’t have to go into statistics, but representation matters and as I saw these women who look like me on the rise in the profession I wanted, I realized the possibility. That I will be forever grateful for. Now onto the real review.

What I liked:

So it’s obvious by the neon yellow cover and the adorable screaming cat (RIP HELEN KELLER) that this collection of essays are gonna be comedy base. However, what I didn’t expect and maybe because I’m a naive little shit was how much heart this collection would have. Irby’s style of quote unquote laughing through the pain is something that plagues me everyday. I also grew up in a black dysfunctional family that constantly told me to suck up my depression and figure it out. Two of my favorite essays Happy Birthday & A Total Attack of The Heart, really hit me in the small place of cold black heart and I almost teared up a little. The reliability of Irby’s personal situations and her own account of how she handled them had me splitting my sides open with laughter and grim sadness. But I loved it. It was real and that’s the greatest part of Irby’s work. Back to visibility, it is a great visible example of a black woman telling her truth without any obvious fear of repercussion. That in itself is sort of a political act and I totally stand behind it.

What I didn’t like:

I struggled finding something I didn’t like. Even books that I love like this one usually I find something that I didn’t like. Here’s what I will say and this is because I can be a little baby. Though I laughed a lot at some of her insane antics, some of the essays have prose that is a bit too long-winded. Again, I’m nitpicking, but there were some essays with paragraphs that just drawn on for a long time. I enjoyed some of it, others my eyes kind of read through quickly. This however, is an editing choice not a literary choice.

Would I recommend:

Yes! Yes! Yes! A  million times yes! Stop reading this and go read We are Never Meeting in Real Life. It’s way better than this!

TLDR: WE ARE NEVER MEETING IN REAL LIFE IS A HILARIOUS LAUGH OUT LOUD COLLECTION OF ESSAYS THAT WILL MAKE YOU CRY AS HARD AS LAUGH.

RATING:  ★★★★★

What was your favorite essay from We are Never Meeting in Real Life? What is the best personal essay collection you’ve ever read? ? Let’s Discuss in the comments!

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Quote Of the Week 001: #Blackgirlswrite

FootNotes [January] || New Year, Same Feels

Calling all Bibliophiles, Savants, and Casual Readers: We’ve all made it! If you’re reading this right now: you is beautiful, you is kind, and you have survived. Congratulate yourself on completing the first month of 2018, not an easy fete. How many of us have stuck to those pesky New Year’s resolutions? How many of us have gone to the gym more than twice? How many of us really stopped swearing? How many of us have added a million and one new books to our to-read list when you haven’t even finished the list from last year?

Just me? Okay I’m projecting.

The truth is January was tough for me and probably tough for you too. January is heralded as a month of renewal and new beginnings. It’s the perfect time of year to get your shit together. Create that business you wanted, start that project you’ve wanted, watch those movies you wanted, read that book you’ve wanted. Learn to adult.

However, throughout the month I felt plagued with a borage of terrible news stories coupled with terrible weather and a terrible government. It took a lot for me to turn down the noise and get focused. But eventually I did it. My motivating factor was simple: there is a beautiful bubbling of change and progress in the air despite all of real problems we have. I want to be a part of it. I have been so inspired by all of women speaking out about the sexual abuse they have experienced which previously silenced them #metoo. This sentiment came to a head at the 2nd annual Women’s March. Hearing all of those brave people speak about the strife women have faced and are currently facing while seeing an array of people calling for change really inspired me. It propelled me push forward in my goals. 

But it isn’t enough. Black Women’s stories need to be told. Trans Women’s stories need to be told. So many people’s stories are left without shine on them or not told at all. What happens after the marching, after the pussy hats, after the #metoo pins? What happens? We need to do real work.

One of the many reasons, I started Thriced was to celebrate the diversity of stories especially those in women and POC. I want to read stories that bring new perspectives into the fold and are celebrated for it. Let’s face it: The publishing industry can be one-note despite the big world we live in. Someone needs to showcase stories that bring agency to different types of lives. All genres are important, but particularly diversity in fiction is much more important than some of us realize. Allowing disenfranchised communities to creativity express their truths saves lives. It saved mine.

And thus, this real new-new resolution has stuck. The only truth resolution I made: read and review three books a month. Some tumbles were made and will continue to be made, but we’ve found some footing haven’t we?

So here’s to 2018: the year we dedicate ourselves to reading lots of amazing books while helping to do our part in creating a better future.

New Year, Same feels.

-Thriced

January Report: We’ve read 3 books. Almost 1000 pages. 33 more to go!

 

January|| Release RoundUp Awards

As we wind down the crazy 1^st month of 2018, there has already been so many amazing new releases. And we are only in January!  The literary market booms with a surge of romance novels during the month of January and we definitely saw a lot of that. But there were also some interesting and important releases crawling through the cracks.

In the Release RoundUp Awards, we only have three categories: Most Buzzed About, Sleeper Hit, and the Thriced Most Anticipated. 

Let’s see January’s winners!

1st Book || This will be my Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America|| Morgan Jerkins

I wanted to make sure to give Jerkins’ book its full title since so many have referred to it as just “This will be my Undoing”. Give Morgan all those characters! She named it that title for a reason.

And what a title it is. I have to admit, I am beyond excited for the release of Jerkins’ debut collection of essays. Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2018 by Esquire, Elle, Vogue, Nylon, The Millions, Refinery29, the Huffington Post, Book Riot, Bitch Media, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Vol 1. Brooklyn, and Paperback Paris, Jenkins’ collection of essays is already causing quite a stir. The topic she chooses to discuss is a more than necessary one: intersectionality.

We are in a very pivotal point in American History. Merrian-Webster named feminism its world of the year in 2017. It states that “The general rise in lookups tells us that many people are interested in this word; specific spikes give us insight into some of the reasons why.” From The Women’s March to #metoo movements, our mindset has been set to women’s progress. Wonderfully, so many people are finally becoming educated on the most basic tenets of the feminism ideology.  However, they are still unsure about the true definitions of 3rd wave feminism: intersectionality.

What is intersectionality? Coined my legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989 intersectionality is a concept often used in critical theories to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another. In other words intersectionality is the idea that social movements need to include all minority groups and their issues or they are not truly inclusive social movements.

For instance: white feminism. The term ‘White feminism’ is an often viewed as dismissive from well white women, but it is a valid and necessary ideology. White feminism a form of feminism that focuses on the struggles of white women while failing to address distinct forms of oppression faced by women of color and women lacking other privileges. Simply: your feminism does not extend to groups like WOC, Queer Women, disabled women, trans-women, fat women and poor women then it is not true feminism.

With Morgan Jerkins’ essay collection, i hope that intersectionality and the specific struggles black women face will be propelled to the forefront of mainstream media. In ten essays, Jenkins will explore everything from black girlhood, to queer identities, Beyonce, cultural and social oppression specific to black women, trauma, Jim Crow, and police shootings.

We are living in a time in which everyone’s voices who have been silenced for so long, need to be heard. As they say: if all of us aren’t free, then none of us are.

Join us in reading this weeks’ book\ This will be my undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America. You can find it in pre-order on Amazon or B&N’s.

Or you can wait until tomorrow Jan 30th, were her book is slated to be released in a store near you!

As always connect with us on: Instagram @thricedclub, twitter @thricedclub and now polyvore @thriced

Feb Theme: #BlackGirlsWrite

Notice there is no “too” at the end of the hashtag. Just like it’s namestake moniker, “black lives matter”, black people are not just additions. We are not additions. We are not afterthoughts. We matter. We have stories and perspectives that need to be told. We need get to a place where you can read literature by people of any race and not dub it a “black book” or “Asian book” and then dismiss the product because of that. There are too many talented people of color who get overshadowed by mediocrity. The same thing goes with movies, music, and all other creative endeavors. That has got to change.

MLK DAY: SEVEN BOOKS TO FIGHT THE RESISTANCE

“Life’s most persistence and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?”

-Dr. Martin Luther King

Thriced: A 2018 36 Book Challenge

As we roll into 2018, New Year’s resolutions are abundant. Will you be working on working out, saving lots of money to take that dream vacation, or simply trying to live a better life? As Thanksgiving slowly turns into Christmas and Christmas turns into Valentine’s day, many of us abandon those goals before that gym membership hits your credit card.

More than any other goal plastered up on my pseudo-dream board, one has been there more times than any other: read more. Many people have it, but few achieve it. Maybe it’s because of the vagueness set in that phrase: read more. No one ever really tells you how to do it and that is the issue with most resolutions.

What should I read? When should I read? How can I make it fun? How can I make it a challenging, but stick to it?

That is where Thriced comes in. In 2018, I’ve decided to challenge these reading resolutions with a challenge of my own: read 36 books in 1 year.

That is about 3 books a month, about a book a week.

Each month the books choices will have a unique theme tying them all together.

At the end of each week, I’ll give a short honest review on each body of work and maybe it’ll encourage you to keep reading along too.

This isn’t your mother’s book club (though we #loveyoumommy).

In the Thriced virtual book club, we will explore all types of authors and stories this year. Often there are so many voices out there are not properly explored and those are the types of people I want to hear from the most in this 1^st Thriced year.

I want to read the voices of heroic women.

I want to read the voices of vulnerable men.

I want to read the voices of people completely different from me.

I want to read the voices of people totally the same as me.

I want to read the voices of imaginary goblins.

I want to read the voices of real life tragedies.

I want to read the voices of those who felt voiceless.

But mostly I just want to read and I hope that you’ll take this journey with me.

 

Written with excitement and hope by Natalia B.