My Ratings: 5 stars
Wow, what a story! As I try to gather my thoughts to write this review, I am finding it difficult to do because there were too many things that made this book so wonderful! The premise sounded simple enough – a wealthy family living in a progressive suburb called Shaker Heights, where every aspect of the community is carefully planned out and everyone lives idyllic, picture-perfect lives shielded from the "unpleasantness" of the outside world. Guided by the philosophy that "as long as you follow the rules, everything will be fine," Elena Richardson is the ultimate embodiment of the Shaker spirit – she leads a perfectly maintained privileged life, married to a successful attorney husband with 4 "perfect" kids (2 boys and 2 girls), living in a big, beautiful house, doing a job she loves and surrounded by close friends who all think and act like her. For Mrs. Richardson -- who was born and raised in Shaker Heights and whose ancestors had proudly upheld the planned community's ideals for 3 generations – it is unfathomable that anyone would choose to live any other way than the way she and her family and her entire community does. Into this idyllic setting enters Mia Warren, an enigmatic and intriguing artist who brings with her a fatherless 15-year-old daughter named Pearl – hoping to settle down after years of living a nomadic life, Mia rents a small house from the Richardsons (an arrangement Mrs. Richardson wholeheartedly agrees to because, after all, how can someone who leads such a "perfect" life as hers not have a "compassionate" and "charitable" heart?). As the lives of the 2 families become more and more entangled, things happen that reveal the deep dysfunction that actually lies just beneath the surface of this community, the Richardson family in particular. As "reality" sets in and things fall apart around her, Mrs. Richardson sees her carefully curated bubble start to burst, which eventually triggers in her the obsessive need to dig up Mia's past and expose her in a desperate attempt to get her "perfect" life back. The results of this obsession proves to be unexpected as well as devastating.
Author Celeste Ng writes beautifully – she has a skillful way with words and her storytelling draws you in completely. From the first sentence all the way to the very last word, I was captivated by this well-crafted story with its well-developed, complicated, yet extremely realistic characters – to be honest, I didn't want this story to end. It's not often that a book comes along where the characters are explored so deeply and flushed out so completely without sacrificing the story or the writing in any way. While there were some characters that I didn't like at all and others who were unequivocally endearing, all of them I felt like I understood and could empathize with. I loved how the characters were drawn so realistically – the portrayal of Mrs. Richardson, for example, with her "holier than thou" attitude and "sweet as pie" platitudes trying to mask the hypocrisy and unethical nature of her actions was truly spot-on! The story itself explored so many different issues, complicated societal issues such as family, mother/daughter relationships, teenage angst and rebellion, racism, etc. yet this was done in a way that presented both sides while still remaining neutral from a narrative standpoint – something that is extremely difficult to do! As a reader, I appreciated being presented with both sides and letting me decide for myself what side I wanted to be on.
One of the things I saw in this book that I rarely see nowadays with contemporary authors was the use of allusions and foreshadowing woven so seamlessly throughout the entire story. The number of direct and indirect references to "fire" and all its different iterations (blaze, sparks, flames, flare, smoke, torch, ember, etc.) from the book's awesome title was astounding, but what I loved most was how these references were so thoughtfully relayed through such beautiful writing! I would quote passages if I could but seeing that I read an ARC version of the book, probably best not to – besides, there were so many great "fire" related passages that deciding which ones to include and which ones not to would be a nightmare for me, lol. You will just have to read the book and discover them for yourself! ;-)
My only complaint is a little bit of dissatisfaction with the ending – not because the loose ends weren't tied up (I actually like the fact that Ng went with a non-traditional ending), but because I was so invested in the characters already that I wanted to know what ultimately happens to them, wanted the story to continue on so I could keep spending time with them (part of me also wanted to see some type of comeuppance for the deplorable Mrs. Richardson, whom I detested from the beginning of the story to the very end, lol). But of course, the ending reflects how real life works and I am perfectly fine with that!
This book made me think and reflect on a lot of things but most of all, it made me think about life and all its complexities. No matter how much we may want to -- try to -- plan or control things, life happens and more often than not, takes on directions that we don't expect, can't anticipate, can't control, and oftentimes can't change. Whether good, bad, or indifferent, when life happens, even the best-laid plans cannot help us avoid it.. Wonderful book, highly recommended!!!
Received advance reader's copy from Penguin Press via Penguin First to Read program and Edelweiss.
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