Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

"...passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing. It so easily went out of control. Better to control that spark...or perhaps to tend it carefully like an eternal flame."

This book came highly recommended to me by many different people. And I wanted to love it as much as they claimed I would. The characterization in this novel was extremely well done -- it's just unfortunate that I basically detested them all. Sure I had some, albeit brief, moments of empathy at one turn of a page or another -- but for the most part, I couldn't understand their motivations, their actions, or their decisions. I guess my reaction says more about me, personally, than it does about the book. I didn't find most of the narrative to be believable and the construct -- is love between parent and child about biology or is it about the nurturing -- to be an overly done theme. The relationships between them all rang so false and actually, I thought quite ridiculous in some instances. No spoilers, but I couldn't find a one to root for. Sure we're all flawed, and the parent-child relationship is fraught with issues at all ages and stages of life, but some of the things that happened in the book just left me more angry than sympathetic. I know I tend to prefer books where I can make some sort of personal identification with at least one character, but that was absent for me in this story.

The writing was decent, if a bit melodramatic at times, and I highlighted a bit here and there when I found a particularly interesting turn of phrase. But overall, I just don't feel the love so it missed the mark for me. This was the first novel I've read by this author, and I might be tempted to try another in the future -- as long as it wasn't a domestic drama.

This would make a great choice for a book club as there are so many things within that beg discussion and debate. I think that hearing other opinions always helps me to understand and further support my own position on the topics.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the e-book ARC to read and review.