This story about family took so much patience and understanding to read, so don't go into this lightly. And I mean that in the most positive of ways. I loved this novel. I read it slowly, like a decadent dessert because I wanted to savor every detail.
Mrs. Richardson, Mia, Mrs. McCullough, BeBe, these are all women who try and illustrate what it means to be a mother and the sacrifices that we make to take care of our children.
The book opens with a literal fire and so immediately the title makes sense but the more I read, the more I realized that it was merely a metaphor for the internal fires that burned inside so many of the characters. Every one of them were wrestling with secrets, decisions, fights and emotions that made me truly think about what it would be like to be in their shoes.
There are too many narratives for me to put it all into a nutshell of a review so I will try and explain here why you should read it instead of give a synopsis.
Read this book because of the intricate details of lives that are so entangled, it's addicting to find out how they will ever make sense.
Read this because you must find out the answers to so many questions:
Where did Mia come from and what is she always running away from?
What is wrong with Izzy?
What happened before the fire?
Who took that photo of Mia and baby Pearl?
I think that the story of motherhood-each woman's journey into it, around it, through it- is so intimate that it must have been an arduous task for Celeste Ng to write so authentically about so many different mothers' experiences.
Read it because it's rich, beautifully written, honest and thought-provoking.
This was my Book of the Month pick. You can get your own monthly books sent to you for just $10 a month. These books are so well chosen that you will always have a great selection. Check out the link here:
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