Little Fires Everywhere is an emotionally packed novel. There is rich material in the story and as I was thinking through my experience reading it I wondered what my daughter would experience if she were to read it too. It has a little something for everyone – rebellious teens, inter-racial relations, town planning, abortion, immigrant experience, surrogate pregnancy, infertility…the list goes on.

To me, this is really a book about motherhood, in all its shapes and sizes. There are good mothers, surrogate mothers, accidental mothers, neglectful mothers, single mothers, adoptive mothers, mothers from other cultures, and absent mothers. The two primary mothers – Mrs. Richardson and Mia Warren – provide the narrative arc of the book. Mrs. Richardson grew up in Shaker Heights, and internalized the structured planned community in which she was raised. She met her husband in college, they planned out their careers, house and family, and then worked to achieve their goals; hardworking but using conventional means. Mia on the other hand was an artist who used photography in her idiosyncratic body of work. She followed her intuition and was very attentive to the world around her, both in her art and her life. Her life was itinerant, she and her daughter never stayed in one place very long. As an artist who studied photography there were aspects of Mia’s character I identified with, but if I’m honest with myself I also identified with the rule-following Mrs. Richardson who embraced rules and routine.

Mia, I found myself thinking, is the mother I always want to be; saying the right things to the children in their times of need, being open and accepting, and creating a feeling of home through one’s presence rather than the choice of decor. Mrs. Richardson, on the other hand, is the mother I fear I might be – so absorbed in her work, and the need for structure and rules, that she is missing the emotional register of her family entirely. Of course neither of these characters are perfect, and as a reader and mother I know that good parenting requires both a little bit of Mia and a little Mrs. Richardson.

I haven’t been rating my books, but if I did, out of 5 👍, I would give this one a 👍👍👍👍👍. It is a totally absorbing read, the characters are complex and do unexpected things. As noted it really has something for everyone and in fact I do plan to give this to my daughter, as I’m very curious to hear her response.