Enlight21

Readers of Celeste Ng’s second novel, “Little Fires Everywhere,” will recognize a few elements from her acclaimed debut, “Everything I Never Told You.” There are the simmering racial tensions and incendiary family dynamics beneath the surface of a quiet Ohio town. There are the appeal and impossibility of assimilation, the all-consuming force of motherhood and the secret lives of teenagers and their parents, each unknowable to the other.

And there’s a familiar frame, too: At each novel’s opening, we know at least part of the tragedy that will befall the characters — the mystery lies in figuring out how they got there. In “Little Fires Everywhere,” we begin not with a death but a house fire, and new questions: Who set it, and why?  --from The New York Time.

Questions to Ponder:

1. Who is your favorite character and why?
2. Which relationship do you find the  most compelling?  Why?
3. The author contrasts the Richardson’s  conventional upper middle class mores and lifestyle to Mia’s and Pearl’s unconventional approach to life.  What kind of lifestyle appeals to you?
4. Which Richardson kid do you like the most and why?
5. Your general thoughts?