All in all, if was a very interesting book in the sense that you never know what revelation is going to happen next. I also liked that the book is so focused on women and how they live their lives and relationship with motherhood differently. It was amazing to see such different examples of it through the different characters as well as the consequences that come with it. However, that is where the book lost me the first time. When Lexie gets her abortion and puts down Pearls name instead of hers, she is fully aware this might have consequences for Pearl (spoiler; it does) but does it anyway. Moreover, she does not have even the slightest hint of responsibility and is never confronted with consequences to her actions. This is part of the reason the open end felt so dissatisfying to me. I personally don’t like open endings altogether, but in this case, with so much left open, as well as the lack of consequences for anyone it was especially frustrating. A less unlikeable thing that was also frustrating, was the whole situation around the custody fight. As much as I thought about it, there just was no good solution and that only added to the frustration I was feeling. And the ending, in which Bebe kidnaps Mirabelle though understandable to some level is not better in any way. This aspect of escaping judgement is very noticeable in the book and characters as well. Mia escapes the surrogacy, Lexie escapes social humiliation, Izzy escapes an unloving home. Only Elena doesn’t escape the house of cards she has built for herself. So I guess and open end is only in line with the overall topics of the novel. To end on a more positive note, I appreciated that none of the characters are evil or good but instead fall somewhere on a grey scale. All of them are products of their environment, and even a similar environment produces very different people. Mia is never the overtly good character, though one has to admit the book is written in a way that favors her. The same goes for Elena. Although her actions are not coming across as good most of the time, she has many facets, and the novel makes this clear. I imagine it can be pretty easy to fall into stereotypes and begin to judge characters as good or evil as a writer. In that sense I want to acknowledge that the book goes beyond that (most of the time) and explains the characters decisions to some level. In conclusion, even though I probably won't reread or recommend the novel, I can still appreciate the work and thoughts that went into making it. As said before, I found the topics to be extremely interesting, but found the story and writing to be somehow lacking.

Kleine Feuer Überall ist ein spannendes Buch und eines an dem mir sehr viel gefallen hat, alleine schon der Titel bewegt etwas in mir. Das Buch fängt ganz dramatisch an, es wird von einem brennenden Haus berichtet und Anschuldigungen werden von allelerlei Charakteren die wir noch nicht kennen aufgestellt. Ich fand dieses Konzept unfassbar gut, das Ende des Buches quasi vorwegzunehmen und sich auf das wie und warum zu konzentrieren, diese ganzen Charaktere kennen zu lernen im laufe des Buches und wie es dazu kommen könnte, das ein Familienhaus in Flammen steht. Es war aber auch nicht perfekt, ich habe auf ein großes Finale gewartet, vergeblich. Das Ende ist okay, aber nicht mehr als das. Meine leseflaute ist nicht wirklich beendet, aber das wird schon noch. cel

It took me a while to get into the story, but as soon as it got interesting, I got an intense Big Little Lies vibe, which I’m all for.

I enjoyed listening this book while doing something else around the house, however it felt to me it was written in order to make a Hollywood movie out of it (I just found out that a tv series was recently released). While the story is touching, about motherhood, choices and second chances, it was somehow predictable and sprinkled with stereotypes.

If you are a fan of Hustvedt or Eugenides, a fan of strong and interesting female characters or a fan of well narrated family affairs: this is your book. What I loved are the well played opposites: free vs bound, poor vs rich. The book moves around the question: are you a golden cage or a golden bird. And what would you sacrifice to become the bird, if you don’t want to be the cage. Deeply enjoyed to go on the literary journey with Mia, Pearl and the Richardsons.