Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng, was a fascinating look into what makes a family, and asks what does it mean to be a parent.  The novel centers around the Richardson family, and the tenets of their rental home, Mia and Pearl.  Little Fires Everywhere discusses how complicated a simple life can truly be.  The crux of the novel centers around a court case in which they have to decide the legal guardianship of an adopted child. 

For me, what made this novel so captivating was the writing. I found power in the writing. For example, after a poignant scene in which the director of a family planning clinic stands up to Mrs. Richardson the simple sentence, "in fact this was the last lunch the two women would ever have together yet they remained cordial the rest of their lives." In one sentence so much is conveyed about this world, and these characters. As readers, we don't need two or three pages of exposition describing their entire ordeal, yet in one sentence we learn so much about them. 

Excellent writing aside, I believe the mark of a great novel is one that makes you think.  And for me this novel definitely made me think. I found myself wanting to learn more and more about these characters, each chapter I learned a new wrinkle about them, and I feel like I got to know them.

My one complaint was with the end, I am not sure why, I just felt that it was rushed and needed to be fleshed out more. However, my feelings may have been influenced by the fact that I didn't want the book to end.

All in all it was a great read, that I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't made into a movie or a TV show one day. The richness of the characters and of Shaker Heights jumps off the page.   

Born a Crime

This book fits the memoir/biography aspect of my reading goal for 2018.  I have to come clean. I am a huge fan of Trevor Noah, I've seen him live, I enjoy his brand of comedy. I know he isn't as popular but I think he is doing a great job as host of The Daily Show and I wish him all the best.  Becuase I am a fan  I had low expectations, I know this sounds odd, but I felt like I already knew him before I read the book. What was there to learn that I didn't already know. I knew he was bi-racial in apartheid South Africa. Boy, I was wrong?

The book focuses on a mother's love for his child. She is the true star of his life. He downplays his rise to fame, choosing to focus on his humble upbringing. It works. It is great. His mother and his life are crazy...in a good way. One thing I love about memoirs is that you get to see life through a different lens.  In my schooling, we never talk about South Africa. As a literate person, I know who Nelson Mandela is and Desmond Tutu but I didn't know.  I had no clue how engrained racism was in the society.  As a comedian, Trevor does a great job deconstructing the absurdity of racism and of South Africa's ludicrous laws.

Although he doesn't have the weight of a founding father or a titan of business I think his memoir is a great read. Infused with humor, and insight the book is about a nation a half a world away but the reader can draw parallels to today's world. I highly recommend it.

In the slightly trivial news, I've re-watched some of his stand-up routines after reading the book, and they are so much better, now that I know how grounded they are in reality.