Little Fires Everywhere

I am bracing myself to review “Little Fire Everywhere” because I know this book has a major fan following; however, I did not love the book (there I said it...I liked, but didn’t love, “Little Fires Everywhere”!) Now before you break out the pitchforks, here’s why:

First, I had already heard the buzz about this book so was prepared to read something extraordinary. I knew Reese Witherspoon was planning to create a TV series based off of it with her and Kerry Washington starring, I knew it was a book that “tackled” subjects like racism, social class and ethnocentrism, and I knew it had won a much of awards. Maybe going into this book with those kinds of high expectations wasn’t fair, because how could any book live up to all of that? Although other books have (hello “The Vanishing Half”), I’m just sayin’....

Second, I just didn’t find the characters that unique or interesting! There were quite a few of them but all pretty stereotypical: the uptight, rich mother (whom I’m sure Reese will play; I feel like she’s played that exact character before), the laid-back, arty, exact-opposite mother (Kerry Washington), children who are opposites yet are somehow drawn to each other...and important messages about how growing up rich isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, sometimes having less material things is better because then you have tighter family bonds, etc...etc...etc...you see where I’m going with this? Yes, all these messages are great but I feel like I’ve seen these characters and read this storyline before. There were some arcs that I did find interesting (non-conventional adoption for example), but most of this book just seemed very familiar.

Anyway, I’d love to hear other opinions on the book because I’m having problems figuring out what all the fuss is about. I gave this book an average rating because I did read it all and didn’t dislike it: I just wouldn’t go back to it again