What ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Teaches Us About Life
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“It terrifies you. That you missed out on something. That you gave up something you didn’t know you wanted…What was it? Was it a boy? Was it a vocation? Or was it a whole life?”
I want to tell you something you’ve probably heard before — This book changed my life. Not in the momentous way you often hear about — I didn’t start a new fitness routine or finally figure out how to manage my finances. I’ve been able see the world around me in a new light. It’s as if I’m looking at a familiar landscape but the seasons have suddenly changed. Or maybe it’s me who’s changed.
Little Fires Everywhere gave me the opportunity to live another life. A life in which I didn’t have to make decisions or be judged or choose sides. I could simply sit and read and embrace everything the author intended for me to feel.
I was put in Mia Warren’s shoes, a single mother obsessed with the art of photography. Mia is new in the picture-perfect suburb of Shaker Heights, where she can escape her past and start anew. She stumbles upon a housekeeping job working for the wealthy Richardsons, who have been nothing but kind to her and her daughter, Pearl. As she meets the folks of Shaker Heights, Mia is faced with an unfortunate decision concerning the adoption of a baby who has been abandoned by her mother. Does Mia betray the ones who have made Shaker Heights feel like home or does she fight for what she believes in — The simple principle that a child deserves to be raised by her biological mother.
Let me stop there. I’m not here to spoil a good book for you, I’m here to share my perspective and encourage you to take a chance on this one. You could have easily googled “Little Fires Everywhere Summary” and been done with it. But you decided to stick around.
Maybe in return, I can recommend a book that will touch your life in ways you may never have expected. Why not take the leap; experience what lies beyond the unknown?
A mother having to give up her newborn child.
A daughter caught between her love for her mother and her love for her new, seemingly idyllic community.
A legal system so shrouded with conspiracy that justice no longer seems like the topic of discussion.
Your morality will be questioned. I was challenged to think about things I would usually have just turned a blind eye to. Logically reasoning out why things are the way they are.
The homeless man we see every morning, sitting cross-legged with his loyal companion by his side. It doesn’t take long for you to draw him up as an alcoholic; a bum; a picturesque example of what not to do with your life. But it might be a mistake to leave it at just that. Maybe even a missed opportunity. An honest attempt to make simple sense of our world. But I can promise you, there must be more to that story.
I can almost hear you whispering to yourself — “With everything going on in our world, what good will one more sad story do?” I’m pretty sure there is no one right answer to that question.
If nothing else, this book is a one-way ticket into a life you might normally be too scared to step into. A world in which the things that happen are as much in your control as they are out.
Or you could simply choose to see it for what it actually is… just another book you probably won’t end up reading.
This Executive Summary was contributed by Luke Krapez.
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