Classism and wealth serve as blinders in "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng, but in this story, the wealthy aren't just cruel to each other because they're bored. Instead, those who challenge the status quo of a society are ostracized by those with resources. "Little Fires Everywhere" follows two Ohio families in the 1990s: The wealthy Richardsons, a married mother and father with four children, and the Warrens, a poor single mother, Mia, and her daughter Pearl. The story said a lot about parenting and race. The Richardsons lived a rooted life of law and order. Mia and Pearl were nomads, moving from city to city whenever Mia finished a photography project.
Parts of "Little Fires Everywhere" get really uncomfortable in the best way. It was striking, but not surprising, how privilege and entitlement prevented the Richardson children from being empathetic. The story edged a little too far into "suburbs and rules bad," but I can forgive it that after it fully explored the many variations of the mother-daughter relationship. I loved how the book left open the question of whether the Richardsons actually learned anything from their time with the Warrens. I was leaning toward "no, they didn't." The most heartbreaking part for me was Moody Richardson’s descent into misogyny and entitlement toward the end. He seemed so nice!
The two big questions reviewers on Goodreads asked about "A Simple Favor" was "Why was this ever made into a movie?" and also "DNF, because I feel like I'm reading trash???" Good questions, Goodreaders!
The biggest selling point for "A Simple Favor" was its similarities with Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl." Both seemed to explore the idea: "If a housewife was a psychopath, to what lengths would she go to lead the exact same life forever?" Emily, the *crazy* one in "A Simple Favor," just wants to commit a little insurance fraud, stay a few months in Europe with her husband and her son, and take a break from her demanding job covering up her boss’s indiscretions. She befriends widowed mommy blogger Stephanie to have an advocate and caretaker for her son while she fakes her own death.
Emily doesn't count on her husband, Sean, believing that she is dead, and he ends up sleeping with Stephanie because he wants to move on with his life and have a mother for his child.
The characters in "A Simple Favor" exercise poor judgment at almost every available opportunity. There's a weird incest subplot, which really adds nothing to the story other than a chance for Emily to blackmail Stephanie.
I could go on and on about this, but as I age, I'm not terribly interested in indiscriminately crapping on books I hate, just gently nudging others away from them. The bottom line is it seems Emily wants to have her cake and eat it too: She has a stressful job, and instead of finding another one that might be less stressful and pay less, or taking a sabbatical, she decides an elaborate insurance fraud scheme is the best way to let go of her old life because she's "bored." All of the things that would be obvious to us plebes are made infinitely more complicated and dramatic by tiresome rich characters with nothing better to do.
Both books featured wealthy people doing dumb stuff to each other, but one had broader statements to make about classism and racism, with a reasonable helping of subtlety, and the other was a weird hot mess.
TL;DR: I highly recommend “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng. Do not waste your time on Darcey Bell’s “A Simple Favor.”
Coming soon: The end of February is approaching, and I read 25 books this month. I’m expecting to squeeze in another 1 or 2 in the next few days. It’s not as impressive as it sounds, since a lot of them were short and with pictures. I have a full-blown obsession with comic books right now, with no end in sight. #cantstopwontstop #sorrynotsorry
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