Yaaas! I was already enthused to read this novel and now I'm tripping over myself to read it. Love your enthusiastic, intelligent, creative review. "pumpkin spice and privilege" Haha! I love a Chekov gun. So glad to hear the story explores the complexity of mother and daughter relationships. I come partly from NYC Irish stock so my parents did once jokingly warn me away from the Irish with their drunken fiery tempers, but I don't think I was meant to take their jocular tone seriously. Thanks for the fantastic review and your personal reaction to it.

Really thought provoking - part of the reason why I love your videos!

I have been hearing about this book for a bit and because my TBR has toppled, I chose to keep it at bay but as usual your thoughtful video makes me want to add it to my TBR. I listen to Code Switch regularly and I remember listening to the episode you referred to and felt myself cheering at the advice they gave the couple. I even liked the women that brought her child to a more diverse sports team so that her son could be with people that looked like him. Because I agree that the parent's comfort should not have prevented them from the responsibility of providing their child an opportunity to grow with pride. Thanks for another great video, they create that dialogue we really need. Have a great day!

I loved hearing your analysis of the book! I hope to do a review myself soon, but you put into words a lot of things I was thinking. You also added levels of depth to which I can only aspire. Thanks for the great video, as always. In terms of life advice I was given when I was younger, my mom always told me I should elope and that I shouldn't get married until I'm in my 30s. Whether or not these things were said in jest, since they do not mirror my parents' experience at all, they still rattle around in my mind from time to time.

You're eloquence and sensitivity is beautiful! Thank you! Just subscribed :)

Fascinating review as always. I'm about 50 pages from the end and there's so much to unpack. I know I'll be thinking about it long after I've turned the final page.

I am so glad this popped up in my recommendations while browsing reviews for this book. Its been weeks since I finished it and I still love thinking about it and this review of it is EXCELLENT. I especially was eye rolling so hard too and the aspect you perfectly worded "...Celeste found good intentions running smack dab in the brick wall of privilege and cultural differences and assumptions." I love everything you discussed in this and now I really want to read Nicole's essay from that book

Another great video! I appreciate your reviews very much.

Just finished this show and yowza! Talk about gravitas! Great analysis, very nuanced, insightful and sensitive. Lol at the gifs you included. Made me want to read the book and short story, too. Really loved how the show revealed all these character and narrative arcs in the beginning and then started building backwards as you said. Thank you also for sharing your personal insights, very touching.

I loved Little Fires Everywhere and love where you took this with your discussion. I must read her other book.

Great discussion! I haven't read Little Fires Everywhere yet but I absolutely adored Everything I Never Told You so I'm looking forward to it.

Great video, as always. And I really enjoyed this book as well. What an absolute joy to find an adult fiction novel that read like a thriller.

Great review there. Gives me a lot to look forward to. I'm only a few pages in, up to where Moody meets Pearl. So far it's the writing that keeps me reading. I in love with how Celeste Ng writes.

You've just been added to my list of favorite booktubers

Advice from my Iraqi father: Never walk on manhole cover, always walk around them. Iraq is notorious for bad maintenance of such things and apparently many people got injured falling in them or through them.

I loooove this video!! I have to read Little Fires Everywhere... I knew the loose bones of the plot, but hearing you talk about the themes makes me excited - I love books about identity, race, nature vs. nurture... sounds great. Also probably the weirdest life adage I've gotten was from my stepmom, who always told me to wear socks and to not walk on cold floors when on your period - she said it makes you get worse cramps... (this is pretty much scientifically untrue lol but I believed it when I was 14!)

I have to confess, I felt like the adoption subplot deserved a lot more nuance than it was given. It didn't seem like a realistic portrayal of how US domestic adoption works. I've known some people who have tried to adopt through foster care (and in once case had three kids taken back by three separate bio families), and things like changing a child's name before the adoption is finalized and a public trial rather than a series of visits with a family court judge seem like they would be incredibly unusual, even 20 years ago. Maybe not impossible, but so rare that it almost makes it feel like a parody. The whole issue of transracial/cultural adoption is such an important one (I've heard some appalling stories from a couple of friends who were adopted - from Korea and Vietnam respectively - by white Anglo-Americans in rural Oklahoma in the '70s that make the adoptive parents in the book seem almost enlightened), but I just couldn't get past how falsely simplistic the trial felt. On cultural advice, my parents were from two different countries and they both did that multi-country immigration trail before settling in Canada - so I was never sure if the advice was coming from Belgium, the US, Germany, Turkey, Columbia, Brazil, or wherever. My husband is similar - his parents are both ethnically Goan, but his dad was third generation British and his mum second via Kenya. When we first started dating he'd sometimes explain a foreign word his grandmother used with "That's Konkani for pig" and his mum would shout over a correction like, "It's Swahili for cow!". So clearly neither of us ended up knowing anything! ;)

Love a backwards timeline plot. I've been seeing this book everywhere. Ah, the mother-daughter bond is so complex and layered. It's also one of my favorite themes. Thank you for a thought-provoking review as usual.

Haha! When I was in Korea I was told I was not to have the fan in my room. I thought that was hilarious - and odd coming from the country that brings us so many appliances. You have made me really keen to read 'Little Fires Everywhere'! I really enjoyed the points you raised here on race.

We've had an ARC of this book just sitting around at my work, and this review has inspired me to finally pick it up!

Very well considered review. Enjoyed it.

David, I wish I could do this as well as you....even the tiniest bit. Very few people review books better. Little Fires was a book that seems beloved by everyone, so I thought I'd pass. I'm weird that way. But you've taken me into so many books I'd have never picked for myself. And I haven't been disappointed yet. Happy New Year, Sir.

just came for a little taste.and it looks good ..i'll be back after i've read the book..which i do own though it's not too far up on the to be read list!

This is a great review and discussion. As a biracial Asian-American, there is some I can relate to, particularly on prejudice and self-identity. But you’ve really sparked some insightful points in this video. Always happy to see new stuff from you.

Somehow this review of your slipped through the cracks and see what I would've missed? FAN DEATH! I hope this never happens again. I'm still not sure about wanting to read Celeste Ng. I have Everything I Never Told - snatched from a library sale - but so far my sister has read it and for me it's nowhere near the priority list with so many other books fighting for my attention ^^ But your review was excellent as always, David. As for parental advice... Well, my mom is very against marrying into Muslim faith as she is scared of the position of women in their culture and read too many books on wives running away after being kept as prisoners in their husband's home countries. Thanks, literature! Generally, she wouldn't be a fan of a relationship between people of different faiths more than of different nationalities, I think, but her Catholic background is very important to her so it definitely comes from that. She does freak out a lot about the thought of me dating a shorter guy. I could swear it's her worst nightmare right there. She is the type to always demand every little detail about a man that I encountered recently but becomes suddenly disinterested when it turns out his shorter than me. My dad said to me once: "Just don't bring home guy my age and tell me you love him and we will be fine." Which is the most relationship advice I ever got from him. He does insist on being allowed to tell any prospective boyfriend that he is licensed to carry a gun. I really am not sure if it's army humor or my dad's humor. Possibly both.

With the way you described this one I'm going to put it on my tbr. The backwards running story premise reminds me of an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and company go to India for a wedding, going backwards to when Jerry first met Kramer.

Interesting question you pose. I'm caucasian, and while my parents didn't tell me to stick with white, they did suggest that I find someone from a similar background, especially economic background. They said that marriage is challenging enough without adding other controllable factors. Because you can control who you love, according to my Mom.

I love this review! I'm African American from the south, and by that I mean the REAL south, Arkansas. ;) I didn't personally get any advice about romantic relationships outside of my race, but my husband definitely did. His grandmother's motto was "If she can't use my comb, don't bring her home." It's glib, but she really meant it!

Hello, sorry for the late comment. Your review was a amazing, and I'll definitely get the book. Being from bi-racial parents, whenever my Dad was telling me anything about north african culture, I was answering " I don't want to choose between my mum and my dad" and he was replying "then take both of us". Although I am sensitive to identity politics, I have never considered myself as white nor a minority, but more as a whole human being making its way in this world. I definitely think that the world is not exclusively white and straight, and I am on board when it comes to promote a smart and clever individual from a minority in every field, but I picture myself personally as a universalist more than everything because I followed my father's advice and took "both of them". I loved when you evoked the subject of dating to your daughter, it reminded mine telling me "no ! No! No!". Best regards.

I'm Polish-Canadian and I get the "where are you from? But really, where are you from?" all the time. Trying not to roll your eyes when it happens is the real challenge. When my mom was growing up, women in Poland commonly got married when they were 18-20 (She was pressured into getting married at 18). With my sister and I, my mom tried to be 'progressive' so her advice was - "don't date until you're 25 or you'll get pregnant and ruin your life". My sister and I were born when my mom was under 25 so.. uhhh..., thanks mom?

In my family, it's been passed down not to marry outside of your religion if you're unwilling to convert. I think that can be a tough issue to navigate, but that's just what I've been advised.

As always, thank you for this video...but I am a bit concerned about the fan-ban! I have not slept without a fan roaring next to my bed, ever!

I honestly did not have any 'cultural' advice from my parents, etc. But your review was a revelation to me how to verbalize my impression on another book, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. While on the surface it seems to have a totally different actual story line from Ng's novel, deeper down (one of the main) subjects is very, very similar to what you are talking about mentioning 'harmless racism' and good intentions going... yes, somewhere not good. (In case you have read it, think of Ifemelu's relationship with the affluent, white, very liberal guy.) It is a very important and at the same time an extremely difficult topic to talk about because for a long time the liberal and progressive ('cool') attitude was to be 'racially blind', mixing it up (=confusing it) with 'every person is equal'. Nowadays we understand more and more that racial blindness can be extremely harmful; these two novels (Adichie and Ng) seem to show us in a fictional form how and why. Americanah, exactly because of these parts, was an eye opener and life changer for me, seriously. So of course now I am going to read Little Fires Everywhere as soon as I can.

Things I was tought by my parents: having all windows open all day, even in winter, is good for you. Just use another blanket and drink more tea, you need the fresh air. On the other hand: air flow from an AC unit in summer will definitely give you the flu or a stiff neck at the very least. Thankfully, any flu, stiff neck or other illness or injury can easily be cured with a generous application of menthol cream. Of course it's working, you just need to give it some time.

Loved the book - and this video was fantastic. My kids are biracial as well. Hubby is Korean/Chinese. (OH MY GOD! You sleep with a fan on???????). We have been fortunate having both Korean and Chinese influences (in laws live really close... 🙄).

Greetings! Loved your book review! “Little Fires Everywhere” is the perfect simile for many whites when it comes to race, can enjoy it or not mention it at all. (Most reviews don’t mention race at all...) Advice my Carribean Moms gave me? Never marry an African; you don’t know how many other wifes they have.

Another excellent video! I'm more interested to pick the book up now 👍 My mum has some pretty awful opinions that I've managed to lessen somewhat over the years but she's said things like "She doesn't want me to date someone of a different race because it doesn't look right" , "she doesn't want me to have children before marriage because it isn't very nice" and plenty of other awful things. It infuriates me beyond belief! Somehow my brothers and I all completely disagree with her and always challenge her about it, so I'm very glad her views didn't trickle down to us!

First generation Greek-American here. My grandmother had many superstitions that dominated our house, notably that the ceiling fans couldn't be on when it rained (usually in the summer when it was 10000 degrees outside), and my brother wasn't allowed to play his acoustic guitar during a thunderstorm. Luckily, my parents never got on the "strict Greek" dating thing.

Your videos are stunning. Why aren't you on TV? No, wait - too insightful for TV. As a newbie BookTuber I am awestruck. And yeah Korean fan death - be careful! 😜

You should have put that warning sign in the thumbnail Danger this book will make you think and look in a uncomfortable mirror. Read it anyway. Your video comes on the aftermath of another school district banning To Kill a Mockingbird becsuse it makes people uncomfortable. I think we all need a little uncomfortable to confornt what we are.

Wait... the Chinese vs Korean husband stigma is a real thing? I thought it was just my Korean mother being weirdly racist. She always said not to marry a Korean man (at least not a Korea-raised one). I once asked my mom on her thought of white men (in her eyes 'American' means white) fetishizing Asians. She said she believed it was true, but thought I was smart enough not to get stuck in a relationship like that. I'm half white/half Korean. Both of my serious long term boyfriends have been white. My mother has never said anything about their race. The funny thing is though she has made comments about their height. My first boyfriend was 6 feet tall. She kept asking 'are you sure' because she felt that he looked shorter than that. My second (and current) boyfriend is 5'5. When I mentioned this to her she laughed. She thinks it's hilarious that her 5'7 daughter is dating someone shorter. This is the same woman who considered my father to be short at 5'9. She is barely 5 foot herself.

Loved the book - disappointed that Green likes it - the propagandist for the establishment just sodomised a great NOVEL

Yeah... My grandma told me not to get a black man... which is exactly what I did