Little Fires Everywhere

1. General Impressions

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

• Given the novel’s popularity, did you know anything about Little Fires Everywhere before reading it? If so, how did this impact your reading experience?
• Celeste Ng’s other works include Everything I Never Told You (2014) and Our Missing Hearts (2022). Have you read anything else by Ng? If you have, how does this novel compare? If you haven’t, based on Little Fires Everywhere, would you like to? Why or why not?

2. Personal Reflection and Connection

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

• This novel contains two mothers—Mia and Bebe—who abscond with their birth daughters after surrogacy and surrender respectively. What determines one’s rights to motherhood, in your view? What is your relationship like with your mother, or a mother-like figure in your life? How does it compare with the various mother-child relationships in this novel? 
• Mia uses art for self-expression, which resonates with a character like Izzy, who feels ostracized from her family. What role does artistic production and creativity play in your life?
• Do you side more with Mrs. Robinson or Mia over the fate of Bebe’s child, and why?
• At the end of the novel, Mia leaves personalized gifts for the Robinson family that speak to their internal identities.