As a bookworm, I have been following the BookTube community since the beginning of the year. For that reason, I heard that fellow bookworms would be joining an Asian readathon throughout the month of May. That was something I was already meaning to do as I mostly read novels from America, England, and sometimes Brazil. I haven’t read many Asian novels and I wanted to change that, which pushed me to participate in the read-a-thon.
One of the prompts of this read-a-thon was reading a book written by an Asian author, so I chose to read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. I came to that decision after many people on YouTube started giving it great feedback, because that’s how I got back into reading this year. I’m so grateful for the recommendations I got from videos as I found some new favorite books. However, this one was a disappointment.
A fun fact is that the book was published back in 2017 and people picked it up recently because a TV Show based on the book was about to come out on Hulu. I was curious, so I wanted to read the book and then watch the series. What I want to say is that the book is not bad, but it’s not at all what I was expecting. My expectations were too high and it fell kinda short. Verdict: I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars. I do realize that it might have been the fact that I listened to it on audio book instead of actually reading it. It was good, but not amazing like some people have been saying.
Whenever a book receives any kind of adaptation, I feel a bit nervous. More often than not, adaptations miss some meanings, exclude characters, and just make a mess overall. However, this was not one of those cases. The TV show for Little Fires Everywhere is amazing in my eyes. It took all the good parts of the book and gave it life. Surprisingly, my favorite parts were the ones that were changed. Just like the book, the character that caught my eye the most is Izzy Richardson, who really reminds me of my own little sister.
If you are wondering whether to read the book or watch the TV show, I would recommend watching the TV show. But I also see some of the appeals of the book and it’s not because I didn’t particularly like the book, that you won’t. To me, the novel was more of a gossip column and the series made its story more compelling. Overall, I do like the story and how raw the mundane, bad human nature is portrayed.
All in all, I think the hype is worth it when it comes to the series. Hulu did a great job with all of the eight episodes – even though they’re one hour long. For those who love books like me, I would also say that I don’t regret reading it. My only advice is to go in a bit blind and just enjoy the story. So, if you’re looking for a good story, include Little Fires Everywhere to your list.