"Here, she found, everything had nuance; everything had an unrevealed side or unexplained depths. Everything was worth looking at more closely."
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This was an incredible book. Even the first line communicated so much about the story that would lead the reader back to that moment. Everyone knows everyone, gossip is central, and there is a proper/expected way to behave in Shaker Heights. The community prioritizes appearances above all, choosing to hide/ignore "blemishes".

This was also occurring within the Richardson home, so Pearl and Mia were natural disruptors of that. I deeply disliked Elena's entitlement and self-justification, but Ng helped us to see how multifaceted her character was. You could disagree with her, but understand how she saw the world. Elena's insistence on centering herself in every tragedy was infuriating but so real for her. She couldn't fathom that Mia's support of Bebe was anything other than an attack on *her* friend.

There was this ongoing theme of motherhood and the connection between mothers and daughters, which was beautiful.

That everyone but Elena was reunited with their biological daughters

felt like an interesting form of poetic justice- she would now suffer the same loss she had tried to inflict on others (maliciously or not).

I loved Izzy's character. She was so sensitive and had such a strong moral compass in a world that demanded ignorance and compliance. Moody was promising at first, but turned out to be just the same as his mother, and in that he let himself and Pearl down. He used his own pain and sense of entitlement to justify actions that weren't aligned with his professed love and friendship for Pearl.

I liked that every point had a counterpoint. Nobody was all good or bad, every action had a justification based on that character's standpoint. Ng made it clear how she felt about this suburban landscape, but left the reader to decide where they landed and what they felt was right, or fair, or true.

Inherent in the Shaker Heights community, the Richardsons, and Elena is their privilege to levy judgment. They were never running the same race as Mia, Pearl, Bebe, and others, and always had inherent advantage. Elena's thought of "I would never let that happen to me" ignores that she would never have been in that position because of her privilege and access to resources. It wasn't a moral failing from others, but she is incapable of seeing that lives are different to her own. Even the Richardson children were continually surprised by the fact that other kinds of lives existed.

This book was such a powerful way to explore these topics, and I especially loved the continual theme of sparks and fire. Not overdone, but reminding you of the ultimate outcome- a burned out shell of a house in the interest of renewal.