[Discussion 3/3] Runner up Read | Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng | Chapters 14-20
Hello everyone! It's warm out there and things are heating up in Shaker Heights! Let's discuss the last section of Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere. For reference, here are the Schedule, Marginalia, and some brief summaries to refresh you on the final third of the book:
Chapter 14: Mia accepts the Ryans’ offer and becomes their surrogate. She hides her pregnancy from her family, except Warren, who disapproves that she plans to give up the baby. After Warren’s funeral, Mia writes to the Ryan’s claiming she lost the baby and leaves town. She settles in San Francisco, giving birth to Pearl. Mia and Pearl visit an ailing Pauline, who takes photos of them. After Pauline dies, she sends the photos to Pearl, with instructions to contact her art dealer Anita and sell the photographs as needed.
Chapter 15: Mrs. Richardson finishes her visit with the Wrights, contacting the lawyer hired by the Ryans and a friend at the New York Times. Pearl brings Lexie to her home to recover from her abortion. Lexie is surprised by Mia’s kindness when she covers for Lexie’s absences from school and at home. Mia is honest with Lexie about not being able to truly know if she made the right choice. After overhearing part of a call between Mia and Bebe, Lexie starts to reconsider whether Bebe deserves a second chance with her daughter.
Chapter 16: Bebe, her lawyer Ed Lim, and the McColloughs, represented by Mr. Richardson, attend the hearing over custody of May Ling. For each detail of the case raised to suggest negligence on Bebe’s part, there is a countervailing explanation of Bebe’s desperation during that period of her life. Ed Lim brings Mrs. McCollough’s inability to recognize the limitations of raising May Ling in a household with a racial identity so different from the child’s own.
Chapter 17: Moody discovers Trip and Pearl’s relationship. Of all the non-Moody people she could choose to be with, he feels immensely betrayed she’s chosen his brother. They argue, then stop speaking entirely. Lexie goes to Mia for comfort after she and Brian break up. After a month, the judge hasn’t rendered a verdict on May Ling’s custody case, but Mrs. McCollough tells Mrs. Richardson about her suspicions Bebe may have recently had an abortion. Mrs. Richardson contacts her old friend who leads the clinic and asks to unofficially see the list of patients from the last few months.
Chapter 18: Despite her friend’s refusal, Mrs. Richardson finds the clinic’s patient list and discovers Pearl’s name there. She confronts Moody about “Pearl’s” abortion, while Izzy overhears Moody redirect his mother towards Trip. Instead, Mrs. Richardson goes to confront Mia, calling her a hypocrite for denying the Ryans their child and trying to do the same to the McColloughs, telling Mia to vacate the apartment after she confronts Mrs. Richardson. The judge orders May Ling to stay with the McColloughs, with no visitation rights for a devastated Bebe. Izzy is startled to find Bebe so distraught at Mia’s home, but Mia insists Bebe will persevere through the trauma of the court’s decision.
Chapter 19: Mia pulls Pearl out of school early, tells her the truth about the Ryans, and convinces her they need to leave. Izzy gets one final piece of advice from Mia about sometimes needing to burn things down to start anew. Izzy puts the pieces together about Lexie’s abortion and Moody steering their mother against Pearl and Mia, but Mia and Pearl have already left by the time Izzy reaches their apartment. Izzy takes Mia’s advice to heart, feeling that her whole family has foisted this unfairness on Mia and Pearl, and starts the fire in the Richardson home.
Chapter 20: With their home destroyed, Mrs. Richardson leads her family to the apartment where they find a picture left for each of them by Mia. May Ling is taken from her crib during the night, presumably by Bebe, and after a year the McColloughs are planning to adopt a baby from China. After setting the fire, Izzy sets out for Pittsburgh to find the Wrights and search for Mia. Mrs. Richardson grapples with having lost Izzy entirely, telling herself she will search for Izzy among strangers for as long as it takes to find her.
We're also gauging interest in a follow-up discussion of the 2020 television miniseries adaptation of the book. Make sure to respond to #15 if you'd be interested!