Good book recommendation: "Little Little Fire"

Good book recommendation: "Little Little Fire"

Yesterday, the weather in Zhengzhou had an extremely high smog index. The gray sky was a bit like the end of the world in a disaster movie. Since you can't go out, just hide in your room and read.

"Little Little Fire" is another masterpiece by Chinese-American female writer Wu Qishi after her "Silent Confession". This novel is also based on family ethics. Under the author's ingenious design, it takes the single mother - a very talented wandering artist Mia who secretly takes away a surrogate child as the main line. It closely revolves around Mia and her recent... Pearl, her daughter who has started high school, cleverly weaves and unfolds the story between mother and daughter and the four adolescent boys and girls of the Richardson family, creating a strong resonance with readers.

Wu Qishi’s superb narrative techniques, as well as her meticulous and profound description of the hearts of the children who are about to grow up in the novel, shocked me as a mother many times while reading. : What should a mother give her child? What do children really need?

I am a woman and a mother, so I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially female friends and mothers with children at home, as well as children who are going through adolescence and after the college entrance examination, and are preparing to leave home to go to college alone. them. In the novel, the author tells children how to protect themselves when their hormones are overflowing, how to seek help and deal with it properly after encountering a horrific incident such as an unexpected pregnancy, and how to get out of the psychological shadow as soon as possible after the trouble... He also tells the story of what is to come. Children who have grown up, even at an age when they are extremely eager for love and ignorant, still have more important things in life than love: reading and pursuing what they want.

The author Ng Chi-shi is the second generation of Hong Kong immigrants. Her parents are both scientists. She grew up in Pennsylvania and Ohio in the United States. She graduated from the English Department of Harvard University and was admitted to the graduate school of the University of Michigan. Earn an MFA in Creative Writing.

"Little Little Fire" won 27 annual book awards in the United States in 2017 as soon as it came out. The author Wu Qishi once won the first place among the 100 best books of the year selected by Amazon from tens of thousands of books in 2014 with her "Silent Confession". The momentum even surpassed Stephen King and Haruki Harukami, Remember Me I have also recommended this book before. In terms of narrative, storytelling and character treatment, Wu Qishi's "Little Fire" is better than "Silent Confession".

In "Little Little Fire", the author tells us: Always remember that every moment you breathe, you should live the life you really want, rather than strictly planning The so-called beautiful and stable life.

When I read that Mrs. Richardson, a reporter, pretended to interview and visit Mia's parents in order to find out the truth about the identity of Mia and Pearl's mother and daughter - the couple had entered their twilight years, not only was it painful The chapter where I lost my beloved son and lost contact with the photographer’s daughter who secretly took the child away after surrogacy and wandered around. It really broke my heart and I couldn’t hold back my tears... It turned out that Mia The Volkswagen "Rabbit" that she drives around all the time is the legacy of her beloved brother Warren. How can she not miss her father and mother...

There are many interesting details in the book. Description:

"As a parent, your child is not only a person, but a place, as if representing the eternal world of Narnia. Your current life, memories of the past, and desires for the future all exist There. Whenever you look at him, you will see the world, remember what he looked like when he was a child, look forward to his future appearance, and even see his past, present and future at the same time like a 3D image. This world dazzles you. God is lost, and if you know how to get there, it will become your eternal refuge. Every time you leave it—every time your child leaves your sight—you worry that you will never return to it. "

" Mia hugged her daughter for a while and buried the tip of her nose in her hair. Every time she did this, she was pleased to find that her daughter's smell had never changed. Mia suddenly realized that Po. I feel like home, as if "home" is never a place, but the little guy in front of me who can be taken with me at any time."

I just did it in Pearl's name with Pearl's company. Lexi, who had undergone an abortion, faced the kind and sincere Mia, choked up and asked: Do you think I made a huge mistake? Do you think I'm a terrible person?

Pearl’s mother Mia replied to Lexi: Although you will always be sad about what happened today, it does not mean that you made the wrong choice, it is just a burden you have to carry. , and only you know whether it is right or wrong.

……

In describing the custody dispute of little Mirabell (Meiling Zhou), the novel uses the arguments of the lawyers on both sides to tell the readers: a person has to be with the child from birth. The history and culture of the nation, race or country where one comes from, or even the class, remain closely linked, because everyone needs identity.

Nowadays, studying abroad has become an extremely common thing. Many families send their children to become international students when they are in kindergarten, primary school, or junior high school. They are separated from their original family and clan culture...these children's three views have not yet been formed. It has not yet been finalized. It is very likely that you will become a "banana person" when you become an adult. Under the collision and influence of Chinese and Western cultures and different values, you will become "intermittently". As a result, you will not be able to find your identity, your sense of belonging, and your future in life. There will also be confusion in the choice of direction.

The author Wu Qishi has always tried to convey to us this idea in her novels: usually there is no absolute right or absolute wrong in the things we encounter, and there is no absolute right or wrong in the world. There are not so many big issues, and we have to admit the existence of gray areas. Most of the time, each of us has done something we regret more than once, and they become a burden we have to carry around with us. The simple and crude approach of choosing sides often does not work in life and is prone to misjudgment. We also need to make a rational assessment of our ability to judge right from wrong.

In the book, the protagonist Mia doesn’t know how to explain to the underage Pearl that Mrs. Richardson approaches her daughter with purpose: how to explain to others that they like someone. What about individuals who are not trustworthy? The simple plot and detailed description reflect the complexity of real human nature.

"Little Little Fire" has only more than 120,000 words. The plot of the story is complex and compact, and it can easily capture the readers' hearts. The ending of the novel is not bad either, giving readers an open ending for us to imagine.

The translator, Sun Lu, is also the translator of "Silent Confession". Both books have been translated very well.

Wu Qishi, born in the 1980s, is a young Chinese-American writer who is conquering the European and American literary circles. We look forward to more good works from her.