The story by Celeste Ng is a tussle between two groups or the two different ways of thinking that come face to face because of a small incident, an incident that made the things clear. Jennifer Lim’s narration is wonderful as she has tried well to give both the opposite groups the equal intensity in order to make their point of view understandable.
The book has everything in it the love of a mother, the passion and the fire of youth and also it possesses certain mysteries which we feel can be revealed at any moment. There is also another debatable thing and that is the element of perfection.
Perfection in the story is described as something quite dangerous because it leaves no room for experimentations and difference of opinions. The Richardson wants everything to be picture perfect in life but this utopia cannot be formed in this world as there is always an opposing force following us, in the story, it is in the form of Mia and her daughter Pearl who enter into the perfect world of Richardson’s.
Elena wants to lead her life according to principles and thus tries to reveal Mia’s hidden past in order to beat her down as she was like the force that was governing her whole family all of a sudden.
The enmity is fully revealed when the custody case of a Chinese child appears and the whole society splits into two groups breaking the utopia all of a sudden. Mia’s past too when revealed by Elena in order to defeat her destroys the utopia of Elena’s house even which she never expected to happen as she and her family are those who always follow the rules.
If you like what Reese has suggested, you may also like to listen to the books A Line in the Dark And What We Were Promised. Because every book and every story has its own unique lesson inside to let you thrive on what you have learned and spend your time in a better way.
