Little Fires Everywhere: The Book, The Series, The Debate
Why this novel-turned-TV-series has everyone talking.
It’s a TV series starring Reese Witherspoon, a best-selling book that topped critics’ polls – but most of all, Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere is a dive into contemporary issues. From class and race to the mistakes that mothers make, it puts our fears and faults under the microscope – although some of these are tackled differently in the book and in the TV series (available on Amazon Prime).
In all its incarnations, Little Fires Everywhere is igniting plenty of debate – including among the Tonic team. Here’s what happened when we sat down to discuss it.
The Participants
Rachelle
I’ve read the book, watched four episodes of the show.
Theo
I’ve watched three episodes of the show.
Marina
I’ve read the book, watched five episodes.
Ute
I’ve watched the trailer. Twice. I’ve got it down.
Plot Summary
Elena Richardson (played by Reece Witherspoon) runs a tight household with four teenage kids in a town where even the lawn height is regulated (offenders are fined). When she rents her apartment to single mother Mia Warren (Kerry Washington) and daughter Pearl, she has no idea that the pair will upend her rigorously controlled life. Sub-plot: A Chinese baby is abandoned by her poverty-stricken birth mother and taken in by a wealthy white couple.
Spoiler alerts? Nothing ruined here.
The Debate
Rachelle The book and TV show are so different because of how the story was adapted to TV. I see the book as a story on motherhood and different ways of mothering. The TV show is very much about race. In the book, the race of Mia and Pearl – black American in the TV show – isn’t specified. It’s why I hate movie tie-in covers so much. I imagined Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington in the roles of Elena and Mia when I was reading the book but I realised that robbed me of the power to imagine them for myself.
Marina The issue of racism is present in the book through [Chinese mother] Bebe Chow, but it is heightened now that Mia and Pearl are black.
Theo I like that both mothers, Elena and Mia, suffer from the same misguided sense of moral certainty and that links them more strongly than their differences. And the whole childlessness and adoption thread is a refreshing one on a big name series like this. It’s got a lot of interesting questions about having a baby of a different race and what makes a parent a parent.
R It is interesting to discuss what makes a mother a mother. I firmly felt for both women in the Bebe story line.
M Even though the two female characters are on different sides, they have a lot in common. Both mothers think they are right. Both mothers have a difficult relationship with a daughter. Both mothers look down on the other.
Ute The way that Kerry Washington says, “I am an artist” in the trailer is filled with menace. It’s like, “I’ve been sent here to disrupt your life with my anarchic, artistic ways.” It feels like a reprise of those ‘90s movies about problematic women: The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Single White Female.
R Yeah, I really resented the way Mia was turned into this malevolent figure in the TV show because I loved her so much in the book.
M I didn’t see it that way. Pearl wanted her mother to help her with a school issue but Mia’s mothering was about forcing independence. Pearl, therefore, was drawn to Elena, who wanted to do everything for her kids. But neither mother could see the world through the eyes of their daughter; only through their own eyes.
U I think that’s a challenge for many parents: you accept your child is different but you sometimes automatically make decisions that reflect your own attitudes.
T I think both Mia and Elena are control freaks. Mia controls her world though art, not schedules. Many parents need to feel validated by trying to make their kids mini-me’s. Mia and Elena are no different.
M Both mothers took it personally when their daughters develop deep connections with a mothering style that they were each horrified by.
U But isn’t that classic teen stuff? Being drawn to what’s different?
T The mothers are the ones with separation anxiety. That’s why they don’t like their daughters showing attachment to another woman.
R Let’s talk about race. It’s a much bigger theme in the TV show than in the book. There’s the whole book club scene, which turned my stomach. Mia is asked to “help” for Mia’s book club, which of course means that she becomes The Help. Halfway through, Mia interjects with her own thoughts about the book they’re reviewing.
M And these scenes weren’t in the book: Lexie uses Pearl’s personal challenge as her own in her application to Yale, and then uses Pearl’s identity – I won’t say what for, it’s a spoiler! – which highlights the fact that she doesn’t view Pearl as her equal. I don’t think Lexie would have taken Pearl’s story or her identity like that if Pearl was white. But Lexie is also dating Brian, “the hottest guy in school,” who is black. So it’s more complex.
R And when Elena introduces Brian to Pearl, she presumes they will have a lot in common because they’re both black, even though they come from very different socio-economic backgrounds and family situations.
M Yes. Elena definitely comes across as ignorant. The viewer is able to connect the dots easily, which probably says a lot about how racism has become normalised in society.
R Gosh, I found the women unlikable (so far) in the show. It’s interesting that Reese Witherspoon is typecasting herself as this uptight figure for the second time. And Mia in the book is so joyous – she’s this retreat for Elena’s daughter Izzy, and others. She’s so loving. She’s not like that at all in the show.
U I think Reese has always had a good sense of how the public wants to see her. She’s not afraid of a bit of typecasting.
M None of the characters in the TV series are likeable, apart from maybe Izzy and Pearl.
R And Izzy is this misfit that in the book chafes against her mother’s constraints and wants to do things differently. In the show, she’s gay.
U Because otherwise it would be too subtle. I’m guessing subtlety isn’t big in the show.
M One of the problems with the TV series is that Elena is clearly the villain. The book is more nuanced. In the book, both women are judgey of the other’s way of mothering and lifestyle.
R It’s interesting to watch a book being turned into a TV show. I kept wondering if they would make Mia’s art look accomplished or if it would look like it had been made by the production company’s prop department.
U What kind of artist is she?
R She’s an incredible artist in the book. Can’t tell yet about the TV version. She needs to get high every time she creates art which was not the case in the book!
T Frankly, the whole getting high is probably the best lesson from the show.
R And not calling a vagina by a whole range of euphemisms. Elena’s book club is doing The Vagina Monologues and that becomes very problematic for Elena.
T For all its failings, I am enjoying the show. I am also fascinated by the behaviour of the younger generation: the girls initiate sex but expect the boys to provide condoms. But hearing from you how much better the book is, I might have to add it to my reading list.
M The book is better but I would still recommend the series because even though it’s overly dramatic, I’m enjoying it.
U Was there anything in either mother you actually related to?
M Mia was more understanding of the problems that teenagers can get themselves into and so all of the children felt they could speak to her. I related to that. Elena wanted what she thought was the best for her children and I can also relate to that. Where one had strength, the other had failings. But neither of them could see that. And the worst part is that the women seem to blame each other, when they could be helping each other get through the work-family challenges that they both clearly have.
R There was a part in the book I loved so much, and it’s when Mia and Elena are having a big argument. Mia says, “It bothers you, doesn’t it? I think you can’t imagine. Why anyone would choose a different life from the one you’ve got. Why anyone might want something other than a big house with a big lawn, a fancy car, a job in an office. Why anyone would choose anything different than what you’d choose …. It terrifies you. That you missed out on something. That you gave up something you didn’t know you wanted.”
U That’s it, isn’t it? Judgment really comes from lack of confidence in your own choices.
M That sums up the entire premise.
U Sounds like the takeways from this are: get high to create great art, don’t shy away from the word “vagina” and don’t blame yourself for how your kids turn out.
T That sounds like the perfect conclusion.
U See? All you need to do is watch the trailer.
Photo_ Erin Simkin/Hulu