5 'Little Fires Everywhere' Book Details Fans Want To See In The Hulu Series
When Celeste Ng's novel Little Fires Everywhere was published in 2017, it painted a vivid image of the picture-perfect suburban lifestyle of Shaker Heights, Ohio, which was shaken up by the arrival of nomadic artist Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl. Given how important art is in the novel, when Hulu announced a television adaptation of the story, every reader had to wonder how the show would interpret some of the most iconic scenes and pieces described in the book. Here are the Little Fires Everywhere book details readers are definitely looking forward to seeing in the new show.
Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers from the novel Little Fires Everywhere. At its core, Little Fires Everywhere is about motherhood, dealing with tricky questions around adoption, surrogacy, abortion, and abandonment. While the book tackles some very serious topics, it also balances them out with some lighthearted, fun scenes of the Richardson kids and Pearl Warren. One of the most memorable of these scenes is probably the scene that a lot of readers are dying to see come to life:
1. Toothpick Day
A standout moment of fun in the book is Toothpick Day, an event that went down as legend in Shaker Heights. After getting suspended, the youngest Richardson, Izzy, sought her revenge by placing toothpicks in all of the locks throughout school. The broken toothpicks wound up jamming all the locks, preventing anyone from being able to enter any rooms. The result was pandemonium, and it solidified Izzy's status as the ultimate prankster. While the story is not entirely necessary to the plot, it would definitely be fun to see Toothpick Day brought to life.
2. Mia's photograph
Most of the elements readers are most excited to see in the new show involve Mia Warren and her artwork. Since art is, obviously, a predominantly visual medium, readers had to imagine Mia's creations when reading about them, but now Hulu's show can bring them to life. The most important piece is a portrait of Mia in which she's pregnant, which Moody and Pearl find in a museum. The portrait leads to unraveling the truth about Mia's past.
3. Mia's life in New York
While most of Little Fires Everywhere is set in Shaker Heights, the books takes a significant detour to New York City during a prolonged flashback about Mia's life. The chapters center on Mia's schooling, her hectic work schedule, and her close bond with an art professor during her time in the city. Of course, that time period also includes Mia meeting the man who would be Pearl's father, and delves into her unconventional pregnancy with Pearl as well as her incredibly complex decision.
4. Bebe's legal battle with the McCulloughs
The primary event toward the end of the book is Bebe Chow's complex legal battle with the McCullough family, which was meant to determine who would get custody of Bebe's abandoned daughter May Ling. Both the Warrens and Richardsons got wrapped up in the battle, since Mia is Bebe's coworker and relates to her story, and Elena's husband Bill is the lawyer defending their close family friends, the McCulloughs. The lawsuit quickly became a media spectacle due to its uniqueness, so it will be interesting to see how the TV show portrays it.
5. The photos Mia left for the Richardsons
Once again, Mia's artistic creations are the most important visual pieces of Little Fires Everywhere, which means they are going to be the things fans most want to see in the TV series. While Mia's pregnancy portrait is not too difficult to imagine, the intricate photographs that she left for each of the Richardsons at the end of the book are another story. Each piece of art is described as a strange and unique multimedia piece that uses material significant to each family member. While the book is careful to describe all the details of each gift, there is nothing like seeing it for yourself, which fans can (hopefully) finally do when the show hits Hulu.
Get ready to see all of these moments and more come to life when Little Fires Everywhere premieres on Hulu on Wednesday, March 18.
