I’ve been looking forward to several recent page to screen adaptations and, so far, haven’t been disappointed. The Hate U Give does justice to the YA novel of the same name by Angie Thomas. Coming later this year to HBO is an adaptation of You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz called The Undoing (fans of Big Little Lies get excited). And I’m currently mesmerized by the performances of Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington in the Hulu series Little Fires Everywhere based on the book by Celeste. Ng.
Bill and Elena Richardson are raising four children in planned
to perfection Shaker Heights, Ohio. Everything in Elena’s life appears to be
going swimmingly: successful husband,
fulfilling career as a journalist for a small-town paper, and pride in her four
above average children. Having inherited a small rental property in town that helps
fund the family’s beach vacations, Elena also gets to play benevolent landlady.
Her latest tenant is Mia Warren, a photographer who travels around the country
seeking inspiration from each new locale.
Mia’s daughter Pearl soon becomes a fixture at the
Richardson household, going shopping with the eldest Lexie, crushing on Trip, and
hanging out with Moody. Meanwhile, the Richardson’s youngest daughter, Izzie, gravitates
toward Mia as a role-model and, as a bonus, to piss off her mother.
Although Ng explores a multitude of subplots, they all
serve to coalesce around the dangers of best laid plans. Whether it is grappling
with nascent mothering (unwanted pregnancies, infertility, surrogacy, adoption,
abandonment) or adolescent parenting (curfews, friendship, rebellion, cynicism),
Ng, like Mia, stages an intricate set of artifacts before burning it all
down.
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