Top 10 Differences Between Little Fires Everywhere Book & Miniseries
#10: Izzy’s Rebellion
She may be neglected at home, but if there’s one character who’s given a lot more attention in this adaptation, it’s Izzy. While the tension between Elena and her youngest child is felt in Ng’s novel, Izzy’s angst is a focal point throughout the miniseries, albeit with a few modifications. Izzy’s “Not Your Puppet” protest is present in the source material, but it occurs at a dance recital when she was eleven. The show instead makes Izzy a violinist and the forehead incident takes place in the present. The miniseries also omits a plot point where Izzy shoves toothpicks into classroom doors to get even with a teacher. Of course, that act of rebellion seems rather innocent compared to setting your own hair on fire.
#9: The Kitchen Fight
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Whether you’re Team Elena or Team Mia, these women have more in common than either wants to admit. Both view themselves as good mothers, although both suffer from a lack of communication with their children. For all the parallels, though, there is a major contrast that Mia points out before storming off. Elena was born entitled and Mia didn’t have the same luxuries growing up. That said, this doesn’t automatically excuse some of the choices Mia has made. At the end of the day, both have started their fair share of fires, but neither will take personal responsibility for them. Few scenes in the miniseries better exemplify how different and how similar the two are. Yet, this thought-provoking argument wasn’t present in the book.
#8: Lexie Plagiarizes Pearl Without Permission
For the most part, Lexie and Pearl’s dynamic in the show doesn’t differ drastically from what happens in the book. There are a few tweaks, however, that paint Lexie as even more insensitive. For her Yale essay, Lexie needs to write about an obstacle in life that she overcame. Due to her privileged upbringing, though, she can’t think of anything attention-grabbing. In the source material, the paper is not only on a different topic, but Pearl says that she can write the paper for her, and this is an offer that Lexie is all-too-happy to accept. By contrast, in the miniseries, Lexie hears about the prejudice that Pearl experienced at school and repurposes it as her own story, switching out racism with sexism. Lexie neglects to tell Pearl this upfront and later buys her a dress in order to vindicate this deception.
#7: The Book Club Conversation
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As much as they clash, the miniseries does add a new, noteworthy scene where Elena and Mia connect. Elena’s book club gets awkward fast, which is to be expected when the subject is “The Vagina Monologues.” Despite not being on the best of terms, Mia comes to Elena’s aid and tries putting her contentious comments into perspective. Mia actually mentions a key theme in the miniseries and book: the fear of seeing one’s true self. Elena sends her an appreciative glance and Mia smiles back. In this fleeting moment, we’re given a glimpse of what might’ve been. If these two were able to put race, class, and pride aside, a true friendship possibly could’ve blossomed. It isn’t long, however, until the barriers go back up.
#6: More Backstory for Elena
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Both the book and miniseries flesh out Mia’s past in great detail. Elena’s backstory, on the other hand, was only touched upon in the book, leaving the reader to fill in many of the blanks. The show offers more details on Elena’s earlier years, most notably expanding upon her relationship with ex-boyfriend Jamie Reynolds. Instead of being drafted and likely dying in Vietnam, onscreen Jamie goes on to become a successful journalist. We see Elena reconnect with Jamie twice in the miniseries, once when she was a struggling young mother and again years later when she tries to dig up dirt on Mia. The miniseries also reveals that Elena wasn’t too happy about having a fourth child, giving new context to animosity between her and Izzy.
#5: Elena Tries Bribing Bebe
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If you want to reclaim custody of your child, showing up at the adoptive parents’ house uninvited while screaming frantically, probably isn’t the best strategy. Bebe in the book could’ve put this together, but the show’s version can’t resist crashing the McCulloughs’ birthday party for Mirabelle/May Ling. This leads to another shocking confrontation in the miniseries where Elena visits Bebe’s apartment. In exchange for letting the McCulloughs raise the baby without further interference, Elena offers Bebe $10,000 and assistance on the immigration front. Bebe is insulted by this proposal, especially since Elena is a mother and wouldn’t put a price on her own children. Concerning the baby’s welfare, the miniseries has both Bebe and Elena make rash decisions that blow up in their faces.
#4: Mia & Pauline’s Relationship
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In both incarnations, Pauline Hawthorne acts as Mia’s mentor during her youth. The two grow close and when Pauline abruptly dies, it takes a heavy toll on Mia. Pauline and Mia’s relationship goes one step further in the show, however. In the book, they have a platonic teacher/student bond. At most, you could say that Mia develops a parent/child rapport with Pauline and her partner, Mal. In the miniseries, an intimate romance blossoms between Mia and Pauline with Mal out of the picture. Speaking of pictures, the source material sees Pauline take photos of Mia and newborn Pearl, although the miniseries replaces these with a single photo of Mia with child. Mia’s sexuality is also altered from the book, which suggested she was asexual.
#3: Izzy’s Sexuality
Like Mia, Izzy’s sexual orientation was given virtually no exploration in the book. In the show, Izzy’s romantic relationship with a girl named April directly ties into why she’s acting out now more than ever. At a party, April coldly throws Izzy under the bus so she can stay in the closet. As word of Izzy’s sexuality starts spreading around the school, she’s bullied by her classmates, who put an Ellen DeGeneres picture in her locker. Elena would rather turn a blind eye than have an honest conversation with Izzy about her sexuality. This not only gives more depth to Izzy’s struggles at home and school, but also adds new dimensions to the surrogate mother bond she feels towards Mia.
#2: Who Started the Fire
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The show’s primary mystery revolves around who set the Richardson residence on fire. This isn’t much of a guessing game in the book, as it’s pretty obvious from the get-go that Izzy burned the house down. The miniseries plays with our expectations in the finale as Izzy, infuriated that Elena drove Mia and Pearl away, sprinkles gasoline all over her room. In a huge deviation, Izzy is stopped by her siblings and mother. After Izzy runs off, her sister and brothers come to the conclusion that maybe she had the right idea, setting the cage their mother built them ablaze. The kids do get their mother out of the house and, realizing the error of her ways, Elena says that she started these little fires.
#1: Mia & Pearl’s Race
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For all its changes, the Hulu series is mostly faithful to Ng’s book. The show incorporates one element in particular, though, that presents the story in a new light. The novel neglects to mention Mia and Pearl’s race, although it’s strongly implied that they’re white. In the miniseries, they’re both played by black actresses, making racial prejudice a key talking point. So, when Elena asks Mia to be her - ahem - “house manager,” it suddenly takes on an even more uncomfortable sentiment. This addition blends in naturally with the source material’s central theme of classism. “Little Fires Everywhere’ is about looking past a seemingly picture-perfect surface to see the problems underneath. Revisiting the ‘90s, it becomes clear that these weren’t such innocent times as some assumed.
