Little Fires Everywhere

I watched the show first, so I feel like this will be more of a comparison than a review. They took the shell of this book and rewrote it to fit an entirely different agenda. The conflicts, the characterizations, the actual plot and the entire ending, all different. The show and the book were good, but these are very different stories. The book focuses on many types of ethical gray areas, class disparities, and micro aggressions towards Asians. The show tended to be less gray and more glaring in all aspects. Naturally, this made the book slightly less satisfying. I missed the showdowns between Elena and Mia while reading, though the show put a lot less emphasis on Bebe's story. I enjoyed the show more than the book after consuming both, however, I strongly feel like the author's story was hijacked and reworked in a way that was disingenuous. And while I feel that the show had so many important educational scenes regarding micro aggressions towards the Black community, it took the focus off the Asian communities. Asian creators in general, rarely get the space to share their input on topics regarding their unique struggles in American society. I feel that it was unfair of the team of 4 white female producers plus Kerry Washington to piggyback on this story to fit in race issues from other perspectives of color and not even include any Asian producers outside of the author herself. Even worse, the show eliminated every other Asian side character. The best friend Serena and her mother, and the downstairs neighbor Mr. Yang was barely featured. I know Celeste had a hand in the show's production and even had a cameo, but I wish I could talk to her about these eliminations and what she thinks about the complete overhaul of her characters and her voice. Like I said I really enjoyed the show, but after reading the book, I feel less good about it.