David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "planner-vs-eccentric"
Little Fires Everywhere
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE starts with a case of arson. The Richardson family's house is set aflame with little circles of fire on all of the beds; the probable culprit is Izzy, the youngest of the children.
There's a definite theme. Shaker Heights, a Cleveland suburb was one of the first planned communities. They have all sorts of rules the inhabitants must abide by. The Richardson family identifies with a planned existence. Elena Richardson, the mother, inherits a small duplex. She rents it out to her exact opposite, Mia Warren. Mia is a photographer and an artist in the Andy Warhol vein. She has a daughter, Pearl, and no visible husband or father. Mia and her daughter have been on the move Pearl's entire life.
The Richardsons have four kids: Trip, Lexie, Moody, and Izzy. The first two are the popular types, jock and cheer leader. Moody is more introspective. Izzy was a preemie; her mother has worried about her and harassed her ever since she was born. Izzy has fought back. Trip and Lexie call her a weirdo.
Moody checks out the duplex almost immediately and gets in the habit of walking Pearl to school. He's smitten. Soon Pearl is spending most of her time at the Richardson house. She's never had a room of her own until now but she's gobsmacked by the opulence she finds in the Richardson house. She's also smitten by Trip, a Brad Pitt type. When Moody finds out, he can't understand why Pearl would fall for a cliché' like Trip.
Elena Richardson wanted to be a journalist; she wanted to work at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, one of the better newspapers in the country, but only as a starting point. She had her sites set on Chicago, New York, maybe Washington. But she settled for doing local stories about family reunions and such. Mia can read her almost immediately.
Of course eventually Izzie discovers Mia and she's as fascinated by Mia as Pearl is of the Richardson clan.
So why did Izzie try to burn down her own house? Because things get complicated as they pretty much always though. And there's the predictable confrontation between the planner and the eccentric artist.
There's a definite theme. Shaker Heights, a Cleveland suburb was one of the first planned communities. They have all sorts of rules the inhabitants must abide by. The Richardson family identifies with a planned existence. Elena Richardson, the mother, inherits a small duplex. She rents it out to her exact opposite, Mia Warren. Mia is a photographer and an artist in the Andy Warhol vein. She has a daughter, Pearl, and no visible husband or father. Mia and her daughter have been on the move Pearl's entire life.
The Richardsons have four kids: Trip, Lexie, Moody, and Izzy. The first two are the popular types, jock and cheer leader. Moody is more introspective. Izzy was a preemie; her mother has worried about her and harassed her ever since she was born. Izzy has fought back. Trip and Lexie call her a weirdo.
Moody checks out the duplex almost immediately and gets in the habit of walking Pearl to school. He's smitten. Soon Pearl is spending most of her time at the Richardson house. She's never had a room of her own until now but she's gobsmacked by the opulence she finds in the Richardson house. She's also smitten by Trip, a Brad Pitt type. When Moody finds out, he can't understand why Pearl would fall for a cliché' like Trip.
Elena Richardson wanted to be a journalist; she wanted to work at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, one of the better newspapers in the country, but only as a starting point. She had her sites set on Chicago, New York, maybe Washington. But she settled for doing local stories about family reunions and such. Mia can read her almost immediately.
Of course eventually Izzie discovers Mia and she's as fascinated by Mia as Pearl is of the Richardson clan.
So why did Izzie try to burn down her own house? Because things get complicated as they pretty much always though. And there's the predictable confrontation between the planner and the eccentric artist.
