Welcome to September, and welcome to another book review at YLSNED. This month, I’m reviewing Liane Moriarty’s latest release, Big Little Lies (which was the book of the month in the Pink Fibro Book Club, hosted by Allison Tait).
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Big Little Lies / Liane Moriarty
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Pirriwee Public’s annual school Trivia Night has ended in a shocking riot. A parent is dead. Was it murder, a tragic accident… or something else entirely?
Big Little Lies is a funny, heartbreaking, challenging story of ex-husbands and second wives, new friendships, old betrayals and schoolyard politics.
Big Little Lies is big. It starts with a murder, then rewinds six months and starts again. We don’t know who has died, and we don’t know how. But as we come across smiling partners, broken families and schoolyard cliques (the parents, not the children), we start to figure it out.
We meet three friends who fill very specific roles. There’s Madeline, the confident, brash, antagonistic mum who always goes in to bat for friends and family, even when the other team hasn’t bothered to turn up. There’s Celeste, the skittish bombshell with the seemingly perfect marriage, an image carefully cultivated on Facebook. And there’s ‘plain’ Jane, the young single parent still searching for her way in the world.
I’m not sure what to say about this book. I didn’t dislike it. I raced through it – it’s easy to read, and parts of it are highly enjoyable. But by the end, enough bothered me about it that I was glad I don’t have a star rating for book reviews. I wouldn’t have known where to settle.
I really liked the idea of the book’s structure. Knowing the end point of the book (that there was a death coming), having that death as the reference point for the timing of the other events, and the interview snippets made for interesting reading. But I think it made the book longer than it needed to be. And, for me, it telegraphed the ending (bar one twist that had me thinking, “Oh. Okay,” rather than, “WHOA! No way!”).
The characters didn’t ring true for me. The main characters felt stereotypical enough, but those quoted during the interview snippets felt like caricatures. Which would have been easier to forgive if they weren’t being their ‘career mum’/’stay-at-home mum’/’drama queen’/’earnest, well-meaning but overworked teacher’ selves to the extreme while being interviewed immediately following a shocking death to which they were witnesses.
I feel like I’m sounding overly harsh. This book isn’t bad – I’ve read 54 books so far this year and it’s nowhere near the bottom of the list! It’s well-written, well-structured (if long for this genre) and touches on a lot of topics other writers wouldn’t go near. It just didn’t rock my world.
Standout lines/phrases (the last of which just made me giggle):
- If she packaged the perfect Facebook life, maybe she would start to believe it herself.
- If parents had children who were good sleepers they assumed this was due to their good parenting, not good luck. They followed the rules and the rules had been proven to work. Celeste must therefore not be following the rules. And you could never prove it to them! They would die smug in their beds.
- …There was real pain in the world, right this very moment people were suffering unimaginable atrocities and you couldn’t close your heart completely, but you couldn’t leave it wide open either, because otherwise how could you possibly live your life, when through pure, random luck, you got to live in paradise?
- [The drinks] were divine. Only problem was the Year 6 teachers made some sort of miscalculation with quantities so each drink was worth about three shots. These are the people teaching our kids maths by the way.
When I finished Big Little Lies, I would have recommended it. Now I’ve sat with the book for a week or so, I’m not sure. I think it depends on how real you want your characters to be.
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Have you read Big Little Lies? What did you think?
Previous book reviews:
The Best Feeling of All and Your Best Year Yet
The Headmaster’s Wife (my guest post at Allison Tait‘s blog)
The Night Guest
The Thirteenth Tale
The Shadow Year and Barracuda
The Paris Wife
Mister Pip and The Light Between Oceans
Big Brother and We Need to Talk About Kevin
The Shining Girls and The Fault in Our Stars
I’m currently reading ‘The Husbands Secret’ and while I’m enjoying it, I’m also a bit disappointed it’s not living up to the huge hype that surrounds it. Admittedly I’m only half way through and that may change. Great review, I’m planning to read this one as well and will let you know my thoughts! It was lovely to meet you over the weekend, I hope you had a safe trip home x
I haven’t read that one. I have read The Hypnotist’s Love Story since finishing Big Little Lies and enjoyed it more, although the stereotyping was also evident in that (to a lesser extent). It raised some interesting questions without mocking them quite as much as murder and domestic violence was in this one.
I really enjoyed it Em. I found the story and characters strong and it has an ordinary-ness (is that a word??) to it that was, for me, engaging. The only thing, which I have mentioned before on my blog review, that irked me was the two different tones of the book. It was trying to be humourous and lighthearted on such serious subject matter. Now that I think about it, I would have preferred one or the other. I don’t think the balance was right. Must say I am a fan of Liane’s writing though.
I agree with you on the engaging thing – I read it very quickly. The tones were a bit off. But I’m also overanalysing – like I said, I like it less now than when I finished it. But why still think about it?
I like the sound of the structure. Might check it out. Crime is often like that – easy to read but a little meh at the end…
This one is a little too neat at the end. Added to my aaaarghs. But still good, and it’s getting great reviews else where, so definitely give it a go.
Haven’t read it and you know me, the books I’ve read in the past year are quick and easy ones, I’m also a non-fiction girl, but I have to say I am going to try and read more fiction, to let my brain just enjoy a bit of made-up stuff!
Excellent! But if you’re going to jump into fiction, go with something else. Something shorter, for a start.
This sounds like exactly the type of movie I like watching!! Ahh one day I will have some more time in my days for books xx
It would make a FANTASTIC movie. And, despite the book review, I’d see it. Apparently the rights have been taken up already.
Interesting that you and I had similar reactions (although I liked the characters more than you) – in that I enjoyed the book when I was reading it (until towards the end) and then less as I reflected on it. I think it was some of the topics which were treated a bit too flippantly IMO (there were major issues that the book tackled. Cheers, Helen
I’m glad I’m not the only one who reacted like that! Very interesting indeed. Hindsight’s nasty.
Hmm the story sounded interesting but I’m not sure I could deal with the cliche stuff. I’m making my way through the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child and I’m getting a bit annoyed with how clichéd the character and story line is. It makes a good story filler in between heavy books though.
I have to say that Jack Reacher used to be a guilty pleasure of mine. Then Tom Cruise came along and ruined it. Gah.
I haven’t read it, but it does sound intriguing. I love those sort of books and movies that start off with a major event like a murder and then back track to keep you guessing.
It will be interesting to see in the movie (if it happens) how they hide the identity of the victim visually. It’s a little easier in a book!
I enjoyed it. It was a fast read and there was definitely light and dark tones to the story. I had forgotten that quote about the shots – I did have a giggle at that one. I could just imagine all these starving, drunk parents at a school event! I’m going back to read The Husband’s Secret as this was the first Liane Moriarty book I had read!
Haha, the shots. For all that I despair of some of those snippets, there was some gold there too! This is exactly the kind of thing I’ll say when the reports come home with spelling and grammatical errors.
I have had this book on my list for a while, but your review has made me want to read it more. Thank-you for your honest review
You’re welcome! I’m always honest about my opinions – but that’s all they are, opinions. Most reviews I’ve read of this give 4 or 5 stars.
I’ve seen many reviews for this the last week or so – and all have been mixed. I just don’t get to read much at the moment, really should challenge myself to do this. Great review
Hello from #teamIBOT
To be honest, I can’t believe how many books I’ve read this year! My new year’s resolution (in as much as I had one) was to read more, so I think I’m winning. Sleep is suffering, though!
I love the part where you singled out the giggleworthy moments. That Facebook one made ma LOL. This should be mandatory operating procedure for every single reviewer. #Team IBOT
Thank you! I think there’s only one book review where I haven’t singled out passages. Really appreciate the feedback – I’ll keep with it!
Firstly go you for reading 54 books so far this year! I had this on my list, but now I’m not so sure… maybe I’ll save it for a summer read when I just need to escape for a bit.
Thank you! I really can’t believe it! Summer read would be good. It’s one you can set down for a while and not forget anything when you pick it up again.
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