Big Little Lies

Author: Liane Moriarty

Rating: 3/5

Pages: 464

Year Published: 2014

Synopsis (from Goodreads): “Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads: Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.”

[Spoiler Warning!]

In the beginning I didn’t like it the book. I thought it was going to be a superficial, a silly novel about insignificant things. Boy was I wrong! I quickly became intrigued in the storyline and started sympathizing with the characters. One thing that really stood out to me was how every character had its own voice, and personality. It really fascinated me how the narrative differed depending on the character. Moriarty really worked with the different characters, using events and different problems to make them deep and come to life.

However one thing that disappointed me though was that Bonnie seemed so perfect. She didn’t feel real until the last chapters of the book, but when she finally snapped she came to life. I liked the fact that she screamed we see because that made you understand that she had experienced domestic abuse before. But then after she has pushed him off the balcony, and we meet Bonnie in the next chapter she is back to being ‘perfect’ again, and that disappoints me. I also felt that Madeline was very stereotypical.

The book tackles difficult topics, like abuse, sexual assault and eating disorders, which was the reason why I wanted to keep reading it. Also the suspense of who gets murdered in the end was probably the major reason why I willingly continued reading it.

While the different problems contributed to show the different characters personalities and the storyline and the main plot, they bothered me because some of them felt insignificant as I didn’t see how they contributed to the main problem and plot! I mean why did it the author even write about Jane forgetting the class toy, I don’t even understand why it was in the story from the beginning?

The book also came off more as a TV-show than a novel because there were so many smaller problems leading up to the trivia night, which was the main plot. It felt like the everything was being dragged out, and in the end I just rushed through it as I wanted to know how it would end. I didn’t feel any real connection with the characters which disappointed me too.

I don’t think I would have read this book if it wasn’t for school as it isn’t something I would usually read. This book is a bit like Madeline (yes, the character from the book), stereotypical yes but also chaotic, funny and serious when needed. If you want to read something that tackles heavy topics, combined with humor and murder this book is for you.