Book Review - Big Little Lies

Wellcome to to Vanya’s Book Club Weekend!

Todays book review is all about Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Big Little Lies is Liane’s sixth international best seller and her latest book. Liane is the first Australian author to have a book debut at number one on the New York Times best seller list. That debut was with Big Little Lies.

And before I go into the review I should mention that the book will be turned into an upcoming TV series created by David E. Kelly, to air on HBO. Staring Reese Witherspoon as Madeline, Nicole Kidman as Celeste and Shailene Woodley as Jane.

Synopsis

The story follows three women each at pivotal point in their lives.

Madeline, who is passionate, funny and protective of those she considers friends and family. Her ex-husband has moved into the area with this new hippy wife and their son who is now going to the same school and grade as her youngest daughter. On top of it all, he has returned as the loving father to their teen age daughter who is so smitten with him and his new wife that she is doing everything to distance her self from her “boring” mother.

Celeste is the shy, gorgeous mother of twin boys with a very handsome husband. They are rich, they are beautiful and they are the envy of all the parents at the Pirriwee Public school. They are set to become the king and queen of the the school parent body. But the picture perfect appearance is starting to crack.

Jane a young single mum who has just moved to town. Life has been hard for Jane who has lost all hope of having a normal life and finding love and happiness. Madeline and Celeste take Jane under their wing and desperately want to break the barrier that Jane has spent year building up.

The thee build a friendship not realising how much their lives are about to change.

Big Little Lies is all about ex-husbands, second wives, mothers and daughters, school yard scandal, but most of all the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive the every day.

Review

This is the first book I have read from Liane and with a name like Big Little Lies I was instantly intrigued where the story was going.

Having spent most my teens watching crime TV I was attempting to put together all the clues from page one. Three quarters into the book I was still questioning weather I knew “who did it”. The writing is very witty and Liane really knows how to keep the anticipation of the story so that you literally can not put the book down.

Having said that, the book only picks up the “un-put-downable” speed after chapter 15. The first few chapters were very slow. As this was a book club choice I had to persevere and get to the juicy part of the story. If I didn’t have the dead line to finish the book for our next meeting, I would have found it difficult to motivate and keep reading.

The story of the three women is very gripping. I found my self thinking about what I would do if I were in their shoes.

Would I keep a secret to protect someone I know, love or admire?

Could I forgive?

It’s interesting reading about other peoples justification in continuing to live in their own perceived state of affairs. It’s interesting how we judge others based on our own experience without a thought about what they went through.

I give this book 4 out of 5 starts.

If you haven’t read the book yet you should, but you’ll have to persevere through the slow start, it is worth it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the story!!

Share your thoughts with me on www.goodreads.com/vanyasaysso. All my reviews are there as well.

Liane Moriarty’s books are published by Pan Macmillan and are available in all good bookstores and online.