Skip to main content

Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriaty

So this was our second helping of Moriaty having read the most excellent The Husbands Secret last year. We were dead on for the Witherspoon/Kidman tv series as well which was receiving rave reviews so I was really looking forward to reading this months book of the month.

In some ways it was similar to The Husbands Secret - set in Australia, with all women lead characters whose stories interlace along that of their children. Yet it was very different to THS. There was a murder mystery element for a start that kept you guessing throughout the whole book.

Moriaty really has her finger on the pulse when it comes to school parenting politics. I loved reading about the blonde bobs, the class stuffed toy and the etiquette when handing out party invites. Her observations about Facebook, teenage angst and step families were spot on and I loved the 'forgot the family tree assignment moment' (although similar to The Easter bonnet moment in THS?).

I really like how Celestes story unfolded, and how, unusually, she fought back and wasn't just a 'little under the thumb' woman. She was intelligent (previously a lawyer before having the twins) beautiful and rich and to start with gave as good as she got. The counselling sessions she had in which she realised what her husband was doing to her was not ok were really well written as she came to the realisation that he could very well kill her in one of his rages.

I loved Madeline's character and whilst some found her annoying I would happily welcome her as a friend. You know she would have your back and lets face it who would want her as an enemy? In some ways it was Madeline I felt the most sorry for. She seemed to be the happiest at the start yet by the end her marriage seemed to be slightly broken (with Ed being devastated that she would lie and make him lie to protect her ex husband). There is a paragraph on page 440 (I checked) about how she chose to never forgive her ex husband 'he would drive her to distraction for the rest of her life and one day he would walk Abigail down the aisle and Madeline would be grinding her teeth the whole way' I loved that paragraph, perhaps my favourite in the book as I think that is exactly how I would feel if it were me.

I also liked the Abigail/Madeline storyline. I really hoped as I was reading the book that Moriaty didn't give them a happy ending as that just wouldn't have been true to life. They almost did but I think Moriaty pulled it off, just.

I guessed the Saxon Banks twist quite early on. One of the dad's (was it Ed?) mentioned how he hadn't met Perry before and that sealed it for me. I didn't however guess the murderer and whilst I thought the explanation was perhaps the weakest part of the book I wasn't disappointed.

The group really liked the book, all of us which is unusual for us all to agree and most seemed to prefer BLL to THS (sorry but I'm typing on a tablet and its doing my head in). I'm still in the THS camp but I really enjoyed BLL and will happily look out for other Moriatys in the future. We scored it an 8.3

Next book is Nocturnal Animals by Austin Wright

Question of the month Moriaty or Witherspoon, do you prefer the book or the TV series? I've deliberately not watched the series until after the meeting so I can't answer yet but will let you know.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lock down book club - books from a different country

So we continued with the Zoom version of book club this month and it was lovely to see so many of us tackle it. The theme was books set in a different country (if you can't travel, let a book take you).  I read The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet, a detective story with an element of tricksy fiction set in France. I really enjoyed it and you can read my full review here. We travelled to America a couple of times most interestingly to see whether Hilary Clinton (or Bill for that fact) would have made President if they had not got married. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld is out in hardback now. Norway was a popular spot - Norwegian Nights by Derek B Miller about a retired american marine who moves to Norway and intervenes to save a young boys life sounded interesting. So much so that at least one member of the group has gone on to buy the first in the series, American By Day. We even made it as far as Japan and Botswana (and discovered a Scottish connection for Alexander McCa
Post a Comment
Read more

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi

I expected to be emotionally drained after reading this one and to be honest (in a weird kind of way) I didn’t mind the thought that I would be. This was backed up by the introduction describing a brilliant young man whose writing was breath taking and whose story was devastating. Emotional rollercoaster of epic proportions was surely in store. I didn’t mind the beginning of the book although I was slightly surprised when we delved so deeply into Kalanthi's past in what was only a slim book. I was willing to gloss over the large number of references to his search as a youth to finding the meaning of life and what makes us, us as after all this was written by someone forced to ponder that very question. I also found the medical training he did vaguely interesting, I appreciated the reverence he placed in relation to the cadaver he was required to cut open as part of his medical training. However when it became apparent the actual portion of the book to do with him receiving hi
2 comments
Read more

Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year by Laurie Lee #BookOfTheMonth #OneRuleOfBookClub

When suggested last month we snapped up this 150 page or so collection of Lee's descriptions, memoirs and musings. Consisting of Chapters of no more than a few pages, topics included the river Severn, a pub and the landscaping of a garden! Winter, including Christmas, was the opening section so more than met the one rule of book club requirement (we review a Christmas book at Christmas). Spring, Summer and Autumn sections followed and one of the group chose to stop reading after the Winter section in order to read each section in its correct season. I love this idea but would either forget and end up reading them all in Autumn or would get frustrated that I still hadn't finished such a slim book that I had started in 2018.  "Children trapped in new concrete estates will be denied the freedom we knew. They'll become prisoners of television, as most children are today, and as they grow up they'll start hanging about the streets in gangs and stealing cars."
Post a Comment
Read more