Big Little Lies

From the very beginning, this book had twists and turns with every page; I couldn’t put the book down! The book starts off with an old lady watching tv in her home near the local school. It was a trivia night at Pewee Elementary, so the streets were very noisy, but soon it gets out of hand so she goes outside to see what is going on when she notices ambulances and police cars. She soons learns that someone at the fundraiser got murdered. From this point on the book becomes a mystery. The author does not tell us who got murdered or who the murderer was. Each page has you changing your guess on who could have done such a thing, and who the victim was. The book focus on three different people; Madylin a mother of two who struggles with her ex living in the same neighborhood. Also that ex has a child in the same grade as her youngest. Celeste: a women who on the outside seems perfect, but what really happens in her house? Then there's Jane a single mom who just moved to the neighborhood, and to make her life even worse on orientation day apparently her son strangled a child. All of these women have children going into kindergarten at Pewee Elementary School; starting this school brings a lot of drama to the kids, teachers, and parents as they go about their daily lives. Madylin is the angry one who isn't afraid to stand up for herself, and her friends. Celeste is the perfect one who struggles with big problems of her own, and then there’s. Jane she is shy, nice, and just looking for a normal life for her and her son. When these three all come together as friends it makes a force to be reckoned with. Their journey through this book is nail biting, and very exciting. As the book goes on it switches between each of these three and their time building up to orientation day. Their lives are not as simple as they appear. Each face problems of their own that the others don’t know about. As friends they stick together and sort through the problems of their lives. On trivia night a lot happens that leaves you guessing till the very end. I highly recommend reading this book every page is a different twist that is shocking. Liane Moriarty did an excellent job writing this book. Her word choice really brings the characters to life, and makes it seem like this book is real. It seems as if this book was written from someone in the town. It tells the characters emotions as well, this is what makes the reader think that this is non fiction instead of fiction. It describes to us a neighborhood like the ones we live in; from having parades, to having that one special coffee shop everything about this books seems realistic. She wrote this book for young adults, and middle aged women. It really portrays that in the way the characters talk. The plot was very well thought out with each situation/conflict described, and resolved. This book can be relatable to some people because of the variety of characters it contains, no two people have the same personality, or thoughts in the book; even some of the kids are relatable! This book was written in shifting first person narration so each chapter switches the character of focus. At first I thought that this would make it confusing, but it doesn’t it helps the plot a lot and lets you see what the everyone is going through not just the main characters. This book is a mystery that keeps you on your toes, you'll never want to put your book down, and you'll never guess what will happen next!

This book was wonderful. I had a really hard time with this book at first and even put it away for almost a month before I picked it up but oh man, am I glad I did!!!!! I mean, at first I was tortured by the pace, the whiny character voices, the skipping back and forth. I almost wanted to make a spreadsheet just to keep track of all the characters and their children. But by the end of the book I was bawling. I was satisfied and appalled by the ending. I loved the way Liane Moriarty created all these characters with their own separate lives and problems and dealt with so many public issues that families struggle with every day. She tricked you at first by making the book and the characters just seem petty and whiny. By the end however she had shown an ugly face of suburban life that you never saw coming; All in one little book. I will say the second this book ended, I wanted to pick it back up and re-read it because I knew there were so many bits of foreshadowing at the beginning that I was too busy being bored to pick up on. She lead me the wrong way, made me think I knew just what had happened at the end only to turnaround at the last minute and BAM, never saw that coming; All in one little book. The dynamic of the characters, adding these harrowing issues right into the lives of perfect, suburban life was so enticing. I loved how each story line wasn’t dominating in the overall plot, yet each individual story was so powerful and important that they could have each had a book and I would have eaten all of them up. It was amazing how she made you hate, then love, hate and then cry for these characters; All in one little book. Ok, I will digress back to actually talking about the book, not just raving about it. Moriarty wrote in different character perspectives in each almost chapter, hence why it started out so confusing. You start out not knowing anything about any of these characters, all you know is that one of them is dead. Then the author adds this layer of foreshadowing where she ends each chapter with a bit of the police report questions, which only adds more characters for you to keep track of, while flaming your curiosity for “who done it”. I liked that from the beginning the author was very upfront that something nasty had happened. It made you speculate through the entire book. The author throws all these characters right on you at the beginning, creating this quick web of intertwined people who all care way too much about each other’s lives. This was part of the reason I had a hard time with this book at first. I found it hard to get vested in these characters lives when I couldn’t even keep track of who Renata was from who Madeline was, and frankly, who cares when both of them were just whiney, conceded, rich housewives. Oh, how the tides turned when you got to know their stories; All in one little book. I am still baffled, a day later, that Moriarty could make me, the reader, so tied up in all these characters lives so quickly. I find it similar to the movie “Crash” but way more engaging, dealing with almost every social convention possible while not making that point blatantly obvious. She sneaks these issues in just like they are snuck into real life. She makes them there, but almost makes you doubt they are happening as much at the character does. She shows you almost every point of view of each issue and how each problem effects each character differently; All in one little book. Well done Liane Moriarty, Big Little Lies is engaging, enthralling, captivating, sickening, heartfelt, disturbing, funny, lovable, powerful, and heart wrenching; All in one little book. If you liked this review, check out my blog at www.balancingemma.wordpress.com for the full review and more!

The Pirriwee Peninsular is a fictional slice of Sydney-sider heaven. A laid-back beach community with a mix of well-to-do’s and blue collar families, all of whom congregate at the only Primary School, Pirriwee Public. This school year has already kicked off with a bang, when the new crop of little darlings were embroiled in a bullying scandal on orientation day – that’s right, one little girl was sporting bruises and finger-pointed a classmate (a little boy, whose mother was also new to the area and so young she was mistaken for a nanny!). But this little incident would prove only the tip of the iceberg for the new school year – especially when you consider the bullying that went on amongst the parents in retaliation to allegations thrown against their own children. Is it any wonder the Trivia Night ended in the murder of a parent? Backtrack six months to where it all began, and follow three mothers who would prove too close for comfort to the ongoing investigation. Madeline is as glittery as she is fiery, never happier than when she’s wearing righteous indignation – and lately she’s had cause to wear it often. Not only is she at the beginning of the terrible teenage years with her 14-year-old daughter, Abigail, but Abigail’s father (who walked out of their marriage and left Madeline the single-mother to their baby) is living on the Peninsular too – having moved there with his new wife, and their toddler daughter who will be attending Pirriwee Public with Madeline’s own daughter from her second marriage. There really should be a law against ex-husband’s and their new (replacement) families sharing school zones. Celeste is one-half of dazzling couple with her jet-setting husband, Perry. They live in a sprawling house, have the best of everything and Perry makes up for his long absences with beautiful bits of jewellery for his stunning wife. They have twin boys who are starting at Pirriwee Public this year and Perry’s Facebook account can attest to their perfectly happy family … except it’s all a lie. Jane is twenty-five and single-mother to beautiful little boy, Ziggy. Painfully thin and self-conscious, she up and moved to Pirriwee on impulse and because she thought Ziggy would quite like the beach. Her family have been concerned about her ever since she confessed to being pregnant from a one-night-stand she has no wish to go into more detail about … save to say, Ziggy won’t be meeting his biological father anytime soon, not so long as Jane has something to say about it. These three women form a united front when, on the Pirriwee Public orientation day, one of their children is singled out as a bully – and then subjected to ongoing and unsubstantiated bullying by Pirriwee Public parents who want them expelled from the school. It’s going to be a hell of a year. ‘Big Little Lies’ is the new fiction book from Australian author Liane Moriarty. The Moriarty name has long been associated with literary excellence and bookish-obsession for many Australian readers. Jaclyn Moriarty is the extremely popular young adult author of ‘Ashbury/Brookfield’ fame, and recently Nicola Moriarty has rounded out the triumvirate literary powerhouse. But lately the rest of the world has started sitting up and paying some serious attention to Liane Moriarty, the sister who since 2003 had been quietly releasing wonderful adult fiction titles (and the occasional children’s book) … until last year when her novel ‘The Husband’s Secret’ made it to #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list and catapulted this Australian women’s fiction author into a new stratosphere of international literary fame. The praise was deserved, as ‘The Husband’s Secret’ (a favourite book of 2013 for me) was a tight, psychological suburban-gothic thriller that was as much an examination of marriage as it was of guilty-conscience. And now Liane Moriarty has come out with ‘Big Little Lies’ – which has already received a Kirkus starred review and seems destined (and deserving) of another trip to the top of the NYT Bestseller list for Moriarty … with this book she turns her eye to women’s secrets, family microcosms and the funny little world of child rearing in an era of mummy-bloggers and bullying as the hottest of hot-button topics. Let me just say – this is one of my favourite books of 2014. Hands down. I don’t have children, but I come from a family of teachers (many of whom teach Primary school) and I absolutely delighted in this book for the way it so seamlessly (and frighteningly) matched up with the anecdotes my family bring home from their jobs. The helicopter parents, and precocious little darlings and the “everyone get’s a trophy!” ethos of modern-day parenting/schooling – it was vicariously delicious, and I envision many readers squirming for how Moriarty portrays these caricatures of modern-day family with pin-prick accuracy. And, believe me, Liane Moriarty gets some descriptions so perfectly, so acerbically, right: "They mean very, very well. They’re like, hmmm, what are they like? They’re like Mum Prefects. They feel very strongly about their roles as school mums. It’s like their religion. They’re fundamentalist mothers." It’s the sort of book you read and, with descriptions like that, you’ll instantly have a private light-bulb moment and chuckle because it’s just like someone you know (and when that happens, please, recommend the book to them). The story begins on the fateful trivia night, when someone dies – and then backtracks to six months before and the bullying incident that sparked a parental warfare in the playground of Pirriwee Public. Each chapter from then on offers a glimpse into the present-day investigation going on into the murder, with hilarious excerpts from the detective interviewing the parents (who also offer the odd tid-bit of gossip and personal opinions on all players involved). The book follows three mothers – Jane, Celeste and Madeline – each with their own problems and secrets, and maps their friendship and how they three came to be on one side of the parental warfare. I ‘discovered’ Liane Moriarty in 2011 with ‘The Hypnotist's Love Story’, which I loved. I’ve since gone back and read Moriarty’s backlist … but I’ve got to say, I think ‘The Hypnotist's Love Story’ marked a turning point for her that reaches a brilliant crescendo with ‘Big Little Lies’. Her earlier books were a lot funnier, and much more typical ‘women’s fiction’ (sigh, do I dare use the word ‘beach reads’?). They’re good, don’t get me wrong, but I think Moriarty started exploring much darker stories and sharper edges with ‘The Hypnotist's Love Story’ which then led to the very gothic ‘The Husband’s Secret’ and now ‘Big Little Lies’ feels like the best of both worlds – this book is funny, particularly for Moriarty’s social commentary around family, female obligation and school. But this book is also very dark – I always read feminist undertones in Moriarty’s work, and in ‘Big Little Lies’ especially she touches on domestic abuse, single-mother stigma, the conflict of “working women can’t have it all”, female beauty and sexuality, pornography and a slew of other topics … coupled with the over-arching murder storyline, this is a brilliantly placed book for being so dark and so funny and so darkly funny. This was such an enjoyable read. One moment I’d be cackling manically and then when I finished reading a chapter I’d think on the events for hours afterwards, for all the controversies Moriarty had raised. I loved this book, it really does cement Liane Moriarty as someone who is very deserving of her new literary fame (though I say that reservedly, she’s always been beloved in Australia – it’s mostly America who is suddenly taking notice of her). I’m calling ‘Big Little Lies’ as my favouritest-favourite book of 2014 thus far. A big call, but it’s a bloody great book.

Briliant. Page Turner. Witty and exciting. It's her only book I can absolutely recommend. Her other books are mainly focused around "busy school mums" and school live. Tried quite a few samples but when on Page 8 busy school mums are mentioned, I know, it's gonna be boring. Also read what Alice forgot, which is not really bad, but nothing compared to "Big little lies". Very mummy, if you know what I mean.

やっぱりTVドラマになるだけある面白さ

C'est le 1er ouvrage que je lis de cet écrivain. L'intrigue est bien écrite, bien menée. Un crime a peut être été commis. Qui est la victime, qui est le potentiel meurtrier? Les dernières pages nous donnent la clé de l'énigme, sans que cela "tombe comme un cheveu dans la soupe". On se rend compte aussi qu'un petit secret plus un petit secret peuvent amener à une catastrophe... Après avoir dévoré ce livre, je l'ai prêté à ma fille qui l'a trouvé également passionnant. Il est maintenant dans les mains de mon autre fille. J'attends son verdict

O livro prende a atenção do leitor do início ao fim. Com capítulos curtos e bem escritos, é quase impossível parar de ler. Os detalhes da vida cotidiana dos personagens são muito reais e bem descritos, assim como seus diálogos e pensamentos. Como um livro de ficção parece uma novela ou um filme de suspense, a leitura é tão viciante e prazerosa que até termina-la todos os meus momentos de lazer foram dedicados a ler.