Book Review: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

I just finished reading Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, and I have to give this one a 4-star rating.

After we got home from our most recent trip to Barnes and Noble, I noticed my receipt had book recommendations based on the titles I’d purchased, and one of the titles recommended to me was Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies.

Since I apparently live under a rock, I had no idea that this book is actually becoming quite popular, nor did I know that HBO is creating a TV adaptation (which I believe has already premiered).

Prior to purchasing this book, I read the synopsis on Goodreads and was not interested at all.  It sounded like some shitty soap opera-esque story about soccer moms that would only make for an interesting read if I were a soccer mom myself.  Then I scrolled down to the comments on Goodreads and saw that somebody named Ann wrote, “Probably the funniest book about murder and domestic abuse I’ll ever read.” Comedy, murder, and domestic abuse?  That sounds kinda interesting (we’ll worry about why I enjoy that type of subject matter later).

Big Little Lies is narrated from the third-person point of view and focuses on the stories of 3 Pirriwee Public kindergarteners’ mothers: Madeline, Jane, and Celeste.  The book revolves around these women’s personal family lives as well as their interactions with the other kindergarten moms.

In the beginning of the book, we learn that one of the parents was murdered during the school’s trivia night, and the story begins with events leading up to the murder.

Throughout the entire novel, Moriarty kept me guessing as to which parent ultimately winds up dead, and I’ll admit I found out that I was wrong every time (yay for a successful plot twist!).

In case I haven’t made this clear already, I should probably mention that Big Little Lies isn’t your typical dark, suspenseful murder story; it borders more on a comedy/ drama (and I say comedy because the characters can be quite ridiculous at times).

I read Big Little Lies in probably a little over a week (which is fast for me, as I’m a pretty slow reader), and there were definitely some nights where I stayed up WAY too late because I couldn’t put it down.  Every chapter leaves you wanting more, and because each chapter is pretty short, it’s easy to keep telling yourself, “one more chapter and I’ll go to bed.”

As I mentioned briefly earlier, I was able to really appreciate each character for his or her unique personality; it helps me to visualize not only the characters themselves, but the story as well when I have clear understanding of each character’s physical characteristics and personality traits.

Now, I know I don’t do this for every book review I write, but I wanted to have some fun with this one and talk about who I would cast if I were creating the film adaptation for this book.

Let’s begin!

 

And the last one I’ll cast will be Celeste’s husband, Perry, who is described as a wealthy businessman with tan skin, a perfect smile, and classic movie-star good looks.  Feel free to disagree with me, but I think Jason Bateman would be perfect for that role.