Goodreads Book Review: Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Australian author Liane Moriarty's novel Big Little Lies is a hard book to peg, but that's what makes it refreshing. I went into it expecting a traditional "whodunit" plot, but while the story has a major whodunit element, it is essentially a story of secrets and lies and the far-reaching ramifications they can have on individuals, families and communities. All the while it deals with themes ranging from bullying and body images to domestic violence and verbal degradation while somehow never seeming too heavy.

As the novel opens, the reader learns that a parents' trivia night fundraiser event at an elementary school ended in bloodshed and death. In contrast to the typical thriller or murder mystery, however, Moriarty leaves a mystery not only "whodunit" but exactly what happened and who the victim(s) are. From there she flashes back to six months before the trivia night and begins to uncover the events that lead up to the tragedy.

The novel largely follows three main characters, each parents of a kindergartener at Pirriwwie Public School. Bold, passionate and fiery Madeline has a five-year-old daughter who is in the same kindergarten class as the daughter of her ex-husband and his new yogi wife. In additional, her teenage daughter seems to be choosing her ex-husband over her, a major point of tension for Madeline.

Madeline's closest friend in the school community is wealthy and beautiful Celeste, the mother of rambunctious twin boys. Celeste seems to lead a charmed life, but her picture perfect family is not what it seems. On orientation day the two women befriend Jane, a single mother who is new to the community, and quickly take her "under their wing." The three become increasingly close and the reader is taken deeper into the secrets of the families of Pirriwee Public School as the trivia day beckons.

Yeah, there's is definitely a lot going on in Big Little Lies. Somehow Moriarty makes all the individual elements of the story come together. Mostly. Storylines involving Madeline's tension with her teenage daughter at times seem tacked on, as does the relationship between Jane and the local barista she initially presumes to be gay. And some of the characters lives end up intersecting in ways that are a bit too neat to seem plausible. However, Moriarty weaves multiple storylines better than most authors I've read, and the three "leading ladies" and their friendship draw the reader in.

The reader is also introduced to several minor characters, including school parents and teachers and the detective investigating the "incident" at the trivia night. An interesting feature of Big Little Lies is the snippets of conversation at the end of each chapter where characters gossip and speculate about what happened to lead to the mayhem and catastrophe at the trivia night. The reader gets to know many characters through these snippets, and although many of these minor characters come across as caricatures rather than fully-fleshed characters, they are caricatures that Moriarty's largely female readership will relate too. For instance, there is Gabrielle, who is obsessed with dieting and with her weight. There are the "career moms" and the "stay at home moms" (and one stay at home dad). No, Big Little Lies is not "chic lit," in the shallow, pejorative sense in which the term is often used. It is a novel with a female-lead plot and themes that women will tend to relate to, but the story also has universal appeal.

Liane Moriarty has accomplished something ambitious with Big Little Lies. It is at once gripping, page turning, funny, complex and multi-layered.

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