I avoided reading this incredibly popular book for quite some time, assuming it might be pretty average chick lit written only for mass appeal. But I have to admit, I listened to this on audio and was completely spellbound. I listened to it every moment I could and towards the end actually found myself sitting and doing nothing just so I could listen.
There are probably two reasons for Liane Moriarty’s success with this novel. The first is with clever storytelling. The blurb will tell you the book focusses around a death at a school trivia night, and this is true – but there is plenty of drama in the lead up to this, and Moriarty cleverly capitalises on this by revealing just a little bit of detail at a time. the story of the months before the trivia night is interspersed with the interviews and investigations after the fact. Every little tidbit gets your brain going – who died and how?
Secondly, there are actually some incredibly serious issues at play here – the foremost of which is violence against women. You’ve probably heard about this already. And also the difficulties of class, family and divorce. So no, not as light as I thought it was. And more importantly, Moriarty seems to actually have something to say about all of these issues. All are dealt with in complex ways, and believable ones. The characters in this novel could have been incredibly two-dimensional, but they’re not. There is a kernel of emotional truth in all the choices that they make.
I’m glad I finally got to Big Little Lies. If you haven’t yet, I would definitely recommend it.
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