Check out the #1 New York Times bestseller Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, called “a surefire hit” by Entertainment Weekly. “The secrets burrowed in this seemingly placid small town…are so suburban noir they would make David Lynch clap with glee…[Moriarty] is a fantastically nimble writer, so sure-footed that the book leaps between dark and light seamlessly; even the big reveal in the … seamlessly; even the big reveal in the final pages feels earned and genuinely shocking.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Reading one [of Liane Moriarty’s novels] is a bit like drinking a pink cosmo laced with arsenic… [BIG LITTLE LIES] is a fun, engaging and sometimes disturbing read” –USA Today
Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal. . . .
A murder… . . . a tragic accident… . . . or just parents behaving badly?
What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.
But who did what?
Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:
Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).
Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.
New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.
Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.
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Once I started this book, I found it very hard to put down. I kept wanting to read more to discover what exactly the police were investigating. This book convinced me even more that everyone has a story, and the story may not be a happy one.
Wonderfully entertaining “cozy mystery”.
One of my new favorite authors!
One of my favorite books!
I don’t have HBO and have heard nothing but great things about the show. So I thought I would read the book. I love Liane Moriarty’s writing and I really enjoyed this book.
Loved it! Will read more by her.
Absolutely loved it. Managed to touch on a number of topics, from a different perspective, than any book I’ve read in a long while. It was a refreshing page-turner.
How do you start a book with a death (murder?) when you don’t know who died and who did it. This is that book. Very original, and excellent plot.
This is just a fun, light read.
This was a very entertaining book that just grabbed me and pulled me along for the ride. The way the book is set up, you don’t know exactly what the tragic event is and who exactly is involved until it happens. You get pieces of the puzzle along the way as you get to know the three lead women in the story. There are also snippets of interviews given by “eyewitnesses” that pop up throughout the chapters. It’s an interesting way to see what everybody thought about the people and events involved.
I am so not the target market for this book, since I don’t have children and have never had to deal with school politics and the petty backbiting among parents. But this book paints such a vivid picture of the the parent/school atmosphere, that I could imagine this happening in almost any school in America or abroad.
It really makes you think about the secrets all people keep and the tragic/horrific/courageous battles many people are going through that no one knows about.
Loved the characters, both big and small. Situations rang true to me from experience. One of the most original I have read lately.
Fantastic read if you enjoy thrillers. Plus you can catch the tv show afterwards!
A wonderful read with a twist you didn’t see coming. Realistic characters and stories too.
Parents behaving badly. It’s a simple but compelling and sadly relatable premise. Lianne Moriarty’s take on what happens when an allegation between children is blown completely out of proportion is as entertaining, engaging, and at times as heartbreaking a story as I’ve ever read.
Jane’s son Ziggy is called out by the gifted and affluent Ammabella Klein as the boy who choked her on Kindergarten orientation day and everyone has an opinion on what to do with the new bully.
Jane, a struggling single mother with a mysterious past, has recently moved to the peninsula for a fresh start and quickly finds herself torn between the pitchfork-toting locals and the force that is Madeline, a sharp-witted, well-connected mother of three (yes, the show wrote off poor middle child Fred).
Madeline has good intentions but thrives on confrontation. She rushes to Ziggy and Jane’s defense in the orientation day drama, promptly dividing the parents into two groups: Team Renata (Amabella) and Team Jane (Ziggy).
To further complicate matters, Madeline is dealing with her youngest attending school with her now ex-husband Nathan’s daughter Skye. Nathan has married Bonnie, a Buddhist-like soul with whom no one could ever find fault. She’s more or less Madeline’s opposite. Madeline takes issue with the couple because Nathan abandoned Madeline to raise Abigail (their daughter) alone from infancy. This, too, is part of why Madeline is taken with Jane.
On the fringe of this is mother of twin balls of energy Celeste, married to the hotheaded but irresistible Perry. Theirs is a marriage defined by passion and violence.
With all these complicated relationships, the one thing the reader knows is that someone died on trivia night. The story is told in reverse in the days leading up to the event and it’s hard to guess who could be dead because there are reasons it could be anyone. Add a dash of affairs and some too strong pink fizzy drinks and there’s a disaster.
This is my first Lianne Moriarty book, but it won’t be my last. The brilliantly plotted, completely entertaining story unfolds at a page-turning pace with enviably fleshed out characters facing real world problems. This is among the most well-written books I’ve ever read and I’m genuinely sad it’s over. If I could give it ten stars I would. And as someone also watching the HBO show, there’s plenty of room to do both for a different experience. The show has gone off-script to this point in ways big enough to matter. Highly recommended. A must-read.
everything she writes is fantastic
I went back and read this after watching the show. LOVED the show because …the characters, the story, the clothes, the setting-all great!! The book did not disappoint.
Great read!
This book is a good educational read, probably more true than we would like to think, but a good mystery with some twisting turns as you progress in the story. I love reading about strong women characters so highly recommend it for others that feel the same. Will seek out the HBO series as well. Glad it recently won an award.
This book is a quick, easy read. It’s definitely a page-turner that kept me guessing and fully entertained. Suburbia drama made interesting.
Loved it.Gave it to a coworker and the book made the rounds of my whole work place. We then made a big deal about watching the miniseries. Great fun