Here s the best news you ve heard all year: Not a single page disappoints….The only difficulty withTruly Madly Guilty? Putting it down.” Miami Herald Captivating, suspenseful tantalizing. People MagazineThe new novel from Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Husband s Secret, Big Little Lies, and What Alice Forgot, about how sometimes we don t appreciate how … Lies, and What Alice Forgot, about how sometimes we don t appreciate how extraordinary our ordinary lives are until it s too late.
Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong?
In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty turns her unique, razor-sharp eye towards three seemingly happy families.
Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime. If there s anything they can count on, it s each other.
Clementine and Erika are each other s oldest friends. A single look between them can convey an entire conversation. But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbors, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam don t hesitate. Having Tiffany and Vid s larger than life personalities there will be a welcome respite.
Two months later, it won t stop raining, and Clementine and Sam can t stop asking themselves the question: What if we hadn t gone?
In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty takes on the foundations of our lives: marriage, sex, parenthood, and friendship. She shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we don t say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.
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Six couples get together for a backyard barbecue, when something terrible happens and changes their relationships forever. I won’t say what the incident is because that is part of hook of the book—the slow reveal of what happened on that fateful afternoon and then how the couples are changed by it.
What I loved about Truly Madly Guilty (and all Liane Moriarty books) are the characters. They are flawed, imperfect, likable, and real. Nobody writes characters like Moriarty! There are no cardboard cutouts. The way her characters act and react to major and minor incidents is dead on. Moriarty nails it. By the end of the book, the reader feels like she knows the characters personally.
If you’re looking for a satisfying read, snap this one up.
Love it
I so love this author. Her stories always have this very slow start and then before you know it – things snowball and that’s when the fun reading really starts! Keeping you up reading all night just to see what happens next. And I have to say, the little girls in this book had me laughing out loud! I want those girls …
Ms. Moriarty’s ability to make the minutiae of life so very interesting is her greatest gift (IMHO).
Moriarty is simply amazing with the way she can stretch out tension.
Oh what’s left to say about Lianne Moriarity? I make a point to read every one of her novels, they are such funny, witty, but realistic takes on life.
Big Little Lies novel was much better than the movie version.
January 27, 2021
A little hard to follow.
When I finally finished, I Loved this book! But getting there was a chore. Back and forth, before and after, ugh! Not my Favorite by this author.
Another excellent Moriarty book.
looks at how seemingly meaningless decisions can change our lives and how we see ourselves forever
Everything You Could Possibly Want to Know About GUILT
From the title, it’s no surprise that the theme of this book is “guilt.” In all its forms. Every character in the story deals with guilt of a different kind, in a different way. But ALL are profoundly affected by it.
It’s a story of three couples – two of whom have children (who also feel guilt). All attend a neighborhood barbecue where a devastating event occurs.
It makes the plot absorbing and I did keep turning pages. But I found myself getting increasingly annoyed by the structure of the novel. It jumps around in time. It jumps from one character’s narrative to another. And you won’t find out what the “big event” is until 2/3rds of the way though.
I simply didn’t find this device added anything to the book. Instead, I felt like I was being continually teased and kept thinking – enough already, tell me what happened. So, to me the structure hurt the flow. And the end seemed to tie up the storylines a little too neatly to be believable.
At the same time, I fully expect others will have a completely different reaction. So feel free to grab this one. It’s just not my favorite one of the four I’ve ready by Liane Moriarty.
I am thinking Liane Moriarty has the Midas touch! I adored this book!
Like all of her novels, Liane Moriarty explores lives of people you may not know, which specific quirks and problems. This one is a bit less deep in its exposition, but still an engaging story with elements of humor and tragedy to keep the reader engaged.
I really like the way Liane Moriarty writes. This book kept me turning pages to see what happens. (I was tempted to peak ahead, but didn’t!) Relationships, friendships, neighbors, marriage, sex, children, parenthood, guilt–it’s all in the book! The story gently unfolds in a nice way, allowing the reader to imagine what has taken place in the past. If you like this author’s previous books, you will also like this one! (A movie has been made from this book as well. I suggest always reading the book first.)
3.5s. I LOVED Nine Perfect Strangers, and while this is still an entertaining read, it just didn’t quite live up to that one.
Not up to Lianne Moriarty’s usual standards. It kept my interest a good portion of the way but sort of imploded toward the end, significantly less believable and more contrived than I would have liked.
Liane Moriarty is one of my favorite writers. I have read all of her books and this one remains my favorite. Her characters are always well-drawn and the plot kept me guessing until the end.
I love Liane Moriarty’s writing style and this book dud not disappoint.
I had a bit of a problem understanding the narrator of this audio book a few times, other than that she did a fine job of keeping me interested in the story.
It seemed like it took me awhile to get interested in the story, but once it grabbed my attention, the rest was history. The story was very good once it got going and I would recommend it to everyone, just keep in mind that you have to stick with it for awhile.
Happy reading!
This was a fun read. Although I agreed with other reviewers that it was frustrating getting to the middle where we finally found what happened at the BBQ, it was worth it. Not just because the story had a satisfying ending, but I loved the voice throughout. Each chapter was told from a different point of views, and listening to their thoughts kept the book moving for me. The characters were very well developed and unique. They always portrays a certain image to the world, but inside they were often someone else having terrible thoughts about the person they were with which were often very funny. For example one mom was listening to another mom talk about her days when she used to be a stripper. In the scene she was asking intelligent questions and acting interested and without a strong opinion. However, inside she was criticizing like crazy, which is often how it is in real life, but we don’t always have such a deep point of view in a book where the thoughts are so candid.
Was a little bogged down with tons of details about the characters in the beginning, but the plot was so good it kept me turning the pages. Not predictable. Great writing, kind of twisted characters and motivations, but realistic & believable with amazing insight into human motivations re: marriage, friendships, motherhood. In general a terrific, different kind of read.
I like Ms. Moriarty’s style, she has a large cast of characters and as the book progresses all of them get to tell how they are experiencing certain shared events. This approach allows the author to show that the front that people allow others to see may be very different what the are really experiencing in their lives. I liked the characters and appreciated struggles they were each experiencing and how they were working toward dealing with the them. I found the book easy to read and very engaging and would recommend it for a great beach read.