Summary

A murder… a tragic accident… or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny, biting and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare, but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, school yard scandal and the little lies that can turn lethal.

Why I chose to read this book
I read a couple of other books by Liana Moriarty and they were both incredibly intense with fully developed strong characters and did not leave me indifferent. I expected nothing less from this one!

Thoughts & Opinions

Although this was a hefty book (almost 500 pages!) I finished it in only a few days. I’ll keep my review short as I don’t want to spoil anything and want readers to go in and discover Big Little Lies for themselves. I will say that I absolutely loved it. True to her nature, Moriarty introduces a vast cast of fully-developed characters. They are all flawed and are all going through incredibly deep and difficult life struggles. Knowing this, you have to be in the mood to read a Moriarty book because the subject matters are always heavy and dark. However, the author has a talent for making the reading lighter at times, with the introduction of humor, albeilt dark humor. The characters feel very human, as their inner dialogue can get ugly at times, reflecting how reality and life aren’t rainbows and sunshine. 

Big Little Lies is an extraordinary combination of heartbreaking and heartwarming. I would highly suggest reading about the trigger warnings on this book if you are a bit more sensitive to heavy subjects. I have not yet seen the television series adaptation of this novel however am looking forward to it!

Oh, calamity!

Check out my other mystery book reviews:

Agent Running In The Field

Angels Flight

Autopsy

Desert Star

Eight Perfect Murders

Finlay Donovan is Killing It 

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries

The Sorority Murder

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Where The Crawdads Sing

White Elephant