This is a thriller I could not put down. This is the first book I have read by Liane Moriarty and am definitely looking forward to picking up more of her work in the future. Let’s start with the synopsis of Big Little Lies.
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, schoolyard scandal, and the little lies that can turn lethal.
Content Notes: Sexual assault. Bullying.
Why I chose to read Big Little Lies
Big Little Lies had been recommended to me by many people and it was time to pick it up!
Themes for Thought
One of things that Big Little Lies highlighted for me was the need for a support system and how important friendships are during bringing up kids. Every character in this story had an important role to play and I loved Liana Moriarty’s tactful storytelling, switching between police statements in the present to the past when school year has just started.
There are four themes that I want to highlight from this book.
On Society’s Checklist
I have talked about society’s checklist before when I was reading Beth Koritz’s Resilience Road. No matter who we are, women especially feel the pressure to follow the path has been laid out for them. Jane was following the checklist but a heartbreaking incident leads her to have a one night stand and that comes to define the rest of her story. She becomes a mom to a little boy who people think is different. Starting over in a new place does not give her a fresh start, per se.
We see this checklist reflected in Celeste’s situations as well where she wants to stay with her husband for her kids. There is a ‘suffer in silence’ mentality that Celeste sort of embraces while at the same time, lashing back when she can.
On the Need to Hurt
There is an underlying commentary on bullying throughout Little Big Lies. Whether it is little kids being bullies/bullied or a grown man being a bully, this story brought to light some really interesting points about how the need to hurt can come out of a history in bullying.
According to a study referenced by CBC news:
Compared to kids who hadn’t been bullied, victims of face-to-face bullying were four times more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviors themselves. And victims of cyberbullying were 10 times more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviors, the research revealed.
The complicated fallout of bullying, CBC News
On Family Structures
I grew up with a single mom. My dad was present throughout my life but I did not see in him everyday. Unlike Ziggy, I never had to do an assignment about my family.
One of the things I really liked about this book was how many different family structures we see in it – there is Jane who is a single parent, Madeline who has a child from an earlier marriage as well as children from her new one, Celeste who has two boys and she is trying to keep the family together for their sake. There are so many nuances in here!
On Secrets
Big Little Lies is a story about secrets. And that secret is not just who was died and why, but also the many little things that happened to get all the families of the kids to that point.
Whether it was kindergartners lying about who was bulling Emmabell or Abigail’s social media campaign or Jane’s real reason to move and start over, this book made me think about how we perceive people and how our past as well as what we know about theirs’ clouds our judgment.
This was a fast paced thriller that I could not put down! There were so many twists and turns in this book, while at the same time, I was thinking about a number of issues! There is also a show on Crave that goes into more details for each of the characters as well as showing what happens after the book ends. Even if you don’t feel like reading the book, I would recommend checking out the series on HBO.
** Big Little Lies is available in stores so get a copy and let me know what you think! Let’s have a book-discussion! **
Amazon Print
Amazon Kindle
Cover image: Photo by Matthew Smith on Unsplash
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