- this edition published 2014 by Pan Macmillan Australia
- ISBN 978-1-74353-042-9
- 470 pages
- source: my local library
The internationally bestselling author turns her unique gaze on the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves every day and what really goes on behind closed suburban doors.
'I guess it started with the mothers.'
'It was all just a terrible misunderstanding.'
'I'll tell you exactly why it happened.'
Pirriwee Public's annual school Trivia Night has ended in a shocking riot. A parent is dead. Was it murder, a tragic accident... or something else entirely?
Big Little Lies is a funny, heartbreaking, challenging story of ex-husbands and second wives, new friendships, old betrayals and and schoolyard politics.
'Let me be clear. This is not a circus. This is a murder investigation.'
Winner of the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year
My Take
When your child goes off to kindy, it isn't just him or her that joins a new world. The parent(s) join a new world too, populated by novices like themselves, and also by other parents who have confidence that has come from experience generated by older children. And most are unprepared for the rivalry that will be generated as children are classified and their performance compared with that of others. It is a world of stresses, complicated by the fact that most families are hiding things they don't necessarily want to share.
But nothing that I experienced back in those kindy days led to the death of one of the other parents. This novel is full though of very believable scenarios and I enjoyed every minute of it. The natural audience for this book is probably women who have "been there", and I guarantee that it will stir memories.
A certain amount of tension is created by the fact that for most of the novel the reader does not know who is going to die, and why. Is the person who caused the death going to escape detection? After the death no-one wants to talk.
Liane Moriarty is an Australian author to watch,
My rating: 4.8
I've also read
4.6, THE HUSBAND'S SECRET
Novels to look for (list from Fantastic Fiction)
The Last Anniversary (2005)
What Alice Forgot (2010)
The Hypnotist's Love Story (2012)
The Husband's Secret (2013)
Big Little Lies (2014)
aka Little Lies
Truly Madly Guilty (2016)
1 comment:
The HBO series of the book was very good too.
Post a Comment