Big Little Lies

by Liane Moriarty

[clementine]

I can definitely get behind a book that's mostly fluffy but pretty clever. Moriarty's characters are charming and well-conceived; everyone is fleshed-out and likeable despite their flaws. I read this nearly 500-page novel in two days easily, and sometimes that's the type of book I'm looking for. (I read this sandwiched in between two that required considerable more brain power, so it was well-timed.) I guess I was just expecting more. I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about the plot, but given the hype both the book and HBO series have engendered I expected more of a wow factor. It was juicy and dramatic, but I think I was expecting it to be a little more artistically complex given HBO's highbrow inclinations. And I expected more twists! I thought the identity of the victim was pretty obvious (I mean, there's a narrow handful of characters we're focusing on, and process of elimination plus the fact that this is a mass market bestseller left it fairly clear that Perry was the only real option), although the exact circumstances surrounding the death were a little more interesting. I also worry that some of the more frivolous aspects of the book undercut the portrayal of domestic abuse (which I thought was handled well, for what it's worth). It's like, here's a juicy book full of upper middle class white woman scandals and nice clothes and mommy drama and also domestic abuse. I don't know! I liked this and it was certainly readable, but it wasn't amazing by any stretch of the imagination.

By the way, since reading this I've watched the HBO adaptation, which I liked better though I didn't love it.