Genre: Chick Lit/Domestic Suspense
Published: 2014
Pages: 486 in the large paperback version
Multiple ABTP Award Winner:
An Adventures By The Page 2018 Best Book Nominee & Winner
Best Chick Lit 2018
Best Writing 2018
Character Development Award 2018
What happened the night of the school trivia contest? Was it a cold-blooded murder? Or just an argument gone very wrong?
When Madeline meets Jane by accident one day, the women's lives will intertwine. On the surface, they seem to lead other lives. Tough Madeline has the standard family and a sharp tongue, but uses it for good (usually). Celeste is beautiful, rich, and the mother that everyone wants to be. And plain Jane is young and insecure, and eventually taken under Madeline's wing. Jane's life only becomes more difficult when her son is accused of doing something terrible in his kindergarten class, and the victim's mother is having none of it. Soon drama among the parents begins to escalate, and it will culminate in a fundraising night that nobody will ever forget.
Hey, look who's back from hiatus! I haven't read much in a while, I confess. So I thought I'd finally get around to reviewing this one, since it's a nominee for the best book I read in 2018.
Let's start there. Why was this book as good as everyone says it was? For starters, the characterization is great and I was fully immersed in their lives. Everyone had a personality, yet their individual quirks were never shoved in our faces 24/7. Nobody was a caricature or cardboard cutout. Also, the blend of the serious, the daily, and the just plain silly is done really well. Add in some great plot twists, and it's as good as any thriller. Part of this novel is definitely suspenseful, and the buildup is fantastic. We get to hear excerpts of conversations from other parents about what might be going on. They don't always play major roles in the book, and they're still well-drawn. Every one of them.
It satirizes parental drama, yes. And it does a great job. Parents having parties just to leave kids out. Kicking sandbox sand at each other and having the others run away to "tell" on them like they're also little kids. Yes, "mean girl" (who is actually a mom) Renata is a little corny. She has cronies, which are also a little corny. However, they're still more real that the popular girls I see in teen books. They just want the best for their kids.
But it touches on so many other things too. There are subplots of domestic abuse, which seems like a standard trope lately, but to be fair this came out before most others in that vein did. So I can't and won't nail it for that. The characters learn to come to grips with the past and learn to stand up for themselves. So there's a lot of growth to go along with the messages. I don't consider myself a super-feminist, but feminists will find something to like here. It's not necessarily over-the-top preachy, or a SJW Tumblr post. Instead, what we have here is very real. From the point of view of one character, I could even understand why someone wouldn't want to leave an abusive household and found that I was empathizing with them. That's not something that, given I've never experienced it, have realized. Isn't the point of reading to learn about others and understand each other? The feminism points were also much easier to swallow given that they weren't Internet posts full of f-bombs and accidentally promoting intolerance in the name of tolerance. If you're sick of Tumblr, this book is a breath of fresh air.
Abuse isn't the only domestic issue explored, either. Madeline's daughter loves her ex-husband's wife more then she loves Madeline, and we watch her deal with that. I really felt for her! In addition, Jane has to deal with scrutiny from other parents at an early age and with catty parent behavior. Cue gritting of teeth and a rant about why we can't be so quick to judge. And then Celeste's demons are something else entirely. Yeah, yeah. "Beautiful and rich and her life isn't as great as we want to believe!" It's been done before. Still, I haven't been able to relate to and consider someone's situation like that on the same level as I do with Celeste.
The thing is, though, it that it's also lighthearted and funny. I'm not a parent, but Moriarty seems to have nailed what daily life is like. Kid fights. Just trying to get it all done. Dealing with your social justice-centered child who is going to extreme, inappropriate measures to help out. Helping kids with school projects. Witty quips and "it's funny because it's true" moments made me laugh out loud, and were a great counterbalance to the dark themes. Because life doesn't stop when drama arrives. It goes on. It continues. That's what's great about Big Little Lies.
This isn't just an entertaining book, but it will teach you things. It's fun to read and if you're like me, you'll go through wondering, "Which of these lovely ladies is going to die at the end? Noooo!" Fortunately, if you're worried about the concept of a murder mystery and if that type of thing should be considered entertainment (also me), you need not worry, and you'll see what I mean when you finish. When it comes to domestic suspense, this is one of the most entertaining there is.
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