Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsThis can happen to anyone
Reviewed in Canada on February 8, 2022
Liane Moriarty has special interests she portrays in her novels: in 'Big Little Lies' the most prominent are the secrets that we hold, why we keep them from others and the damage they do. Jane, a young single mother moves into an apartment in an Australian beach town with her five-year-old son, intriguingly called 'Ziggy'. She quickly falls in with mothers of other children at the very liberal and slightly trendy local elementary school: Madeleine who was once married to Nathan who also has a child at school and a new, younger wife called Bonnie and the beautiful Celeste, a quite rich mother who seems to live an idyllic life with her handsome, charismatic husband Perry. But all is not as it seems. Madeleine has never forgiven Nathan for leaving her and she is insecure with Celeste's wealth. Jane keeps the secret of Ziggy's conception - who the father is and how it happens - until she doesn't and that slowly causes the facades that grip the community to slip away until a terrible reveal and its terrible result. This is a novel that is steeped in domestic abuse in a way that some of Moriarty's previous novels have touched on but not delved into in the way it affects all the characters in 'Big Little Lies'. I had watched Nicole Kidman in the TV series before reading the book. The TV series has more diverse characters and portrays the horror of the story very well, but the novel is more intimate, more engaging and has a much better ending. The second season of 'Big Little Lies' was a mistake, the novel shows how and why it wasn't necessary. This is a really good suspenseful read. Oh and yes, it has a neat love story too,
