Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty Review
I loved every second of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.
Like many others, I came to this book after the TV show. At the time of this writing, I am living in Monterey where a great portion of the show was filmed. I’m leaving within the week, and I wanted to give this book a go before I left, even though I knew the book itself took place in Australia.
Regardless of that, I felt like I was reading a transcript for the show.
All I’ll say about the show is that I think it was really well done, expertly cast, and completely makes sense as to why it took place in Monterey. Although, truth be told, I think the “Blond Bobs” belong more in the Pacific Grove/Carmel regions, but that’s neither here nor there.
As for the book, even coming into it with foreknowledge from the show, I was hooked on every page.
I had such a hard time putting this book down. So many times I found myself wondering if things would be different from the show, just the slightest. Even though I “knew” what would happen, what if I was wrong? What if someone else died? Or someone else did it? Or? But? If?
Or what if I just reread this book over and over again?
The writing style was so present and engaging, it felt like I was in conversation with a friend sipping mahtinis while we watched the sunset over the ocean.
It was such a pleasurable experience of a read.
I’d heard good things about it going in, but I still wanted to keep my expectations low. Especially coming to the literary work after the televised version, I didn’t want to think things “had” to happen a certain way, but I’m glad that the show was faithful to the book, for the most part.
And, seriously, Reese Witherspoon as Madeleine… I… I couldn’t think of a better choice for that.
It would have been cool if they’d have let Nicole Kidman keep her Aussie accent in the film, though, especially since technically Celeste lives in Australia. That’s neither here nor there, really, either, but I think that would have been cool.
Overall, this was a 5/5 read for me.
I sincerely feel like I could, and probably would, read this book again. I would certainly like to pick up more from this author and read something without any prior knowledge as to the plot or characters at all. If the writing style is anything like this one, I should think I’d read it as quickly as I did this work.
It was really easy to imagine the Monterey peninsula (especially every time they actually said the word peninsula), so maybe that influenced some of my joy. I don’t know, but I loved this book. Loved every chapter, every page, every moment. I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves mysteries especially, but, I don’t know. I feel like people who like dramas or humor books would also love this. Yes, there are some heavy topics in here, but the “whodunnit” of it all isn’t as much at the forefront as a standard “mystery” story.
