Brilliantly Crafted Big Little Lies Lives Up to the Hype

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

The back cover copy for Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty's bestselling novel, describes the book so perfectly that I'm not even going to try to put my own spin on it.  I'm just going to give it to you straight:

Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal. . . .
A murder… . . . a tragic accident… . . . or just parents behaving badly?
What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.  

But who did what?

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

You've probably seen all the rave reviews this novel's gotten ever since it was published last year.  I'm always a little hesitant to trust hype, but in this case?  Believe it.  Big Little Lies is a hilarious, heartbreaking, spot-on story about the lengths to which we will go to protect our fragile images from the prying eyes of others.  It's compelling, compulsively readable, and a lot deeper than it seems on the surface.  Brilliantly crafted, Big Little Lies is one of those novels that simply should not be missed.

(Readalikes:  I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for strong language, sexual content, and violence

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find