Pirriwee Public is a beautiful little beachside primary school where children are taught that ‘sharing is caring.’ So how has the annual School Trivia Night ended in full-blown riot? Sirens are wailing. People are screaming. The principal is mortified.
And one parent is dead.
Was it a murder, a tragic accident or just good parents gone bad? As the parents at Pirriwee Public are about to discover, sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal…
Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, school-yard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.
-excerpt taken from http://lianemoriarty.com.au/Book/big-little-lies-us/
Review:
I like to stay relevant on this blog and read what is popular, so I moved this book to the top of my TBR list after hearing a lot of hype about it, and I am so happy that I did.
“Big Little Lies” is what I would describe as a lighthearted whodunnit that also manages to cover some real issues, such as domestic and sexual abuse. It does so in a way that I think could be helpful, showing the mindset of the abused and what must be done to overcome and get out of those types of situations.
The story is told from multiple POV’s. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different lady, most of whom have children that attend the same school. We find out in the first chapter that there has been a murder that occurred on the night of an annual school trivia night. Every chapter is leading up to the night of the murder, and dropping hints about who the victim and the murderer are. We don’t know either as we go through the book, and the author does a good job IMO of keeping you guessing – my ideas changed many times throughout the book.
Also, in each chapter she adds short excerpts of police interviews (the POV’s of these range widely, and oftentimes aren’t main characters) from the night of the murder that show the speculation of attenders of the trivia night, and also the way the characters are viewed by the society they live in, i.e. lots of gossip ensues.
I give this book 5 out of 5 lollipops {had to, look at the cover 🙂 }. The whole concept is quite genius and I couldn’t help but think about how complicated this book must have been to write. It went down easy, and when I wasn’t reading I was thinking about it. I enjoyed the short chapters – as a mom of four, I like having readily available stopping points in a book for when my kids inevitably interrupt my reading time. The only critique I have is that there are SO many characters in this book, I sometimes had a hard time keeping them straight. I have a hard time even calling that a critique however, because part of the way through I had it figured out. Liane does a good job of really painting a picture of who each character is, all of which are completely individual from each other, so if anybody can handle a large cast in a story, it’s her.
Extremely enjoyable read – I highly recommend!
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