Big Little Lies

Since I watched the miniseries, I figured I'd dig up my original review of the book for you.  Funny how perspective can change like that.


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Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Big Little Lies is quite possibly one of the most infuriating books I’ve ever read. If you would like to stay sane, don’t go through this one as an audiobook.



Overall the book had an excellent premise. It did, however, solidify my disdain of women in general. The general hatred and mean spiritedness that the ancillary characters have for the main characters is flat out horrifying. Scarier to know that it’s not an exaggerated version of how certain types of women behave. The extent to which I became angry at some of the characters is a testament to how well the author had described them.



It was well written in that the abuse and shaming of some of the characters was written as though the author had intimate knowledge of the mental games victims play in their own minds to justify the treatment they have received.




A big part of my frustration involved the fact that we do not know who gets killed until nearly the end of the book. Like, the last 75 or so pages. Or, if you’re listening…the last 1.5 hours. Because I couldn’t take it anymore and it’s too hard to skip ahead on an Audiobook, I tried to Google spoilers. THERE ARE NONE. That also became ridiculously frustrating.



Some of my issue also had to do with some of the extra characters. Not really sure what was the point of starting the book detailing out Mrs. Ponder’s life. Gwen. Shows up more than half way through the book as the twins babysitter. Why? To give Celeste a “knowing look”? The woman who told Madeline about Jeff’s affair. Did we need to know her life story? Probably not. Don’t really even remember her name.




With that said, here are some MAJOR spoilers. If I missed anything or you want more, just let me know. If you don’t want to know…stop reading NOW








· Ziggy is not the bully
· Max is the bully
· Celeste is abused by Perry
· Tom is NOT gay
· Perry is Saxon Banks
· Perry is the one who dies
· Renatta apologizes to Jane and Ziggy directly

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