Book Review: Big Little Lies

I'm just going to give it away: Big Little Lies is a great, fun read. 

I was a little disappointed in my first book of 2015 so it was extra exciting to update my Goodreads with this one. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is another one of those books that has been gracing Best Of lists and there apparently will be a limited television series based on it starring Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman (verdict: SO EXCITED! TV was the way to go, it'll play out much better on a week-to-week basis than if it were a movie).

via Amazon

In the interest of complete honesty: is Big Little Lies some great, moving piece, some literary art? No - not to me, anyway. But I had so much fun reading it: the characters are great (and relatable - I can name a Madeline, a Celeste, a Renata in my every day life without hesitation), the storyline is interesting, the themes are easy to pick up on without being shoved in one's face. . . I really cannot ask for more in a novel.

I know the term "chick lit" immediately elicits eye rolls but I don't really know why. I know that some authors, even some of my favorites like Jodi Picoult, revolt against the label and I get it - they don't want their stories to be pigeonholed and deemed unsubstantial. Because of this, I'm hesitant to label Big Little Lies as chick lit or as a beach read because I know what it entails. It's adult fiction, for sure, and as Entertainment Weekly's review points out, Liane Moriarty is able to go back and forth between dark and light tones seamlessly. 

And isn't that life-like? Perhaps a little too-close-for-comfort life-like, but still, life does have its dark and light moments and goes between the two sometimes with no warning or effort. 

To me, this is a book about women: Madeline, Celeste and Jane seemingly only have their same-aged children in common (and, again, isn't this a little indicative of everyday life for mothers?) and although that's the case at the beginning, their bonds go above and beyond that purpose - sometimes on purpose, because they want them to and put effort into them and sometimes due to circumstances entirely out of their control.

There is a little bit of a Whodunnit aspect: a death is introduced on the first page and we follow along with it as a background story throughout the novel. There is an air of mystery the entire time and the reader is invited to guess the culprit as he/she follows along with everything else happening. I, for one, changed my guess (in regards to both who died and who did it) almost with every chapter - which I think is a testament to the author's writing. 

I enjoyed this book so much that I'm looking forward to future re-readings. USA Today's review mentioned that this is one for book clubs everywhere and I'm a little sad that I didn't have the experience of reading it with a book club (although I am part of one that just started so I can try to champion this as one of the books to read this year) - there are so many interesting discussions that could stem from it! I give this book a solid A and would recommend it to almost anyone. 

Have you read Big Little Lies? If so, let's discuss it - PLEASE! Are you a part of a book club? What are you reading?