Big Little Lies

Firstly, a big thank you to all the followers of Chubby Cheeks Column  for hanging in there despite me abandoning the blog for so long. Secondly, a sincere promise to keep my reviews being posted more frequently in the coming months. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty has been the book I read just after my last blog post and never got to share my views about it with you all since then. Therefore, I feel it should be the first book to write about and break this long silence.

The story is woven around three major characters. Jane, the young single mother who is in a constant struggle of running away from her haunting past; Madeline, who is compromised to deal with the unbearable sweetness of her ex-husband’s wife; and the lovely Celeste, who seems to have the perfect husband and the adorable twin boys. They bond over their kids who attend the same school in the beautiful coastal area of Pirriwee. With that set up as the opening to the story-line one would seriously consider it to be an ordinary chick lit: mothers of young kids with different personalities but mundane lifestyles and all sorts of problems familiar to all of us. What’s extraordinary is that a crime has happened in this not-so-happening neighbourhood and as readers, we really wouldn’t have a clue about what actually has happened yet alone guess who did it. So, brace yourself for that final blow because I assure you, it would certainly give you the shock of your lives.

Out of the many books I have read and loved, this must be the one which was written in the simplest form of English. It’s quite amusing how the writer could pull out such a gripping tell tale with simple storytelling. The characters were developed to fit to our real life and the backgrounds were well speculated to bring out the natural flow for the story. Furthermore, I found it quite interesting how the curiosity within us were stirred by presenting different people’s perceptions about the crime and what lead it to happen rather than directly offering us with a bunch of clues. Instead, the story accommodates the readers to wander among many ideas and let that uncertainty be the driving force to be attentive towards every page turned.

In most suspense novels, we are eager to find out the culprit for a crime which is described in detail while this book stands out for bringing in the suspense to the crime scene all together. It is recommended to anyone who would fancy reading a mind blowing plot twist disguised in a simple storytelling. 

“They say it's good to let your grudges go, but I don't know, I'm quite fond of my grudge. I tend it like a little pet.”

“Oh, calamity!”