BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty

 

Cracking good read, best Liane Moriarty I have read to date. And bonus - the TV series did a magnificent job of turning the novel into a gripping, intelligent and good to look at series. Of course I visualised the various TV characters in their book character, and none of them jarred. So good. Even if it was set in the US and not a seaside town in Australia. 

The story itself is a great piece of domestic noir, centred on the mums at the school gate dropping off/collecting their small children. As any Mum of small children at the school gate will attest to, this environment is a ridiculous breeding ground for all sorts of bizarre scenarios. I look back with a sense of craziness on my years being part of the primary school community - your children making friends and you in turn meeting their mums and families, the physical pain when your child is not invited to a birthday party, the social functions, the PTA, sports day. The weirdness of some mothers - the verbal war that broke out one day with one mother accusing the other of producing a daughter who was the devil's spawn! Nuts.

This novel has all that rumour, emotional intensity, friendship, power games so intrinsic in any group that women belong to. It's just like Mean Girls for grownups. Threaded through the story are universal themes of domestic violence, Mums trying to find a niche for themselves, solo parenting, bullying, new kids in the class. All so relatable which would be a ratings winner in a book, but with Moriarty's clever writing and great characters, this is engrossing and fabulous.