Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads: Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She's funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn't be, with those rambunctious twin boys? New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.A well put together novel about the relationships connecting three Australian women. Moriarty is a master of characterization and plot development. The story unfolds slowly over time, the conflict taking shape amidst the past events leading up to a present-day murder that is only hinted at through snippets of interviews with all those present on the night of the murder. Slowly these jigsaw puzzle pieces fit together to reveal the big moment - the murder - and the aftermath.
I quite liked the suspense kept - it wasn't immediately obvious what would happen at the end. I also enjoyed getting to know each of the women and how little things about them were revealed in very small ways. They felt like real people. Their struggles also felt very real and their reactions very human. A lot of tough subject matter resides within this story - domestic abuse, rape, bullying, to name a few. I think the author handled these subjects well and they didn't feel like they were being used just as a plot device, but that they were things that needed to be included because the author was trying to relay real-life, silent, tragedies. The overall message seems to be that we need to remain vigilant in our fight against these tragedies, to pay attention, to ask the right questions and not to forget that these things happen anywhere and to anyone.
I don't really know too much about Australia, but this tight-knit community at Pirriwee seems like a very difficult place to be different. All the residents seem to be of the same type - minus their wealth. Every character seemed to be white with a nuclear family set up, very suburban. At times, it felt like another world, suspended in a bubble, but maybe that was due to the small-town nature of the community being portrayed. It didn't hinder my enjoyment of the story, but it did take away a little from the feeling of realness of the story.
Anyways, I'd highly recommend the book. It's a page-turner and it's so well executed. If you like suspense and mystery, it's a good one.
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