Big Little Lies

I'd finished Only Child and needed something else to read while I was in New York for Christmas. Spotted this on Overdrive, remembered I'd liked Liane Moriarty, figured I'd want something lighter and fluffier than Only Child. When asked by my daughter what I was reading, I said, "Some chick lit by Liane Moriarty." She knew that Big Little Lies was an HBO mini-series. What did I know?

Seriously? What did I know!

Big Little Lies was not the fluffy chick lit that I was expecting. It was funny. It was easy to read. There was lots of sweetness. But it was also chockfull of big issues. I mean big issues. Bullying - on both the child and adult level. Domestic violence. Sexual violence. And how all this impacts families around us.

If you've been following my reviews for any time, you know that I seem to enjoy books more when I can make personal connections. It seems almost wild to me all the connections I was able to make to this book and the characters in it. Crazy, I tell you!

I could relate to Madeline. She's married with 3 children. But her current husband is her second husband and her oldest child is from her first husband. And her teenage daughter decides that life will be better living with the father who had abandoned her. Oh, yes, I could relate on so many levels.

I could relate to how Madeline felt after learning more about Celeste's marriage. Madeline feels like she's not been the greatest friend. When I was faced with something similar, I felt that my support after the fact was more important than my awareness earlier on.

I could relate to Celeste on a tiny level. I was married to a wealthy man and had so much more financial freedom when I was married to him. My former husband wasn't charming nor did he care about appearances, so that's where that small connection ends.

I could relate to Jane, the single mother. Jane's youth stands out and is what keeps her apart. I wasn't a young single mother. But I was a single mother in a very married community.

I could also totally relate to Miss Barnes, the kindergarten teacher. I remember being faced with bullying in the classroom that it was impossible to be on top of. That always gave me a sick feeling. Sometimes I was aware of what was going on, but was unable to figure out who the bully was. I wanted to work with the parents, I felt I was doing my best to try to get some control over the situation, but more times than not, that was so stinking difficult!

Not only was their bullying on the kids' level, there were a bunch of parent bullies as well. Although there was no desire by the adult bullies to cover up their bullying. They did it in the open for all to see. How or why mothers (and yes, it was mostly mothers in the novel) think it's okay to act that way towards other parents is astounding!

The story is set in a beachside town in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to just hop on a flight and visit Madeline, Celeste and Jane. I'm in a daily photo group on Facebook that was originated in Australia. Many of the participants are in Australia. As I'd read, I'd picture Pirriwee to look like some of the photos I've seen posted online. I wanted to be there!

And oh, did I want a coffee shop like Blue Blues and a barista like Tom.

I've read that if I watch the miniseries, my wanderlust will be over the chart! I wonder where I can watch it without having HBO. Does anyone know?

Would I recommend this book? Totally! I also think it would be a great book club book fora book club with a younger dynamic than my community book club and with more of a popular lit bend than Books & Beer.

The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarity

I started reading The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarity on May 13. At the time, I was preoccupied with my cousin's failing health and thought Oh, perfect! Brainless chick lit to read while I can't handle something deeper. Then on May 16, my cousin was admitted to the hospital and by May 17, she was transferred to hospice. Reading was the last thing on my mind.

When I picked the book up again a few days ago, I was still thinking that that The Hypnotist's Love Story was a quirky little book. And maybe at other times in my life, it might have seemed so. But at this point in my life, anything related to death (and there are many deaths resulting in deep losses that are important to the plot) jumped off the page at me. The book is an easy read and I was determined to finish it before it was due back to the library (today, May 27).

The Hypnotist's Love Story is a book about relationships. Romantic relationships, family relationships, relationships between friends. Current relationships and past relationships. Some of these past relationships have an impact on current relationships.

I loved the premise of the story. But I saw so many missed opportunities for this to be a really good book. The way it's written, it's simply mediocre.  In this novel, Moriarity did too much "tell" and not enough "show." Ellen, the hypnotist (or more specifically a hypnotherapist) is in a new relationship with Patrick, a widower with a young son named Jack. As they fall in love, Ellen questions all the relationships she's had in the past and compares them to her relationship with Patrick. Patrick comes to the relationship with a lot of baggage. His wife, Colleen, has been dead for 5 years. Shortly after his wife's death, he was in a relationship with Saskia... who is every present, stalking Patrick at every opportunity. She just can't help herself. Patrick is pretty upfront with Ellen about his stalker. For some warped reason, Ellen is intrigued by the idea of this stalker. Okay, I guess that works in chick lit.

What didn't work was that Moriarity hand fed us too much information about Saskia. I would have rather had the opportunity to experience an "ah ha" moment. Oh, yes, I bet that's who Saskia is. I felt cheated once that tidbit was laid to rest.

What also didn't work is that there wasn't too much tension in this novel. I never had the urge to scream Watch out! to any of the characters. For a book with a premise that sounds like it could be a thriller, it wasn't very thrilling. Whenever Ellen and Patrick had a disagreement, they made nice far too quickly. Maybe not in terms of the time it took, but Moriarity didn't show us enough discord. All the plot points were too neat and tidy. And unexciting.

I am usually disappointed with the way books end. The ending of the book was probably one of my favorite parts. The ending wasn't rushed as it so often is in chick lit novels. I thought the healing that went on for most of the characters seemed realistic and it worked.

This is the July book club selection for my community book club. I predict that our discussion will cover 2 points:

1. how the book was written (what worked, what didn't work)
2. the ease or (difficulty) that some people have getting over relationships.

I'll update you after our meeting.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but half-heartedly. (This book would probably make a much better movie than a book.)