Well, it's been a crazy few days since my last post. It's the Summer Holidays here in the UK and so my three little darlings are at home taking up what precious little time I have for blogging and other such activities! Although we have had heaps of fun so far in between the outbreaks of rain! (Another perk of living in Wales!)
Today I finished Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. I loved it! To begin with I was a little apprehensive about my choice as it is not the usual genre that I enjoy reading. I am very much a True Crime / Thriller girl at heart. I chose this particular book because I am currently participating in a Reading Challenge that I stumbled across on Goodreads. The challenge is comprised of 52 books, one per week, with a different topic for each book. This week's topic was a book with antonyms in the title and Big Little Liars was one of the more popular choices with the other challengers in the group.
The first few chapters were a little slow, introducing the characters and setting the scene, but it was sufficiently interesting to keep me reading and I am so glad I did. After those initial doubts I could barely put it down. It is very well written and has a format that I have not encountered before. There is a sort of dialogue / narrative running alongside throughout the whole story which at first was a little off-putting and distracting but it grew on me as the book progressed. Once the purpose of it was clear it suddenly occurred to me how brilliant it was.
The rest of the story did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed drawing on the similarities between my own life as a school run Mum and those of the characters in the book. At times it almost felt that I was reading about our own group of friends and it definitely raised a laugh or two, (and some heartaches). I had read some reviews before starting it and a few mentioned about it being the funniest book they had ever read about the subject of domestic violence. My initial thoughts were 'how could a book about domestic violence possibly be funny?' but it just works. Most of the main characters have a great depth to them and by the end, as is true for all great books, you feel that you really know them inside out.
I admit that it seems like a strange mix of genres to include elements of comedy, mystery, romance, parenting and violence in one book but I think that's what makes it seem all the more like real life. As a parent especially, many of the above are experienced on a daily basis without the need for a novel!
I absolutely recommend Big Little Lies and I am looking forward to reading more from Liane Moriarty. In fact I have already started The Husband's Secret for this week's book. The theme this week is to read a book from a place you have always wanted to visit. It is set in Australia and I am definitely planning to visit there before I'm much older!
Until next time!
Rachael x
