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Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

I just finished the book Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. I know it wasn’t a cat story or any other animal for that matter, but it was such a page turner, a different kind of adventure. How clever of the author to tease the reader with pieces of information either at the beginning or end of each chapter. It gave us the minor characters’ points of view about an incident. As we, the reader, delve into the chapters we learn that the spectators were either wrong or only partly right. This theme of what is perceived or assumed plays an important part in the story not only between the main characters who are friends, but also between families, parents and their children. Do we ever really know everyone’s true story? How often do we witness something from afar and later we learn the events weren’t exactly what we thought we saw? Did person number one actually hit person number two or was it an accident? Of course, it’s easy to let our own prejudices get in the way as we judge others.

Allow me to repeat, Big Little Lies was a page-turner, easy to read, and yet, it packed a wallop. Even though we know from the beginning there was a murder, it played second fiddle to the cause and the daily lives of the characters which led up to the grand finale. You don’t know who was murdered or why until the end. I actually forgot about it at times as I got so engrossed with the story. As one review so aptly put it, It has everything including suspense, sarcasm, and truthfulness.   Check out the review.

The television series created from the book was equally compelling. Of course, changes were made. Many times I have problems dealing with the changes movies and TV programs make even though I try to justify them to myself. Since they are two distinct mediums, the material needs to be dealt with differently to make best use of the medium. Or think of them as two different stories. Nonetheless, the TV series captivated me just as much as the book. Plus, how fun is it to explore articles that compare the TV’s version to the book’s. There were a number of them, but for me Screenrant’s article summed things up pretty well. Instead of going overboard by talking about a ton of changes, they narrowed it down to five similarities and five variations. Or as they mused on the differences, … which did they toss away like stale cupcakes at the PTA bake sale?  A very appropriate analogy as an elementary school setting played an integral part in the story.

Read their article.