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Big Little Lies

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4.17  ·  Rating Details ·  265,283 Ratings  ·  23,063 Reviews
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. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to
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Hardcover, 460 pages
Published July 29th 2014 by Berkley
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Kaya All of her books raise some serious questions about what you'd be willing to stake for your family and friends given the different story lines she…moreAll of her books raise some serious questions about what you'd be willing to stake for your family and friends given the different story lines she uses. My friends and I call her books "heavy chick lit" because they're easy to read but delve into some serious stuff. We've used Three Wishes as a book club book and want to use The Husband's Secret. I think this one would be great as well. (less)

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30)
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Ann
Jun 02, 2014 Ann rated it really liked it
Probably the funniest book about murder and domestic abuse I'll ever read.
Diane S ☔
Sep 18, 2014 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it
This one was 480 pgs. that read like less than 300. I was thoroughly captivated, found this to be brilliant in plot, structure and tone. Gulped it right down.

On the surface this was about a group of parents whose children were starting kindergarten. We have the typical cliques, the do-goobers and many, many who think their children are oh so special.Over parenting to a T. Working moms against stay at home moms, fulfillment vs. involvement. Humorously told, there are so many times this book had
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Nancy McFarlane
Jun 02, 2014 Nancy McFarlane rated it it was amazing
Liane Moriarty has done it again – written a book that kept me up way too late because I couldn’t put it down. She has a knack for creating characters who are so believable they could easily be someone you know. Big Little Lies is a story of parents acting badly. It is also a smart and witty story about the real lives of children, teens, friends, husbands, wives, second wives, and exes. You are teased from the beginning with something awful that happens at the annual Pirriwee Public School fund ...more
Raeleen Lemay
Jan 28, 2017 Raeleen Lemay rated it it was amazing
I was SO not expecting to love this as much as I did. dang.

*review to come*
Marina Finlayson
Aug 08, 2014 Marina Finlayson rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
You know how sometimes you get to the end of a book and you wish you could wipe it from your mind, just so you could have the pleasure of reading it for the first time again?

This is one of those books.

I can't think of another author off the top of my head who does relationships so well and with such humour as Liane Moriarty. Her characters love and laugh, rub each other up the wrong way, extend the hand of friendship, spread gossip, resolve to do better, cry and keep secrets -- just like real pe
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Aestas Book Blog
Apr 01, 2015 Aestas Book Blog rated it it was amazing
Shelves: favorites


"A murder. A tragic accident....
Someone is dead. But who did what?"

WOAHHHH!!!! This book was freaking amazing!!! 

It was a total genre change for me -- this is women's fiction and mystery, not romance -- but I was just in the kind of mood where I was craving something totally different than what I usually read.... so I tried this one! And I was BEYOND impressed with it.

Like holy WOW impressed.

The writing was  fantastic  — starkly honest, detailed, introspective, observant, multi-sided… the s
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Deanna
Jun 06, 2016 Deanna rated it it was amazing
No lie...I loved this book :)

I read this book almost exactly a year ago. I didn't write a review as back then I usually updated that I read a book and gave it a rating. Plus it had a zillion ratings so I didn't bother. Looking at the reviews it seems to have quite a range of ratings.

But recently I decided to write a short one as I recently heard what I thought was exciting news. Well exciting for me as a lover of this book!!

I was looking through the new line-up of fall TV shows and came across
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Debbie
Nov 04, 2016 Debbie rated it liked it
If I said I loved this one, it would be a Big Fat Lie. But I definitely LIKED it, despite the rough beginning.

Here is my love story with Moriarty books, and it doesn’t stay all lovey-dovey, I’ll tell you that. But that sounds dramatic—I need to say that I don’t hate her books now, it’s just that the honeymoon is way over. I became an avid fan after reading What Alice Forgot, which is about a woman who hits her head and forgets her identity. I thought it was completely brilliant, and it made me t
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Wendy Darling
If you had hoped for something more from the much-lauded Landline, look no further than Liane Moriarty. She writes well-plotted, engrossing, and incredibly funny stories with believable women that also happen to put marriage and friendship under a microscope. Every book I've read by this author has been terrific.
Justin
Jan 22, 2017 Justin rated it really liked it
I think Stephen King summed up Big Little Lies perfectly when he said it is "a hell of a book, funny and scary." I found it to be like the first two seasons of Desperate Housewives before the show started to slowly fall apart (and I've seen every episode so I feel like I'm right... right about the comparison to the book and the fact that the show was never all that great after the first two seasons, but the bigger question is why did I watch all of the show in the first place, and I'll never rea ...more
Elyse
Sep 18, 2014 Elyse rated it liked it
Note: To My friends I've already had discussions about this book 'while' reading it (several of us were reading it together) -- You might be surprise to see me giving this book 3 Stars.

I'm sure you thought I might give it 1 star --or 2 stars. I was planning on it!!!! I think there are TONS of PROBLEMS with this novel ---and there is MUCH I DO NOT LIKE about this BOOK --

However --Approx. the last 58 pages make a strong 'punch' --my rating goes UP.

First let me talk about the problems:
The author t
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Kristin (KC)
Aug 03, 2015 Kristin (KC) rated it really liked it
*4 Stars*

Big Little Lies is an engaging story filled with murder and mystery, centering on the lives of three “school moms” and their problematic circumstances.

I've never watched the show, but this book gave me a sort of sinister, Desperate Housewives vibe.

This story is told in third-person narrative and methodically shifts focus between these three unstable women as the plot slowly creeps up to the night of the murder.

The writing was fantastic: Intelligent, realistic, and held my interest prett
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Laz
Jul 30, 2015 Laz rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: mystery lovers
Let's sum up this book with two words:

"Oh, calamity!"


What a pleasant surprise. When I picked this up I expected some sorts of a predictable, dull book about lies and family, etc. What I read though far exceeds those two. It's more of a family thriller. What does that mean? I just came up with it. It's about the horrors between families, the hardships. Not just the good stuff, leaving out all the bad.

Mrs. Moriarty takes care to include everything in this book. From teenage nightmares to the u
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Zoeytron
Jan 15, 2017 Zoeytron rated it really liked it
Shelves: public-library
I was less than enamored with Truly Madly Guilty, my first book by this author. But this one, this one! Reading this novel was like eating ice cream. Yes, it had a guilty pleasure feel about it, but who cares?

Loved every minute reading of the helicopter parents, PTA nightmares, school politics, gifted kids versus "normal" children, bullying, sharp-eared mothers, mommy cliques, rivalries and jealousies, obsessions with weight, it was one of those I didn't want to stop reading. To hell with the c
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Kelly (and the Book Boar)
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

“We deserve to be left in peace. A parent is dead. The entire school community is grieving.”

“Hmmmmm, I wouldn’t say the entire school community is grieving. That might be a stretch.”


There begins our tale. A parent has died at the local elementary’s “Audrey & Elvis” fundraising trivia night and the cops are trying to figure out if any shenanigans were afoot. A quick rewind is conducted taking the reader back to the beginning of th
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Andrew Smith
Oct 18, 2015 Andrew Smith rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
I wasn’t sure about this one at first. I’d seen some good ratings for it and I liked the idea of a book set in Australia, somewhere I’ve visited (briefly) but have hardly touched in a literary sense. And then it started weirdly, with a whole host of quotes from characters I hadn’t yet been introduced to. Something about a trivia night at a school, some trouble kicked-off and somebody was hurt, or maybe even killed. It was losing me already and I’d hardly started. One pet hate of mine is any book ...more
Katie
Jan 16, 2017 Katie rated it it was amazing
One of the most entertaining books I have ever read - equal parts dark and hilarious. I highly recommend the audiobook.
Brandi
May 19, 2015 Brandi rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: suspense
description

What is Big Little Lies about?
Parents behaving badly
Bullying
Domestic Abuse
Murder

Within the first few pages, it is revealed that all hell has broken loose at the annual Pirriwee Public School fund raiser. Something bad has happened, but the details are not clear. So the reader is sent back to 6 months before the event. Big Little Lies is told from the POV of 3 of the kindergarten parents.

“All conflict can be traced back to someone’s feelings getting hurt, don’t you think?”

Madeline is bubbly a
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Jennifer
On the surface, Big Little Lies is a story about the political minefield that is the "mom" social circle. There is a clear hierarchy in these infamous groups, but just like any other groups of people with commonalities, some are supportive and some are toxic. We see a bit of both in the characters here. But the heart of Big Little Lies revolves around all the things that happen behind closed doors, both present-day and past...all the things we don't see during our polite or not so polite day-to- ...more
Dem
Jan 03, 2017 Dem rated it really liked it
Shelves: favorites
A great entertaining read. Perfect for sunny days on the beach or fresh Autumn windy days or maybe dark cold winter nights wrapped up on the couch. OK ! To be honest this is just a great read anytime anywhere.


" They say its good to let your grudges go, but I don't know, I'm quite fond of my grudge, I tend it like a little pet" (Quote from Big Little Lies)

I really enjoyed this Novel and don't think I will be able to stand at the school gates and look at parents in the same light again.

This b
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Suzanne
Jul 21, 2015 Suzanne rated it it was amazing
This book was perfect. Yes, I had a couple of reservations initially. Lunches and coffees at the cafe almost daily?? (Only cause I can't do it!). All the chatter about heels and fashion and this and that. But!! Liane Moriarty captured the internal dialogue perfectly, amazingly. So many times the mums were thinking things that do happen. The internal thoughts were spot on. Image, rivalry, one-up-manship, self perception and the shakey ground that so many girls and women find themselves in in rega ...more
Jennifer Kyle
May 17, 2015 Jennifer Kyle rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
description

This is a subversive comedy which delivers the story of three mothers of kindergartners whose apparently perfect lives unravel to the point of murder. We follow the three mothers, Madeline, Jane and Celeste as we are guided through all the events that led to a death at a school function.

I found this story a bit slow at times but I was invested enough in the mystery aspect of the plot to continue until I started forming attachments to the characters. The writing was very creative as a murder inve
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Luffy
Dec 02, 2016 Luffy rated it it was amazing
I thought, first off the bat, that the three main characters of Jane, Celeste, and Madeline sound a bit like one person. Sure, Madeline curses a lot, but the inner emotions of each is not so different from the others.

This hiccup aside, the rest of the inhabitants, their relationships with each other is presented with almost scientific relish. The author is very much on top of her game, and I don't know who can she top this book. It's an original take on an old idea which is an endorsement, make
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helen the bookowl
Jan 25, 2017 helen the bookowl rated it really liked it
This book gives you a really interesting, however scary insight into what it's like to be a mother to small children. Following different kinds of women who all have children in the same school, we quickly realize that there is competition going on between everyone and it's hard to survive this game.
Naturally, the competition comes with lies, as well as tension, and besides from it being entertaining to read about, it's combined with a murder mystery which is hinted at throughout the novel.
I l
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Anna Spargo-Ryan
Aug 07, 2014 Anna Spargo-Ryan rated it it was ok
This wasn't for me, I'm afraid. The false suspense drove me bananas; it just seemed like lazy storytelling. I found the characters to be surface level only, and some pretty serious subject matter to be treated with much less sensitivity than it deserved.
Christine
Nov 10, 2015 Christine rated it really liked it
Recommended to Christine by: Suzanne personally 5
Shelves: aussie
I had Big Little Lies buried on my to-read list for over a year. I want to thank one of my lovely Goodreads friends Suzanne for suggesting I push it to the top of the mountain.

Big Little Lies is a several-month slice of life in the universe of grade school parents in a coastal town located in Australia. Not having children, this setting fascinated me, especially since it was nothing like when I was a grade schooler in the late 1950s/1960s in Tennessee. Parents did not get into heavy politics an
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Helen Stavraki
Jan 27, 2017 Helen Stavraki rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Κανείς δεν είδε το παραμικρό....
Η ιστορία μας αρχίζει με έναν θάνατο, με έναν φόνο. Δεν γνωρίζουμε ουτε το θύμα ουτε το θύτη. Γι'αυτό και το ενδιαφέρον μένει αμείωτο ως το αναπάντεχο τέλος.

Δεν πρόκειται σε καμία περίπτωση για αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα.
Το βιβλίο παρά τα μυστικά και ψέμματα που κρύβει, παρά το θάνατο ενός ανθρώπου και την ένοχη αθωότητα σχεδόν όλων των προσώπων που εμφανίζονται, είναι ενα καθαρά κοινωνικό,έντονο και άκρως ανατρεπτικό ανάγνωσμα.

Όλα γυρίζουν γύρω απο μια βραδιά σχολ
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Britany
Dec 03, 2016 Britany rated it it was amazing
Shelves: gr, bookriot
Wow! I have to hand it to Liane Moriarty on this one and give it a well deserved 5 stars.

A group of kindergarten parents schlep together, gossip, start rumors, and provide the basis for this novel. 3 main narrators: Celeste- the gorgeous wealthy mother of twin boys. Madeline- the trendy mother of Chloe and Fred- whose ex-husband is remarried and has a kindergartner in the same class as Chloe. Then there's Jane- new to the cliques and the area, meek and meager- single mother with her little boy Z
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Jeanne
Mar 21, 2016 Jeanne rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Jeanne by: jennifer

This was my first book by Liane Moriarty and I loved it. It was so engaging, it was an almost 500 page book that I was never bored reading. Her writing style actually reminds me a little of Jojo Moyes, especially in One Plus One. The similarity to me was just that both authors can so effortlessly blend humor with heartfelt emotion. Big Little Lies is a women's fiction/mystery that really did keep me guessing until the very end.

When you start reading this novel, you know right away that a crime
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Phrynne
Nov 02, 2014 Phrynne rated it it was amazing
What a fun book! And so engrossing I had to sit up until nearly midnight last night to finish it. Such a clever idea to have not only a "who dunnit" but also "who was dun!" A whole delightful book spent trying to guess who the murder victim was going to be and finally approving totally of the author's choice:)I loved it all even the small worlds these people inhabited. I want to live somewhere where the children can see the sea from their school and where I can have coffee and cake every morning ...more
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  • The Precious One
  • One Plus One
  • The Secret Life of Violet Grant
  • The Rumor
  • Someone Else's Love Story
  • The Good Girl
  • Bittersweet
  • Precious Thing
  • Tumbleweeds
  • Into the Darkest Corner
  • The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
  • Orphan Train
  • A Long Time Gone
  • Goodnight June
  • The Sweetness of Forgetting
  • In a Dark, Dark Wood
  • Five Days Left
  • After I Do
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Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of six internationally best-selling novels, Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist's Love Story and the number 1 New York Times bestsellers, The Husband's Secret and Big Little Lies.

Her breakout novel The Husband's Secret sold over three million copies worldwide, was a number 1 UK bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of 2013 and has
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“They say it's good to let your grudges go, but I don't know, I'm quite fond of my grudge. I tend it like a little pet.” 139 likes
“All conflict can be traced back to someone’s feelings getting hurt, don’t you think?” 89 likes
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