692 (2016 #47). Truly, Madly, Guilty

by Liane Moriarty

This book was similar in structure to Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies.  Like that book, this one moves between the present and an event in the past, but back-and-forth rather than linear as in Lies.  Whatever happened occurred on "the day of the barbeque," and it isn't until a little more than halfway through the book that the reader learns exactly what happened that day.  It was a surprise.

Erika and Clementine are fr-enemies from childhood with a complex relationship.  Accountant Erika and her husband Oliver are childless, while cellist Clementine and her husband Sam have two young daughters.  They all get invited to a backyard barbecue at the huge home of Erika's and Oliver's next-door neighbors Vid, a wealthy electrician, his trophy wife Tiffany, a former pole-dancing stripper turned house flipper (and the character I liked best), and their ten-year-old daughter Dakota.  Minor characters are Erika's and Clementine's mothers, Sylvia and Pam respectively, and Vid's and Tiffany's other next-door neighbor, a cranky old man named Harry.

Most of the story is told from either Erika's or Clementine's viewpoint, although all the six main characters' viewpoints are presented in at least one chapter, as well as that of Dakota and Harry.  It certainly kept me turning the pages.

Once again, Moriarty addresses some serious issues:  hoarding, audition anxiety, infertility, blame, and guilt among them.  I don't want to give away too much and spoil the story for others.

I loved this quote near the end, where one main character wondered about another, “what sort of person [she] could have been, would have been, should have been, if she’d been given the privilege of an ordinary home. You could jump so much higher when you had somewhere safe to fall.”

© Amanda Pape - 2016

[The e-book, and a print copy for reference, were borrowed from and returned to my university library and my local public library respectively.]

480 (2015 #37). The Last Anniversary

by Liane Moriarty

Thirty-nine year old Sophie Honeywell is still single, and surprised to hear from her former boyfriend Thomas Gordon, especially after their awkward breakup just before he was ready to take her to Fiji to propose.  He tells her his great aunt Connie has died and left Sophie her quirky house on tiny (fictional) Scribbly Gum Island in Australia.  Veronika, Thomas' sister and Sophie's former friend, is not too happy about that.

Thus Sophie gets to better know all the few but related year-round inhabitants of the island - Connie's sister Ruth, Thomas' cousin Grace and her handsome husband Callum and their baby Jake, and Thomas' parents Margie and Ron.  Oh, and of course Margie's mom and the grandmother of Grace, Thomas, and Veronika.  That would be Enigma, the famous baby of the "Munro Baby Mystery," whose parents disappeared and left her behind in her crib in their house on the island, to be taken in and raised by Connie and Rose.  Since then, the family has made good money from tours and special events related to the "Mystery."

Complications ensue with Grace's post-partum depression and seemingly-uncaring mother Laura, Margie's weight-loss program, and Sophie's efforts to find the dream man Connie hinted would be perfect for Sophie.

I've read a number of books now by Liane Moriarty, and so far, I like this one the least.  It's mostly because there are a few short chapters where a couple of characters are having a conversation, and those characters are not identified.  Sometimes you can guess who they are from the context, but many times I found myself puzzled as to who was speaking.  I found Grace's behavior to be very disturbing, and the "mystery" was rather predictable.  The last anniversary of the title is the setting for the climax of many of the conflicts in the book.  Even though this book was not too great, I'd still read another by Moriarty.

© Amanda Pape - 2015

[This e-book was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.]

474 (2015 #31). What Alice Forgot

by Liane Moriarty

What might happen if you hit your head while working out, and came to only to learn that you'd "lost" ten years of your life?  That's what happens to Alice, pregnant with her first child, only to find it's ten years later, she's thin, she has three children, and her husband Nick, the love of her life, has left her.

As in Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret and Big Little Lies, this book also tells its story from the viewpoints of three main female characters.  Besides Alice's point of view (written in third person, from both age 29 and age 39), there were journal entries to her psychiatrist from Elisabeth, Alice's sister, dealing with infertility issues; as well as letters to a (dead) former flame written by Frannie, the "grandmother" to Alice and Elisabeth.   These didn't add much to Alice's main storyline, other than to help clarify what drove Alice and Elisabeth apart, and shed some light on their goofy mother (now married to Nick's father). They made the book a bit longer than it needed to be.

However, I loved the premise of this book, and the dialogue, especially that of Alice with her children - the children she doesn't "know" because she doesn't remember them.  The younger Alice is upbeat and optimistic - and rather horrified to learn how much she has changed (mostly NOT for the better) in the last ten years she "missed."  Of course, her memory slowly returns, and the ending is rather predictable, but getting there is compelling, even with the not-so-necessary side stories.

Best quote in the book:   "Early love is exciting and exhilarating. It's light and bubbly. Anyone can love like that. But love after three children, after a separation and a near-divorce, after you've hurt each other and forgiven each other, bored each other and surprised each other, after you've seen the worst and the best - well that sort of love is ineffable. It deserves its own word." 

© Amanda Pape - 2015

[This e-book was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.]

462 (2015 #19). Big Little Lies

by Liane Moriarty

After reading Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret a few months ago, I was eager to read her new book.  Last night I couldn't put it down, and stayed up late to finish it.

The beginning was a little confusing.  An elderly woman describes the commotion at the adjacent elementary school's fundraising event, and this is followed by a number of (rather amusing) comments from seemingly random people about what started the commotion - including one from a police officer, clarifying that "this is a murder investigation."

Instant hook.

The book then goes back six months in time, moving forward to the fundraising event (the trivia night).  The chapters then move between the viewpoints of three main characters (as in The Husband's Secret).

Madeline Mackenzie has just turned forty.  She is married with two young children with her second husband, and a daughter (Abigail) by her first.  Her ex, and his new wife, have a kindergartener in the same class at the elementary school as Madeline's youngest child.  Madeline and her ex don't get along very well.  He walked out on her 14 years ago when Abigail was a baby, not supporting her in any way, but now Abigail wants to live with her dad.  I could definitely relate to this character.

Jane Chapman is a 24-year-old single mom of another kindergartner who meets Madeline at kindergarten orientation.  Celeste White is the wealthy, beautiful friend of Madeline who has twin boys in the kindergarten class.  Both Jane and Celeste have secrets.

When the three women pick up their children from the orientation later, the daughter of a full-time-career-woman mom accuses Jane's son of bullying her, and battle lines are immediately drawn.

Most chapters end or begin with more gossip from people that we learn are minor characters in the story, as well as the police officer, but there aren't a whole lot of clues there as to who died and how.  I was able to guess fairly early who the victim was (and why), but was completely surprised at the end by who was accused.

Once I got about halfway through the book (at the "one week before the trivia night" point), it was a real page-turner.  But it wasn't just because of the suspense, it was also because I really cared about the three main characters, especially feisty Madeline and her issues with her oldest daughter.  It was also heartwarming (and a little heartbreaking in one case) to see Jane and Celeste evolve.

The book tackles some serious issues (bullying, date rape, domestic violence), but it's also quite funny, with its tongue-in-cheek portraits of helicopter parents and exposition of school parent politics.

I highly recommend this book, and think it would be great for a book club discussion.  I'll definitely read more of Moriarty's books.


© Amanda Pape - 2015

[This e-book was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.]

391 (2014 #19). The Husband's Secret

by Liane Moriarty,
read by Caroline Lee

This book was just published in July 2013 and isn't out in paperback yet, so technically, it didn't meet the requirements for our book club meeting this past Tuesday.  My public library's copy was checked out, the audio edition in their digital collection would not work on my device, and I was unable to get the book through interlibrary loan before our book club meeting.  Since I had a big road trip coming up (12+ hours on the road in one week, the week before book club), I finally signed up for a free 30-day Audible.com trial membership and downloaded this book to listen to during my travels.  Therefore, I'll be reviewing both my experience with Audible.com as well as this book.

What would you do if you found a letter secreted by your still-living spouse and marked "to be opened only in the event of my death"?  That's the question that confronts superwoman Cecilia Fitzpatrick at the beginning of this contemporary realistic fiction novel.  Married to the handsome John-Paul and with three daughters ages 6-12, 40-something Cecilia has a successful Tupperware business and is recognized as a leader in the parent organization of her daughters' Catholic school, St. Angela's, in Sydney, Australia.

Meanwhile, over in Melbourne, thirty-something Tess O'Leary's husband Will has a secret too - he's fallen in love with Tess' formerly-fat first cousin Felicity.  Tess decides to take their six-year-old son Liam with her to Sydney to help her mom Lucy, who's broken her ankle, while she decides what to do next.  She enrolls Liam in St. Angela's and runs into its P.E. teacher - an old flame of hers, Connor Whitby.

The school secretary at St. Angela's is sixty-something Rachel Crowley, who still mourns the murder of her teenage daughter Janie 28 years earlier.  Rachel is convinced that Rachel's boyfriend at the time, Connor Whitby, is the one who did it.  Rachel is also dealing with the proposed move of her son Rob and his career-driven wife to New York - taking Rachel's only adored grandson Jacob with them.

You might have a hint now of what the big secret in the letter is, but I won't spoil it.  Suffice to say there's a shocking twist near the end of the book, and an even more surprising epilogue.  The chapters in the book alternate viewpoints between Cecilia, Tess, and Rachel (but in third person, past tense), with occasional interspersion of chapters dated April 6, 1984, chronicling the last day of Janie Crowley's life.  Other than those flashbacks (and others involving the Berlin Wall, with which Cecilia's daughter Esther is currently obsessed), all the events in the book take place in the week leading up to and including Easter Sunday.   (It's also kind of neat to realize Easter falls in the autumn in Australia.)

I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would.  While parts of the plot strained credulity, the choices made by Cecilia, Tess, and Rachel can generate excellent discussions in a book club.  The characterizations of these three women were excellent.  I could really relate to each of them, and Tess in particular.  While I might not agree with all of their choices, I could at least understand why they made them.  I also like the way author Liane Moriarty worked in the myth of Pandora.  Ethics and morals, betrayal and forgiveness, and grief and guilt are major and thought-provoking themes in this book.  I would definitely read another book by this author.

I'd also gladly listen to another audiobook narrated by acrtress and writer Caroline Lee.  Her Australian accent was delightful, and perfect for a story set in that country.  Although she didn't attempt to create unique "voices" for each character, little nuances in her presentation helped flesh out Cecilia, Tess, and Rachel more fully, at least for me.

As for Audible.com - since it's an Amazon company, this audiobook worked great on my Kindle.  I did have to use an earphone on one ear as the volume of the Kindle speakers was not loud enough to be heard over road noise.

One of the features I really liked with Audible.com was the ability to change the speed at which the audiobook played.  I was a little concerned about whether or not I'd be able to finish this normally-13.75-hour audiobook in time for my book club meeting.  So I increased the speed to 1.5 times the normal rate. This worked fine with Caroline Lee's voice, maybe even made the book a little better, but it might not work for all narrators.  I also liked the feature that allowed me to "rewind" 30 seconds (multiple times if need be) to catch a part I missed or wanted to listen to again.

Still - the kind of audiobooks I like to listen to are still readily available on CD at libraries, so at $14.95 a month, I'm not likely to keep my Audible membership.  I would pick it up again though if I needed to listen to a particular book by a deadline and couldn't get the audio any other way.

© Amanda Pape - 2014

[The audiobook was obtained during a 30-day trial from Audible.com.  A print copy for review was borrowed and returned through interlibrary loan.]