I love a good old book-to-tv or book-to-film
adaptation as much as the next person, so when I heard that HBO were turning
this little wonder into a TV series, I HAD to get my hands on the book and read
it first. I am incredibly glad I did.
I’ve read Liane
Moriarty before, having read her The
Husband’s Secret a few years back and absolutely LOVING it, as well as reading
and reviewing Truly, Madly, Guilty last year (but unfortunately not loving it all that
much.) Because of this, I was a little bit sceptical as to whether or not I
would enjoy it. Because of the hype, I was even more cautious but very willing
to be proven wrong.
The story is set around the lives of three women-
Madeline, Celeste and Jane – in a small beachside community. They have very
different lives: Madeline is a hilarious, sharp and witty character,
overwhelmed when her uncaring ex-husband moves into the area and sends his
daughter- a daughter whom he fathered the way he ought to have, unlike their
own- to the same school as her own young child. Celeste is beautiful, the kind
of woman that makes you stop and stare, but harbours a secret that doesn’t bear
thinking about. Her twin sons attend the same school, in the same class, as
Madeline’s youngest. Jane is a sharp contrast to these beautiful and
intelligent mothers – a young girl, clearly unsettled by something that has
happened in her past, new to the area.
Someone has died, but we have no idea who.
Who committed the crime? We have no idea on that either.
I was instantly transfixed and pulled into this
story because of those two little details. In fact, I was bloody captivated by
everything about this book. It read like a book of about 200 pages and I found
myself having to physically force myself to put it down for an hour here and
there, to savour it for longer, to make it last the day rather than devouring
it all in one foul swoop. The characters are incredibly believable and the book
was just darn FUNNY. It’s very rare when a book like this one- with MURDER as
its main plot line- makes me laugh out loud on the regular. I loved the way
that the story alternated between differing perspectives and included witness
statements of the main event – an event
we don’t find out about until the very end of the tale. Everything comes
together and there are absolutely no gaps in the plot; every single thing is
accounted for and actually makes sense. I absolutely LOVED Madeline’s character
and I’d honestly say that she is everything I aspire to be in life: hilarious,
loving, fashionable.
This one of those books where you just want to
forget every single aspect of it- just
so you can read it and enjoy it all over again. It covers a lot of pretty
difficult themes: mental illness, motherhood, single parenthood, rubbish
parenting, domestic abuse, murder. You name it, it’s probably included. But
that’s what makes the book so great: it’s relatable, it’s dark and it touches
on issues that need approaching. It does this in a beautiful and thoughtful way.
I’m officially back on the Liane Moriarty
bandwagon.
5/5 (Mate, I’d give it 6/5 if I could.)
