August 2018: Liane Moriarty

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August 2018: Liane Moriarty

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1sweetiegherkin
mar 25, 2018, 2:15 pm

To finish out the summer (in the Northern hemisphere at least), we'll be reading Liane Moriarty. This is a somewhat more controversial pick in our group, but I think healthy debate is good, and we can continue to talk about what constitutes "literature" and where that intersects with popularity.

For myself, I plan to read Big Little Lies, as that's the Moriarty book I've heard the most about (and also a screen adaptation).

2Tess_W
Redigeret: aug 16, 2018, 9:05 pm

Hi, I'm new to the group. I've read The Husband's Secret which my friend raved about. She is into romance novels and I'm not at all so from the title of the book I thought....sigh........it wasn't as bad as all that; but not my usual genre (historical fiction). The mystery centers around a letter written to Cecilia by her husband that she is to open and read in the event of his death. I think the book is too long; it has a very slow start. As to what constitutes good literature, I'm sure my opinion is very outdated, as I am! This book is pop candy! 464 pages 3 1/2 stars

3sweetiegherkin
aug 17, 2018, 8:08 am

>2 Tess_W: Welcome to the group and thanks for the review. :) I doubt that you are outdated!

4sweetiegherkin
aug 17, 2018, 8:19 am

So, I ended up listening to the audiobook for Big Little Lies. The narrator was technically very good in that she had a variety of voices, accents, tonal modulations, etc., but something about her voice was a bit grating to me.

The book itself was somewhat better than I was expecting. I agree with >2 Tess_W: that this book is probably too long and has a rather slow start. In the very beginning, quite a number of characters are thrown at you and it's hard to parse out right away which ones are going to be the most relevant.

Hm, that reminds me to step back a little and describe the book's plot a bit. It opens with a local school fundraiser that ends with someone dead. However, we don't know who is dead or what exactly happen. The book then backtracks to the beginning of the school year and focuses on the lives of three mothers. Madeline is dealing with her youngest daughter entering the same kindergarten as her ex-husband's daughter as well as worrying about losing her teen-aged daughter to her ex's new family. Jane is new to town and as a very young single mother, she doesn't quite fit in with the other mothers; things are quickly exacerbated when her son is accused of bullying another child during kindergarten orientation. Celeste, the mother of twin 5-year-olds and the wife of a wealthy handsome man, seems to have it all but harbors a dark secret. The intersection of these three women continues as we move forward in time to the fatal night.

The book tackles a number of serious problems, many concerning violence against women, including child marriage, domestic violence, and sexual violence. As a result, it's hard to brush the book off as light pop fiction. However, it's not exactly the grand literature of the classics. It exists in some middle ground that is hard to classify.

I also checked out the DVD for season 1 of the HBO show based on the book and will try to watch that in the next few weeks. I did already see that they moved the location of the story from Australia to California, and I'm curious/trepidatious to see what other changes were made.

5sparemethecensor
aug 17, 2018, 8:22 am

>4 sweetiegherkin: I haven't read the novel but I did watch the TV series. I thought it was very well done. The acting and cinematography were excellent. Obviously I cannot speak to the faithfulness of the adaptation but I enjoyed it very much.

6sweetiegherkin
aug 17, 2018, 9:24 am

>5 sparemethecensor: Cool, good to hear.

7Yells
Redigeret: aug 17, 2018, 3:47 pm

I just started Three Wishes and it's pretty good so far. It's about triplet sisters.

8sweetiegherkin
aug 18, 2018, 1:34 pm

>7 Yells: Nice, I hadn't heard of that one before.

9sweetiegherkin
aug 18, 2018, 1:51 pm

Although it's not about this month's author, I wanted to share this article from the New Yorker about Jennifer Weiner, as she is a well-known voice in critiquing the way "literature" seems to be geared more towards works written by men. When Liane Moriarty was suggested for our monthly read, there was a bit of controversy in that her works were deemed too "chick lit" for some readers/members. As I said earlier, my Moriarty read at least was more of a middle ground book rather than either great literature or pure pulp.

The article is lengthy but interesting. Several lines stood out to me, but this quote really made me laugh, but in one of those 'it's funny because it's true' kind of ways.
“I wanted to see what it was like to write literature,” Weiner says. “Not that anybody perceived it that way. But at this point in my career I could write the Odyssey and people would say, ‘Chick lit in Greece.’  ”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/13/written-off

10sweetiegherkin
aug 30, 2018, 5:58 pm

I watched S1 of Big Littles Lies -- enjoyed it overall, although it does take the story in different places. Hearing that there's going to be a S2, which is interesting/odd because the show covered pretty much everything that happened in the book (and then added in its own subplots).

11Yells
Redigeret: sep 1, 2018, 11:36 pm

I finished Three Wishes and to be honest, I didn't really like it. It's about the life of three sisters who are triplets. There are a lot of secrets between the three and these get revealed as the novel progresses. Normally I like novels about family relationships but these sisters were just petty and annoying.

This is her first novel so I will try another one to see if it's a little more polished and believable.

>9 sweetiegherkin: - I will read the article later on at home. It sounds interesting! (and I enjoy Weiner's novels)

12sweetiegherkin
sep 1, 2018, 4:30 pm

>11 Yells: Oh, that's unfortunate that you didn't enjoy it. I find that unlikeable main characters are dicey -- some authors can do it so that you still enjoy the book, but many cannot.

13BookConcierge
jan 2, 2019, 5:56 pm


The Hypnotist’s Love Story– Liane Moriarty
Audible audio performed by Tamara Lovatt Smith
4****

Ellen O’Farrell works out of her home as a professional hypnotherapist. She likes her life, except for a failed romance. She’s moved on but would welcome another shot at a long-term relationship. Then she meets Patrick. They hit it off and things are going well when he spouts the dreaded “We need to talk.” Turns out Patrick has an ex-girlfriend who is stalking him.

What an interesting and fresh take on relationships and the psychology of love. What makes us attracted to one another? What holds us together? What happens when one partner moves on, but the other hangs on – desperately, crazily, dangerously?

The relationships between these three people – Patrick, Ellen and Saskia (the ex-girlfriend) – are complicated by misinterpretation, jumping to conclusions, and secrets kept from one another. They are all broken in some way, and all trying to come to grips with past and current relationships. And it will take a significant crisis to finally bring some sense of resolution, however tenuous.

Tamara Lovatt Smith does a fine job narrating the audiobook. However, Moriarty switches point of view between the two women. In the text it’s a little easier to tell when she switches. One character’s perspective is always written in first person, the other in third person narrative. However, there is much dialogue in which a character would naturally speak in first person. (e.g. “I went to the store.”) While this is easy to discern on the printed page, it’s less obvious when listening. Not the narrator’s fault at all, but it still adversely affected the audio experience. I would probably have rated this higher if I had read the text rather than listened.

14sweetiegherkin
jan 3, 2019, 5:22 pm

>13 BookConcierge: Sounds like an interesting read. Too bad the audio wasn't a little bit more up to par.

15BookConcierge
apr 11, 2019, 5:57 pm


Nine Perfect Strangers – Liane Moriarty
Audiobook performed by Caroline Lee
2.5***

Adapted from the book jacket: Nine people gather at a remote health resort, expecting luxury, pampering, and meditation. But none can imagine how challenging the next ten days will be. As guests arrive they are struck by the strange and charismatic owner/director. Should they surrender to the process – or run while they still can?

My reactions:
It’s certainly not Moriarty’s best work, in my humble opinion.

On the one hand I really enjoyed some of these guests’ stories: a romance writer who fell prey to an internet dating scam, a family trying to heal from one member’s suicide, a divorced woman obsessed with body image, a gay attorney struggling with the decision to become a parent, a young couple whose lives change when they won the lottery, and a former footballer and now divorced grandfather. Like the guests, I was initially mesmerized by the story of Masha, the owner/director of Tranquillum House.

On the other hand, I didn’t really like any of these characters, and was completely irritated by Masha’s psychobabble new-age philosophy on fixing what was wrong with them. I also didn’t like the ending, with its fast-forward to weeks or years later in order to catch up on what happened.

Caroline Lee does a fine job performing the audio version, however. She sets a good pace and is up to the task of voicing a wide range of characters.

16annamorphic
apr 11, 2019, 6:21 pm

>15 BookConcierge:, am just finishing this one as well, and completely agree, not her best. Plot definitely feels contrived, whereas Big Little Lies felt wonderfully zany yet not totally implausible (and in some ways heartbreakingly plausible). I also quite liked The Last Anniversary.

Her sister Jaclyn Moriarty writes Young Adult books and has a somewhat similar, whimsical style. I enjoy them both a lot.

17sweetiegherkin
jun 7, 2019, 9:59 am

FYI, I keep seeing trailers for s2 of the HBO series based on Big Little Lies. Season 1 already covered all the events of the book, so this is new territory being charted. Personally, I'm not interested in following past the book, but others might be.