Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty

Themes for this book include female friendship; and the lies we tell - ourselves and others - can be so very B-I-G.  Sometimes, kids lie out of self-preservation. Or they're asked to lie; eg, by someone who has hurt them. When this happens, the lies come easier. Secret-keeping becomes a habit. 

First, just like with Moriarty's book, Nine Perfect Strangers, this book has a TON of characters and story lines. Each chapter begins with quotes by various characters, giving their views on this or that. Often, the views contradict. That's life. People misinterpret situations 10x a day. Then they gossip and drama ensues. 

The main three friends are Madeleine, Celeste, and Jane. Madeleine has a daughter by her 1st marriage (Abigail), plus 2 more with current husband Ed. Celeste is married to rich husband Perry; they have twin sons. Jane is new to town; a single mom, her son Ziggy enters kindergarten with Celeste's twin sons and Madeleine's daughter Chloe. And every single person, it seems, has a secret, including the kids.

Madeleine is boisterous, superficial, loyal, a good mom. She's also quite the gossip and loves drama. She's a bit immature about her eldest daughter's relationship with the dad that left them when Abigail was a baby. But we can see her point of view. He swoops in, 12 years too late, and gets to be the hero. Life's not fair. And that's another theme for this book -- much in life isn't fair. 

Celeste is the quiet nervous type. She's also described as stunningly beautiful. Honestly, this point was made at least 25 times throughout this book, and it got tiresome. And that's another theme of the book -- women's preoccupation with how they look, and society's focus on how all women look. Anyway, Celeste's marriage to Perry is not great, to put it lightly. No spoilers. 

Jane's son, Ziggy, has never had a dad as part of the picture. Ziggy gets accused of bullying at school -- and so "bullying" is another theme for this book. How the parents react and gossip, etc. 

This book was 450 pages and I read it in 2 days -- the result of being bedridden with Covid. I loved this book, but didn't recommend it to "L" because she likes to listen to books, and with the number of characters, I thought it might be too hard as an audio. 

So, 5 stars (of 5) as a printed book. The audio, I think, might be too hard.