I'm so glad one of my favourite Aussie authors has made it in America!
I'm a big little fan (oh, hello) of Liane Moriarty after The Husband's Secret, and now she has come out with this brilliant piece of work. Big Little Lies was published last year, but it's already garnered enough interest to be turned into a television series starring Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. Though I'm silently raging that Wikipedia is calling it an "American television comedy" when Liane Moriarty is an Australian writer and the story is set in Sydney Australia, in an Australian school with all the Australian schoolyard politics that make the book so funny. Anyway, since I'm not original enough to write up an actual review/blog post I thought I'd share my favourite quotes from the book.
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"Stick with the nice boys Chloe!" said Madeline after a moment. "Like Daddy. Bad boys don't bring you coffee in bed, I'll tell you that for free."
***
Mind your own beeswax was such a profoundly geeky thing to say.
***
"We're not really beach people, and obviously no one wants to see this in a bikini!" She made a face of pure loathing and gestured at her perfectly ordinary body, which Madeline judged to be about the same size as her own. "I don't see why not" said Madeline. She had no patience for this sort of talk. It drove her to distraction the way women wanted to bond over self-hatred.
***
Harry the Hippo had been with the school for over ten years. That cheap synthetic toy she replaced it with smelled just terrible. Made in China. The hippo's face wasn't even friendly.
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It was there in the slight turn of the head, the smiles that didn't reach eyes, the gentle waft of judgment.
***
"You're beautiful" she began. "No!" said Jane angrily. "I'm not! And it's OK that I'm not. We're not all beautiful, just like we're not all musical and that's fine. And don't give me that inner beauty shining through crap either." Madeline, who had been about to give her that inner beauty shining through crap, closed her mouth.
***
Parents take far too much notice of their children these days. Bring back the good old days of benign indifference, I reckon.