Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty
From Goodreads
Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It’s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong?
Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime. If there’s anything they can count on, it’s each other.
Clementine and Erika are each other’s oldest friends. A single look between them can convey an entire conversation. But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbors, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam don’t hesitate. Having Tiffany and Vid’s larger than life personalities there will be a welcome respite.
Two months later, it won’t stop raining, and Clementine and Sam can’t stop asking themselves the question: What if we hadn’t gone?
In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty takes on the foundations of our lives: marriage, sex, parenthood, and friendship. She shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we don’t say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.
ISBN: 9781250069795 Publisher: Flatiron Books Publication date: July 26th 2016 Pages: 415
Review
Well here I go again. I read this book for my local book club and I was dreading it. I’m not a fan of Liane Moriarty’s books, with one exception, and this one wasn’t it.
I honestly think Liane tries too hard to write books that will be popular but she misses the mark dismally. I honestly don’t understand her popularity but there’s no denying that she is.
This story starts off with a style of writing, which, when done properly, can be a very powerful tool however, when it’s executed poorly it destroys the story. Unfortunately, Liane’s execution of this style did the latter. The tool is one where the author baits the reader by dangling a carrot about something that happened in the past which was so devastating to the people concerned it psychologically affects them. The key to this tool being affective is all about how long you dangle the carrot for and Liane did this for far too long – probably 80% of the book. Having laboured the point for so long the focus shifted totally to the guilt that the adults felt in what happened. The problem with this was that by the time we got here it didn’t leave much time to see how people resolved their feelings. It felt superficial and rushed.
There was a great deal of poor communication (or lack of) between all bar two of the couples, this is a formula that seems to play a significant part in all of the books of Liane’s that I’ve read, so it’s becoming more than tedious. We need something new, original, and totally unexpected from her not more of the same, with just different characters.
Recommend for: Those who really enjoy Liane Moriarty’s books Rating: 2 stars
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