Helllooo! Whew! This week has been such a blur – I think it’s safe to say that staying up really late on a Sunday night is just a bad idea. I feel like I started the week off on the wrong foot and I had a bit of a crazy work schedule this week, and I’m basically dead tired. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to sleeping in some this weekend.
But reading is relaxing, right? There’s not much I love more than escaping with a good book for awhile, and the weekend is my only real chance to do that. So, let me tell you about Blanche’s Book Club’s latest read: “Truly Madly Guilty” by Liane Moriarty.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t mean to schedule two book from the Moriarty so close together, but it was the roulette of the library reserve list that made it happen – don’t blame me! I know it’s not a huge issue, but the last book of hers that I read, “Big Little Lies” was written in a similar pattern as this one. Even the titles are a bit similar, no?
Anyway, here’s the scoop on “Truly Madly Guilty”:
The new novel from Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Husband’s Secret, Big Little Lies, and What Alice Forgot, about how sometimes we don’t appreciate how extraordinary our ordinary lives are until it’s too late.
“What a wonderful writer―smart, wise, funny.” ―Anne Lamott
Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It’s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong?
In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty turns her unique, razor-sharp eye towards three seemingly happy families.
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.
The book is written from the viewpoints of Clementine and Erika, and it moves views between chapters, which was a little difficult for me to grasp. The characters are very similar, so I think I just kept confusing them.
However, Moriarty has a talent for taking otherwise small plots and twisting them up into something big, with details, and the story is quite riveting. Similar to “Big Little Lies”, the book is counting down to an “incident”, only we have very few clues what that incident is – until it actually happens. This is what makes it so hard to put down. I’d love to know if you’ve read it!
The next book Blanche’s Book Club will be reading is “The Lost Girls” by Heather Young. I’m really excited about this one!
As I said, this weekend I’ll be trying to rest, but am also planning to get some writing in. I have a dance audition on Sunday, and am hoping to get some quality TV time in as well. I hope you all are doing great, and have a fun, fabulous weekend! XOXO.
The Bitter Lemon 