Goodreads Description
This is why I read. I adored this story in so many ways, and spent almost a month with it. I might reinstate my Audible account so I can have more of Moriarty's books on audio, as Caroline Lee brought these characters to life. I literally teared up when I realized my time with Jane, Celeste, and Madeline was about to end. She covers so much ground in this story. The lies we tell people for myriads of reasons, cycles of abuse, making erroneous snap judgements (with devastating consequences), hard-fought forgiveness, female friendships, and navigating the treacherous waters of parenthood to name just a very few!
I underestimated this book from the description. I didn't imagine that the average family/relationship drama with kids at school could contain so many layers. Silly me. I felt incredible amounts of empathy for these women, and desperately wanted the best outcome for them. They each screwed up royally, but tried to forge ahead the best way they could.
The story being told leading up to the tragic "Trivia Night" was a brilliant narrative choice that added just the right amount of mystery to an already excellent story. For the last quarter of the book, I almost forgot I was reading fiction. While the trivia night was an exaggerated account of events that could take place with too much alcohol/late food arrival, most of the occurrences seemed feasible.....with an odd blend of frightening and funny.
Most importantly, it opened my eyes to areas of people's private lives that I have been privileged enough not to experience. This is a grand statement, but I came away with an understanding of abuse that I had never achieved with any other book. Do we mean to look away? Do we pay enough attention to the people in our lives? We can also learn a lot about kindness through childhood innocence. It's adults that often muddle situations with our interference (sometimes!).
I think there is something in this for every female who has had ANY kind of relationship, which is all of us. It was deeply heartfelt and intensely resonated with me. I'd particularly recommend it to anyone working in the school system, as there are some funny insights from poor Ms. Barnes, the kindergarten teacher. She was a hoot.
The only tiny negative I must mention is it drags a bit at the beginning. The plot is secondary to Moriarty forming our connection to the people and relationships. Caroline Lee's narration bumped this up several notches, especially with her emotive exclamations of "Oh Calamity!" and "For God Sakes!" The Australian charm in her accent added to the ambience of the water-front community location. I'm hoping Moriarty's other works are as wonderful as this one... she'll be well on her way to becoming a favorite author. I'm sure I will re-listen to this one day.
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