Truly Madly Guilty

Moriarty's latest book is an absolute gem. A well-written, page-turner with extremely well-developed characters, who have complicated lives and complex flaws and motivations. The story centers around an impromptu, ordinary backyard barbecue, where six friends/neighbors gather with their kids. The reader is deceptively lulled into believing that this is yet another tale of bickering, young friends gossiping and
bemoaning the sad state of their marriages, but the book isn't that at all. Instead, I was mesmerized my Moriarty's ability to weave together such a layered, multi-faceted story, and then deftly and expertly keep it aloft. Some reviewers have said this book meanders, but I disagree. The fast, luminous prose wraps around the reader, show more as one is taken from the present to the past and back again in an easy, fluid motion. Nothing lags, drags or falters. The reader senses that something major will occur, and when it does, all the subtle, build-up culminates into a shattering and surprising crescendo, like the music and the relentless rain that are the backdrop for the story. Moriarty writes with considerable skill and flawless pacing. She has a deep affection for her characters, as they stumble and struggle though friendship, love and forgiveness. This is a warm, redemptive book with a big heart and much insight. As an aside, I loved Ruby and Whisk! Of the three Moriarty books I've read, this is my favorite thus far. A great, worthwhile read. show less

Who hasn’t asked the question, “If only I hadn’t”? But it is impossible to go back in time and change an outcome, no matter how much we may wish it. If only we could. Author Liane Moriarty has again given us a masterfully written novel filled with secrets and forgotten happenings, with seemingly inconsequential activities that turned out to have very far-reaching consequences. In this tale, she sets in motion a chain of events that ties together the lives of people who barely know each other, and but for a chance encounter would still not be connected in any meaningful way. Ahh, but that innocent chance encounter changed the lives of so many people. Familial relationships, friendships, parenting, and more all figure in this tale show more of life, love, and loss. This story may make you stop and think about what might have happened if you stayed home instead of attending that party, if you had gotten a babysitter instead of taking your kids with you, if you hadn’t had that first drink or taken that pill, if, if, if. So much goes on in this story; the stress of the characters’ everyday lives practically pulses on the pages, and no one can blame anyone for trying to escape for an evening respite from the stress. Or can they? And no one can tell a tale of secrets and mystery with slow and painstakingly revealed clues of what really happened on that dreadful night better than Liane Moriarty. show less

Liane Moriarty usually excels at portraying modern-day relationships in all of the gory glory. Her witty dialogue and realistic characters typically make for entertainingly uncomfortable reads, if only because she strikes so close to home in her situations and characters. Unfortunately, Truly Madly Guilty is a rare misstep in which the characters are less realistic than normal and the situations in which they find themselves are boring. Gone is the witty banter. In its place is a plethora of self-pity and adult whining. It is a novel that does more to annoy than it does entertain.

The story revolves around the mysterious catastrophe at an impromptu barbecue. The events of that night are enough to unravel long-term friendships as well as show more marriages and one’s mental health. Flipping back and forth between each character’s point of view as well as in time, you do not find out what the catastrophe is until late in the novel. By the time Ms. Moriarty reveals this event, the build-up to it is immense, eclipsing almost everything else that is occurring within the story because it is the linchpin behind everyone’s current behavior. Yet, the catastrophe, once revealed, is anticlimactic. There is no doubt that it was traumatic and scary, but the guilt everyone feels is almost too extreme for something that results in no long-term harm. The actions of the couples after the barbecue do not appear to reflect reality or even common sense, at least to me.

Making matters worse, the characters are almost insipid compared to her previous characters. Each is self-absorbed to the point of being irritating. Of particular concern is the friendship between Clementine and Erika. Theirs is a toxic friendship in many ways, and the animosity they feel towards each other most of the time will keep you repeatedly wondering why they remain friends. Disconcertingly, it is the men in the novel who fare the best under scrutiny. Of the six, Vid is the most realistic in his ability to accept what happened and move on with his life. He is not filled with debilitating guilt; he does not question his self-worth. His reactions are refreshing and become the novel’s highlight. Everyone else remains bogged down in their individual issues, which makes the story much of a slog.

In fact, the rest of the cast are disturbing stereotypes. Clementine is a musician by trade and Sam is in Marketing; Clementine is flighty and prone to extreme anxiety while Sam is spontaneous and creative. Both are outgoing and adventurous. Go figure. Erika and Oliver are accountants and are the exact opposite of Clementine and Sam to the point of being rigid, exacting, and introverted. Logic and discipline rule their lives. Again, what a surprise. While stereotypes are rooted in truth, Ms. Moriarty does nothing to challenge these stereotypes but rather includes every negative aspect of them which serves to compound the issues already existing within the novel.

Given the excellence that was her previous novel, the fact that Truly Madly Guilty is not very good magnifies your disappointment. Not every book an author will write is going to be excellent, and we should expect that. However, this novel is such a departure for her that it is a bit upsetting if not slightly shocking. The characters are too unrelenting in their stereotypical identity, too maudlin in their self-pity, and too one-dimensional to enjoy reading about them. The story itself is boring and lacks the sense of catastrophe implied by the build-up to the barbecue. The resolution is the most realistic part of the story but sadly should have been the initial reaction to the barbecue. The whole thing leaves a bitter taste in your mouth that represents disappointment, shock, and concern. One can only hope that this is a fluke and that Ms. Moriarty’s next novel lives up to her reputation. show less

This is my first Moriarty- definitely not my last. I thoroughly enjoyed this complex and multilayered story. The whole layout reminded me of a strip tease. Build up, build up, more build up then BAM it's out there for all to see. Just when you get used to it, another layer comes off and another secret revealed. It's all in how you look at it. I loved it.

Caroline Lee does an excellent job of narration.

Truly, Madly, Guilty - Liane Moriarty  It's not a thriller.
 
Imagine that line as spoken by Arnold Schwarzenegger to his class in Kindergarten Cop. I start here because I saw a review saying what a disappointing thriller it was, and it would be disappointing if that was what Moriarty were shooting for. It's also not a romance, or a mystery, or a literary novel, although it does share some elements with those.
 
What it is is a book about regular middle class suburban couples who experience a trauma together, and how it affects their lives thereafter. It's not a big trauma, it's not newsworthy, but it affects them all, and their little kids, too. And because the author takes her work seriously, there is much more to it than just that, show more humor, and backstory, and a way through, and a future.
 
I love books like this about living in after some bad thing. Fairy tales are important because they teach us that the witch or the monster can be killed, these books (and I hope someone has a short, catchy name for the genre that isn't sexist, because I sure don't) these books demonstrate how to live through the bad things and still have a good life. I don't believe stories about people living through horrible events and being stoic and saintly and a good example. Pain doesn't make people stronger or better, it makes us angry, and short-tempered, and hell to get along with. And of course, we all have pain and most of it is garden-variety common and of no interest to others. And the older we get the more time we spend attending funerals, the more people we have to lose. These books remind us that we can still laugh at the wake, that there are many ways to comfort one another in our loss.
 
I'm on my way to a funeral soon  show less

Everything You Could Possibly Want to Know About GUILT

From the title, it's no surprise that the theme of this book is "guilt." In all its forms. Every character in the story deals with guilt of a different kind, in a different way. But ALL are profoundly affected by it.

It's a story of three couples - two of whom have children (who also feel guilt). All attend a neighborhood barbecue where a devastating event occurs.

It makes the plot absorbing and I did keep turning pages. But I found myself getting increasingly annoyed by the structure of the novel. It jumps around in time. It jumps from one character's narrative to another. And you won't find out what the "big event" is until 2/3rds of the way though.

I simply didn't find this device show more added anything to the book. Instead, I felt like I was being continually teased and kept thinking - enough already, tell me what happened. So, to me the structure hurt the flow. And the end seemed to tie up the storylines a little too neatly to be believable.

At the same time, I fully expect others will have a completely different reaction. So feel free to grab this one. It's just not my favorite one of the four I've ready by Liane Moriarty. show less

3.25/5 stars

I have really mixed feelings about this book. On one hand I really enjoyed it and couldn't put it down, but on the other hand I had many issues with it.

I enjoy Moriarty's writing immensely, and this is my 4th book by her. I only have 3 to go I think before I'm finished with all of her works. She writes with a punch, with truth and with hilarity. The situations that her characters get into are both incredulous and very real. Every book is like an immersion into somebody else crumbling world, and I love every minute of it.

“No one warned you that having children reduced you right down to some smaller, rudimentary, primitive version of yourself, where your talents and your education and your achievements meant show more nothing.”

Truly Madly Guilty features an array of the most unlikable characters I've ever met in one single book. At first, I tried to pick who I liked the most, but in the end I ended up picking the ones I hated the least.

​At first I thought I identified with Erika, but as the book progressed I found it very hard to even be able to stand her. In the end I was left feeling neutral about her, she wasn't so horrid after all. I enjoyed Tiffany a lot until something about her was released and to me it was a double no-no. First she lied about it and then what she did was just so humanly unethical I lost all my sympathy for her. The only characters I liked and enjoyed were Dakota and Oliver.

I also really didn't like how the neighbor's story played out. It felt like what happened to him was just a punishment for being a grouchy old man, although he had all of the reasons to be one. That really left a bad taste in my mouth.

What I didn't like the most of all was how Holly's arc was handled. I definitely didn't see how keeping quiet and not doing anything about it would be good for a child development? What happened and how it was handled was so totally wrong.

Also plot wise the book kept dragging its feet like no other. It honestly could have been at least 100 pages shorter and nothing would have been lost. I get that the author wanted to build suspense leading up to the main event, but when the main event did happen I was underwhelmed because of all of that suspense let me to believe that something even bigger was coming.

​This was an entertaining read, but I feel like the characters didn't learn much from their mistakes, and some mistakes were covered up completely, thus I feel like as a reader I didn't get anything worthy out of the book, except some entertainment and some witty and hilarious dialogs. And some absurd characters with their absurd habits and kinks.

Definitely my least favorite of Moriarty's books, but I still kind of really enjoyed it somehow, and definitely will read more of her. show less