Book Club

[teganslaw]

I read Truly Madly Guilty (the only book of Liane Moriarty's I read) and wasn't very impressed. The book started out slowly , and the characters weren' t that interesting. I don'rt know if I'll read anyhting else by her' there are other authors I'd rather read first. 

[GenXmuse]

I haven’t read Truly, Madly,  Guilty but I take it, it’s pretty awful. What do you all think went wrong with it? 

[teganslaw]

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@GenXmuse wrote:

I haven’t read Truly, Madly,  Guilty but I take it, it’s pretty awful. What do you all think went wrong with it? 

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The book implied that a friendly BBQ event went terribly wrong. However, it took forever to get to that point, and when we found out what happened, all I could think was "this is it? This is what the book is about?"  A disappointing read. 

[GenXmuse]

Thank you @teganslaw. That does sound disappointing after such the build up!

[MeemaJoan]

After reading the reviews on the board, I thought I was the only one that didn't like like this book.  It started out fine and I was looking forward to reading it but in my opinion  it got ridiculous and I don't think I will read any more of her books.  I enjoyed The Husband's Secret and What Alice Forgot, both of which I read years ago.

[smoky22]

I've read several of her books and I'm not always a fan.  (I didn't like Big Little Lies, I did like the Husband's Secret).  I think this is the best book she's ever written.  I found the characters very relatable and thought they were nicely fleshed out.  I loved the way she finished up everything at the end. 

[LoriLori]

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@teganslaw wrote:

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@GenXmuse wrote:

I haven’t read Truly, Madly,  Guilty but I take it, it’s pretty awful. What do you all think went wrong with it? 

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The book implied that a friendly BBQ event went terribly wrong. However, it took forever to get to that point, and when we found out what happened, all I could think was "this is it? This is what the book is about?"  A disappointing read. 

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For me it was the couple who hosted the barbecue.  I didn't like them which is a first for me with Liane M.'s characters.  She writes such great characters.  I liked every other character in Truly Madly Guilty.

And as @teganslaw  said, the book builds to whatever happened at this barbecue, twists are one of her signatures, and  the big twist was a bigtime letdown.  But:

SPOILER

Spoiler

The elderly neighbor's  fate was a poignant twist that was surprising and moving and though it didn't redeem the book for me, it made feel my time wasn't completely wasted.

[GenXmuse]

@LoriLori Thanks for the insight. She’s quite brilliant with her characterizations. 

[roeroe1005]

I started Nine Perfect Strangers Wednesday night, returned it to the library today.  I read maybe the first 50 pages and thought no way.  

I've read her other books, but this one was not worth it.  I thought I would try again at a later point, but after reading most of your reviews, I'll pass.

[esmerelda]

I haven’t read this book and I won’t be reading it because I’ve been off this author for a long time. I really loved The Husband’s Secret and recently I read What Alice Forgot, only because I already had it in my Audible.com library.

Talk about an unbelievable plot…The Last Anniversary was beyond ridiculous IMO. I’ve been tempted to read a couple of her other books, but The Last Anniversary is still too fresh in my mind from 2 or 3 years ago. And there are too many other better books to be read.