#FridayBookShare – Truly Madly Guilty

#FridayBookShare is an excellent idea, created by Shelley Wilson, in search of the ideal author/novel.

I love reading so I’m thrilled to have found Friday Book Share – here’s my latest post, Liane Moriarty’s Truly Madly Guilty.

The instructions are quite simple-

Here’s my #4 post: 

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

First line: “This is a story that begins with a barbeque”, said Clementine.

Recruit fans by adding the book blurb: Clementine is haunted by regret.  It was just a barbeque.  They didn’t even know their hosts that well, they were friends of friends.  They could so easily have said no.

But she and her husband Sam said yes, and now they can never change what they did and didn’t do that Sunday afternoon.

Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One playful dog. It’s an ordinary weekend in the suburbs.  What cold possibly go wrong?

Marriage, sex, parenthood and friendship: Liane Moriarty takes these elements of our lives and shows us how guilt can expose the fault lines in any relationship and it is not until we appreciate the fragility of life that we can truly value what we have.

Introduce the main character using only three words – Clementine is a mother, a wife and a friend.

Delightful design –

Audience appeal:   Fiction, chick lit, contemporary. This book would appeal to mainly women readers, it’s a good read but not her best work in my humble opinion.  I have read most of her books and she is one of my favourite Australian authors.  It had intrigue and suspense but for some reason I just couldn’t get into the characters.

Your favourite line/scene: It is an interesting story and I can’t give too much away.  My favourite scene is the first few pages when Clementine is giving a talk to a group of senior citizens.  It is a scene that sets the basis of the story and as such is very important.  Clementine’s friend Erika is in the audience and makes her thoughts known to the reader throughout the talk. It gives the reader an insight into the friendship between these two women (if indeed it is friendship) and it is the start of the description of what happened on the day of the barbeque.  This is not made clear until well into the story and keeps the reader hanging.

It was just an ordinary Sunday afternoon’, said Clementine. Noticeable repetition of the word ‘ordinary’.  Clementine must have decided that it was important she appear ‘relatable’ to these ordinary people in the ordinary outer suburbs…..Watching Clementine give this halting, surely pointless little speech in this little room, with a view of the busy shopping centre car park instead of the hushed, soaring-ceilinged concert halls where she normally performed, gave Erika the same shameful satisfaction she felt seeing a movie star in a trashy magazine without makeup.  You’re not that special after all.

Have you read any of Liane Moriarty’s books?  I can highly recommend The Husband’s Secret, Big Little Lies, What Alice Forgot and The Hypnotist’s Love Story.

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read this book or any of her others.

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I like reading so much I have created  a page on my blog that lists all the books I read throughout the year.   I started it in 2014/2015 and enjoyed the process so much I kept going into 2016. It’s a great way for me to remember what I’ve read and I try to write a brief comment about each book as well.

Here’s a link to my growing number of posts for #FridayBookShare. 

Enjoy the weekend. Hopefully it stops raining here!

Deb