Advance Screening Recap of HBO's Big Little Lies - #BigLittleLies

We are excited to talk about the new HBO show BIG LITTLE LIES. We recently attended a pre-screening event, where we were able to preview the first 2 shows, chat with Kathryn Newton and have some delicious treats afterwards. 

ABOUT BIG LITTLE LIES
In the tranquil seaside town of Monterey, California, nothing is quite as it seems. Doting moms, successful husbands, adorable children, beautiful homes: What lies will be told to keep their perfect worlds from unraveling? Told through the eyes of three mothers – Madeline, Celeste and Jane – BIG LITTLE LIES paints a picture of a town fueled by rumors and divided into the haves and have-nots, exposing the conflicts, secrets and betrayals that compromise relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and friends and neighbors. Based on the New York Times number-one bestseller of the same name by Liane Moriarty, BIG LITTLE LIES is a subversive, darkly comedic drama that weaves a tale of murder and mischief as it explores society’s myth of perfection and the contradictions that exist beneath our idealized façade of marriage, sex, parenting and friendship. The seven-episode limited drama series debuts SUNDAY, FEB. 19 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

Kathryn Newton biography:
With two Young Artist Awards and further recognition of a talent which can effortlessly shift between comedic and dramatic roles – not to mention from the soundstage to the golf course – 19-year-old actress Kathryn Newton continues to ascend on the leaderboard.

In the wake of her recurring role as Claire Novak on the long-running CW series “Supernatural,” Newton returns to episodic television in the new HBO series “Big Little Lies,” which premieres February 19. Adapted by David E. Kelley and Liane Moriarty based on her #1 New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, the comedy crime drama boasts an all-star cast in weaving the tale of three mothers – Madeline (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste (Nicole Kidman) and Jane (Shailene Woodley) – whose supposedly perfect lives are interrupted when a murder occurs. Kathryn Newton plays Abigail, the older daughter of Witherspoon’s Madeline Mackenzie.

On the big screen Newton will be seen in two films with Lucas Hedges (Manchester By the Sea), the forthcoming independent film comedy Lady Bird and the crime drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Newton may be best-known for starring in Paranormal Activity 4 as Alex Nelson, a young teen who documents the supernatural occurrences that happen when a mysterious family moves into the neighborhood. For her work in the blockbuster horror film, she won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress.

Previous credits for Newton include Disney Channel’s “Dog with a Blog,” AMC’s “Mad Men,” and CBS’s “Bad Teacher” and “Gary Unmarried,” for which she won a Young Artist Award for her role as daughter Louise Brooks. Born in South Florida, Newton began her acting career at the age of four, appearing on the venerable daytime show “All My Children” from 2001-2004.

A diehard fashionista with an extensive collection of vintage designer items, Newton is also an avid golfer (she admits, “I don’t know whether to call myself a golfer who acts or an actor who plays golf!”). Last year she did a video series for Golf Digest, which recognized her as “The Best Golfer in Hollywood.” Having helped her Southern California high school golf team win three league championships, Newton hopes to launch her own tournament where adults and child players pair to raise money to encourage more young people to get into the game.

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Our recap:

Big Little Lies premieres on HBO on Sunday February 19, 2017 and it is sure to garner plenty of attention. Based on a best-selling novel by Liane Moriarty and starring Hollywood heavyweights, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern the show while not revolutionary, is well executed and deliciously mischievous.

At the heart of the story is Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Witherspoon). She knows how things should be and is willing to do what it takes to make things work out that way. She wants fairness and justice and meddles with the school and manipulates peoples’ perspectives to get things the way that she thinks they should be. Her best friend, Celeste (Nicole Kidman), lives like a Greek goddess in a mansion on the water with two perfect boys and a Ken doll husband. She is ever present but coolly disengaged. Jane (Shailene Woodley) moves to town and unlike the other “dress for success,” glamour haired moms, she seeks comfort with baggy clothes, short hair tied back and no trace of make-up. She’s a single mom and lives for her son, Ziggy.

This ill-fitted group of heroines, while they consider each other best friends, in many ways barely know each other. In fact, although theirs is a community where people are constantly digging into other’s business and judging, no one seems to know much about anyone’s actual lives. One of these women is emotionally distant to her husband, one is haunted by a recurring vision and one is engaged in a violent, dangerous game of sex and co-dependence with her husband.

Madeline pits people against each other for sport. Working moms v. stay at home moms; her ex-husband against her current husband; even her teen daughter against herself. She thrives on the diversion of minutiae and in so doing is blind to bigger issues around her. When the moms arrive at school to pick up their children after the first day of first grade, Ziggy is accused of hurting Super Mom Renata’s daughter. Renata (Laura Dern) is a high-power executive with PayPal and Madeline’s nemesis. Ziggy claims innocence and Jane assures that her son isn’t a liar. Thus, begins a he-said-she-said kerfuffle that ripples into much larger issues.

Set in Monterrey, California, the episodes are crisp and visually stunning with breathtaking homes and settings. Even Jane’s stark home is enviably cozy and the quick peeks of a bigger crime lurking behind the story tugs at the viewer whenever you forget that it’s coming

Director Jean-Marc Vallee swirls between clips of the community talking to police at depositions and a traditional unwinding narrative that affectively floats viewers along with the story, helping us understand the myriad perspectives that can make simple confrontations become holy wars.

 

Book Review: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Husband's Secret

Author: Liane Moriarty
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Chick Lit | Contemporary | Mystery
Released: August 29th 2013
Review Source: Penguin Books

From the author of the critically acclaimed What Alice Forgot comes a breakout new novel about the secrets husbands and wives keep from each other.

My Darling Cecilia
If you're reading this, then I've died . . .

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something so terrible it would destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others too. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive . . .

Cecilia Fitzpatrick achieved it all - she's an incredibly successful business woman, a pillar of her small community and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia - or each other - but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's devastating secret.

Wow, this book has left me utterly exhausted. It starts out with Cecilia's story. We are introduced to her and get a glimpse of things to come when she stumbles upon a letter addressed to her from her husband, John-Paul, which reads only to be read "in the event of my death". That immediately got my wheels turning. Should she place the letter back until that day arrived? Should she read it? What would John-Paul say about it now? Right about the time when you think you may get the answer, the story switches gears and introduces us to Tess.
Tess has just learned that her husband and her cousin Felicity have fallen in love. Of course they have been considerate enough not to have had sex yet. Very thoughtful.
In the next few chapters we are introduced to Rachel. Rachel is mourning the loss of her teenaged daughter, Janie. The teenaged daughter who was murdered over 20 years ago.

The story goes back and forth between our primary characters Cecilia, Tess and Rachel and how they are each simultaneously dealing with their personal nightmares.
Cecilia learns a life-changing secret about John-Paul. Tess reunites on a whim with an ex-lover while her husband and cousin plan their future together. Rachel, well Rachel is now about to lose her son and grandson because they are moving to the States.

Several chapters in the meaty part of the story starts to unfold. We start to see how these women's lives all intersect and how they relate to each other. We see that one letter will change the course of all of their lives forever. I admit in the beginning I found the story a bit confusing, jumping from one characters storyline to another. But once I got to know them, I felt attached to each of them and I wondered how I would handle their issues had they been mine.

Before I actually read the book I found a review of the audio version and how the narrator's Australian accent made the story flow. I actually began read it in that accent and it helped. Really.
You will experience shock, betrayal, pity and sadness. You will cheer for some and condemn others. This book is a roller coaster of emotion and surprisingly of lessons learned.

This was my first book by the author and I would recommend it for those who enjoy a storyline with a good twist.