Big Little Lies: Review in Everything Else

I read Big Little Lies in January in anticipation of the limited HBO series. The book was long. It took forever and three days to get to Trivia Night. And then it was pretty much over. I hated that the ending was so quick and neatly wrapped up in a bow so to speak. The ending pretty much ruined the reading experience for me. I just hated that there was all this buildup, ALL THE PAGES, and then it was like the author realized she had written a billion pages leading up to Trivia Night, and just quickly finished.

Now the HBO series. First things first, Reese Witherspoon as Madeline was great casting, Zoe Kravitz as Bonnie was pretty spot on and I liked Laura Dern as Renata. Nicole Kidman did not give me the feels of Celeste. Plus she was in and out of her Australian accent and that was distracting. I have zero problems with the male casting. Shailene Woodly as Jane was hit and miss for me.

The Story Line(s):
First, I hated the Madeline/Joseph cheating story. That was not in the book and while it gave some meat for Witherspoon to chew on, it was just so frustrating they did that. I overlooked the Avenue Q show that was not in the book, but when they went to this cheating thing, that was too much liberty.

Second, Jane never had a gun, didn’t go to the range, didn’t have dreams of chasing after that dick. Again, able to somewhat overlook that, but not the whole Saxon Banks/Barker “twist”. Especially because in the book, Saxon Banks was Perry’s cousin and in the end it all tied together nicely and it was conceivable. This was just off. Why on earth would he choose a random name like that and how on earth would there be a Saxon Barker just down the highway?

Third, Perry’s broken dick. One, I did not need to see a fake dick being stroked by Nicole Kidman. Second, that didn’t happen! She did not break his twig in two spots with a tennis racket.

Fourth, All the main characters were around for the balcony scene and there was more to the end of the investigation and I get that they are jonesing for a season two, but it still bothers me.

Fifth, the Ziggy’s Dad revelation should have been more like the book. It should not have been wordless with just furtive looks between the leads. Perhaps they should have nixed the Avenue Q shit in favor of a two part Trivia Night/Aftermath.

Other quibbles/cheers:

How convenient that Joseph and Torie were at Trivia Night…they have children?

Are we sure Adam Scott was still playing Ed in the finale? Clean shaven, unrecognizable.

Since I am a sometimes fan of Jeffery Nordling, I was happy to see Gordon featured more prominently.

I wish they would have stuck with the non-mean twin tattling on his little bastard brother for the bullying.

Overall it was okay. I probably would have waited for the series to make it to Prime and binged it all at once, but hindsight is 20/20.