The Last Anniversary: A Novel

My 5th read by Liane Moriarty - I can call myself a true fan now! - ended up being yet another fantastic read. The Last Anniversary started off at a more mellow pace compared to her other books, and I almost lost interest after the first chapter on Sophie, the protagonist, when we were doing the flashbacks to Connie & Rose and their secret past. Moriarty is not your typical romance/chick-lit novelist. She really isn't. I am not saying that because I don't see myself as the type to gravitate toward those books. In fact, I'd like to start appreciating ALL genres! But I say it because all her surface-level chick-lit novels (the 5 that I have read: The Husband's Secret, Big Little Lies, The Hypnotist's Love Story, What Alice Forgot and The Last Anniversary) have underlying themes of great depth.

Liane Moriarty doesn't just bring a variety of characters to life in order to spice up her novels. She seeps into the subconscious layers of thought and emotion and motive for every character and spits them out with such realness that you forget it's all fictional. She can bring to life an upstanding citizen with a horrible 20-year secret burning inside of him, a beautiful woman, adored by her husband and mother to a gorgeous baby and yet completely suicidal, a detached husband who suddenly fears that his wife may be cheating on him (she isn't), a bereaving mother who disappears into her grief and becomes obsessed with finding and killing the murderer of her child, an irritable teenager, a woman who has lost a decade of her memory and so on. All I can say is that when you start a Moriarty novel, you will not be let down. All of her novels have a great sense of humor, a lightness of heart, a shade of eccentricity and a deep layer of truth. Laughing and crying are guaranteed. Although, with The Last Anniversary, it was mostly a lot of chuckles and hardly any tears, at least for me.

Having said all that, The Last Anniversary isn't my favorite novel by her because her later novels are so much more complex and developed and intriguing. You can feel the progression of a great artist in the making. I started with her latest work and went backward. Still, she's pretty awesome.

Possible Spoiler Warning: I loved Sophie Honeywell's character. She reminded me of a friend with whom my friendship sadly fell apart, and I'm actually thinking about calling her. Sophie is put in a delicate situation when she inherits a HOUSE in an island from her ex-boyfriend's great aunt, someone she had met only a handful of times. We follow Sophie, who can be described best as the nicest, politest, kindest little charming creature you could imagine, as she moves into Aunt Connie's house and finds herself tangled up with the Munro Baby Mystery. The plot is clever. Very clever. The ending is well-done, and the novel got better and better as I kept reading.

As I write this, I'm sitting in the Hong Kong airport lounge, and my next flight is to Sydney, where most of Moriarty's novels are based, including the novelist herself. What fun it would be to make one of her events. I never thought I'd be drawn to a female Australian contemporary novelist, and this experience has shown me that we must be open to reading new genres, new authors, new styles of writing, and let our heart and mind - rather than reviewers or critiques - decide after the fact how we really feel about the work. As for how I feel about Liane Moriarty, she's now ranking in my top most five favorite writers.

The Last Anniversary is by Liane Moriarty. It is a great book and one that is hard to put down. It deals with family interactions, abandoned babies, biological clocks, and mysteries. Revolving around the Baby Munro mystery, the story develops a life of its own and takes us on a journey we will not forget. Sophie Honeywell is confused when her ex-boyfriend, Thomas Gordon, wants to have lunch with her. Their breakup was unusually harsh. She broke up with him the evening he had meant to surprise her with a trip to Fiji and a marriage proposal. She ruined everything! Now he wants to talk to her? This time, he had to tell her that his Aunt Connie had died and had left her house to Sophie. Though she felt funny doing so, she accepted it after reading a letter Aunt Connie sent her. The house on Scribbly Gum Island now belonged to Sophie. Veronika wanted to contest the will but was persuaded by the other family members not to. Sophie felt at home here and as part of the “family” was expected to take her turn escorting tourists through the Munro home. Alice and Jack Munro had moved into the cottage Rose and Connie’s grandparents had lived. The girls got to know them well. One day they went to visit and found the house ransacked, Alice and Jack gone, and their baby underneath her crib. They decided to keep the child on the island and raise her there. They named her Enigma. The mystery of what happened to Alice and Jack continues to this day. Veronika insists she is going to solve it. As the story continues, the plot thickens. Margie is losing weight but is she having an affair too? Ron is worried she might be. Grace is now home alone with her son Jake; but wonders if she should be. She feels nothing for him. She thinks she is a bad mother and might harm him. Before she leaves, she must find her darling husband a new wife. She decides it should be Sophie. I really liked this book. It kept me on my toes and kept my interest. It was a long book so there are lots of problems and solutions in this book.

Written in her typical “Liane Moriarty style”, this book kept me wanting to read day and night. It begins with a peculiar inheritance bequeathed to Sophie by her ex-boyfriend’s Aunt. By accepting it, she finds herself jettisoned into his family’s lives and business. She eventually finds out about a deep dark secret that has been harbored by only the members of his family who have turned forty years of age.

If you have yet to read a book by Liane Moriarty, why in the heck haven't you?

Allow me to explain. This novel, 400+ pages, is that quintessential beach read that you'll want to stretch out and savor each and every bite - you'll want it never to end. But, if you're like me, and have greedy guts, you'll easily find yourself gluttonous and over-indulging yourself in this read overnight; too easily binging on her sharp storyline, deft character development, and witty dialogue.

For me? Reading a book by Ms. Moriarty is SO good... She's that partially frozen Sara Lee Cheesecake that still needs another twenty minutes (or so) to defrost, and of which you are desperately trying not to eat (except for the defrosted parts around the very edge)… but then you decide to say "eff this", and pull out a fork (could be a spoon; no judging here), and eat the entire pie in one sitting.

That is my description of this author's work. Her writing is akin to a cheesecake: simply, fork-licking luscious.

She should be, if she already isn't, a national hero for her homeland of Australia.

Her characters have fallible foibles. Period. And, her characters are well fleshed-out. Albeit, unfortunately, in some instances, completely relatable. No, some may come across as almost way TOO relatable. (I don't know how she was able to portray the relationship with my mom through Grace and her mom - but she did).

This brief review encapsulates my personal feelings as I read (this) one of her books - and I've read them all, but I've read this one twice.

By the way... I'll take out another cheesecake to defrost, if you'll be so kind as to pass the kleenex.