December 2023 Group Read: Apples Never Fall, by Liane Moriarty

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Please join Natalie in reading and talking about Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. Have fun!

[Natalie]

Hey everyone! Anyone else planning on reading this book? I really enjoyed Big Little Lies so I'm looking forward to it. I plan on starting soon. Hope others will join me!

[Cátia]

Hi everyone! I’m planning to start reading this book in the next days, as soon as I finish the one I’m currently reading.

[Storm Bay]

Yes, I'll join.

[Natalie]

Well, I just started the audiobook and see it's 18 hours long. Yikes! I'm hoping it's at least easy to get into, because that's a long time to be listening to something. Thinking of switching to kindle maybe. How's everyone else reading this?

[Natalie]

Ok well I'm about a quarter of the way through the book now and I'm honestly really enjoying it. I barely glanced at the synopsis before nominating this book, so I went in pretty blind and I'm liking the story so far. I've read some mixed reviews so we'll see what I think of the overall book once I finish. I really love Liane Moriarty's writing. Her books are very easy to get through.

Has anyone else started?

[Icewineanne]

Downloaded the audiobook too. I prefer to read the actual book but it wasn’t available. I’ll start listening tonight as I fall asleep ☃️

[Stefanie]

I’ve also started the book. Liking it so far. I loved Nine Perfect Strangers, so I’m hoping this will be as enjoyable!

[Natalie]

I just finished the book today. I'll post some thoughts and discussion questions in the spoiler thread but overall I gave the book a 4 out of 5. I didn't like it as much as Big Little Lies but it was a pretty enjoyable read.

[Jayne]

I’ve just finished it and whilst on balance enjoyed l though it was 100 pages too long, if shorter could have been packer. The story all meshes together in the end and worth persevering.
The characters are wonderful and you feel involved, particularly with the Delaneys, they all have their own unique personalities, however affected by little things which happen in their childhood, the story is really about the influences we have growing up and how these frame us as people.
Hope you enjoy.

[Storm Bay]

I've finished. I liked it, but only at 3 stars--this isn't my favourite novel by her.

[Cátia]

I gave this book 3 stars. Although I enjoyed it, I thought it was a bit slow paced and I was expecting more from the ending. I really like Liane Moriarty’s books but this was my least favorite from her.

[Natalie]

Cátia wrote: "I gave this book 3 stars. Although I enjoyed it, I thought it was a bit slow paced and I was expecting more from the ending. I really like Liane Moriarty’s books but this was my least favorite from..."

I agree regarding to the ending. I actually didn't mind the pacing and thought the character development was very good and I liked the story, but the ending just fell flat for me. I'm interested to see how it adapts to the screen when the mini series premieres in March. I feel a lot of viewers will be disappointed in the end. I'm honestly surprised that this book got an adaptation over some of Moriarty's other books that I feel have stronger storylines.

By the way, I'm sorry that I never ended up posting a spoiler review and discussion in the other forum. Some family stuff came up and I never had a chance to, but I'm still willing if anyone is still up for discussing the book more. It seemed like not many people had read the book so I wasn't sure if it mattered.