Truly Madly Guilty

TRULY MADLY GUILTY

by Liane Moriarty

 

Award: Goodreads Winner 2016

 

Date Read: September 12, 2022

 

Truly Madly Guilty is another guilty pleasure from Moriarty. Here we have 3 couples, married, middle class and in various stations of happiness in their marriages. They all meet up one fateful day for an innocent barbecue and at first, they are having a great time – perhaps with the exclusion of Erika and Oliver. Vin and Tiffany’s daughter, Dawn, is there as well as Sam and Clementine’s daughters Holly and Ruby. 

 

With great food and engaging conversation, the couples assume the children are being watched over by Dakota, who is a mere 10 years old. Erika is actually the one that finds Ruby floating in a large fountain in Vin and Tiffany’s extravagant backyard. Erika and Oliver perform CPR, which at first doesn’t seem to be working, until Ruby coughs up water. She is airlifted to a hospital and eventually is okay – no long-term impairments.

 

The long-term impairment, however, is evident for Sam and Clementine. They are deeply sad and guilty, blaming each other and their marriage descends into a shaky building that is foreseen to come crashing down. What frustrates me is everything that goes through their heads but they never share with their partner. Clementine realizes she has never loved Sam the way he should be loved at their CPR refresher course. Why doesn’t she say that to him?

 

After they both share how guilty they feel and agree to forgive each other for what happened and, perhaps, get counseling for PTSD, the couple is on much sturdier ground. Moriarty is able to bring all three of these couples to satisfying conclusion.

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