![]() ![]() There’s something facile about the notion that the mere confrontation of a troubling social issue automatically gives a book greater weight, while meticulously observed depictions of middle-class social life and manners or intricate, acrobatic storytelling constitute airy nothings. Even Janet Maslin, the New York Times’ designated genre-fiction reviewer, described Big Little Lies as “fluffy” while praising Moriarty’s ability, in the novel’s darker moments, to touch base “with vicious reality.” As viewers of the HBO series quickly learn, that darkness involves domestic violence. This, naturally, precludes any consideration of it as art, at least in the eyes of critics. ![]() Moriarty writes “commercial fiction,” a hazy category that can include everything from The Help to The Da Vinci Code, but everyone agrees that it’s a genre that foregrounds plot over prose style. ![]()
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