Big Little Lies

The parents gather in the assembly hall to watch their children. To Madeline’s dismay, Bonnie takes a seat beside her. Sitting next to Bonnie, Madeline bubbles with frustration over Bonnie’s persona: calm and meditative to a fault. Bonnie praises Abigail’s empathetic development, saying “It’s amazing to see. Did you know she has some sort of secret charity project she’s working on?” (323). Madeline replies that what’s most important are Abigail’s grades, especially if she wants to be a physiotherapist. Bonnie says Abigail is more interested in becoming a social worker. Madeline thinks Abigail is too sensitive for that line of work, but Bonnie disagrees.

Madeline keeps herself from outright fighting with Bonnie but thinks “There would be nothing left of the real Abigail. Madeline’s daughter would be a stranger to her” (324). Making matters even worse, Bonnie invites Madeline and Ed over to her house to celebrate Abigail’s 15th birthday. Madeline, feigning polite excitement, accepts, secretly feeling like even more of a stranger to her own daughter. 

Jane takes Ziggy to a child psychologist. After meeting with Ziggy, Jane and the therapist talk privately. The psychologist reassures Jane that Ziggy doesn't have a bullying personality: “He’s not narcissistic. He most certainly demonstrates empathy and sensitivity” (327). Jane is relieved and cries tears of joy. The psychologist, however, wants to see Ziggy again. Based on his interactions with her, the psychologist thinks perhaps Ziggy is being bullied. Jane is stunned. Everyone has been accusing Ziggy for so long, she hadn’t considered that someone might be bullying him.

The psychologist also says that Ziggy carries a lot of stress about his father. Ziggy is afraid his dad is someone bad and imagines him as several villains from the Star Wars franchise. Ziggy has come to see his father as a malicious mystery. He recognizes that talking about his father upsets his mom, recounting to the therapist the pained expression Jane gets on her face when she talks about Ziggy’s father. Reading Jane’s reaction, the psychologist deduces that Ziggy’s father is not a good person. 

After the assembly, Perry drives Celeste back to the house while the kids finish the school day. Celeste worries that she upset Perry when she said she would leave him, but in the car, he remains calm and cheerful. She thinks of her apartment, which she has completely furnished now. If she really wants to leave, she can. Celeste’s inner turmoil continues to spin. She feels guilty but is also angry about all of things wrong in their relationship, not to mention what Perry’s cousin might have done to Jane.

Celeste expects Perry to drop her off at the house, but he comes inside with her, grabbing and twisting her hair. Perry threatens Celeste: “If you ever embarrass me like that again, I will kill you, I will fucking kill you” (332-333). Celeste apologies. Unsatisfied, Perry slams her head against the wall.

Celeste’s vision spins and blurs. Perry leaves the room, then comes back moments later with an ice pack. As he helps Celeste, her senses normalize, and she sees a change come across him: “His features were dragged downward, as though he were being ravaged by some terrible disease. He sobbed once. A grotesque, despairing sound, like an animal caught in a trap” (333-334). Seeing this side of Perry, Celeste has trouble staying mad. Celeste softens and rocks with Perry on the floor of their entryway. 

Madeline calls the local paper to take out an ad for the theatre company she works for. She chats with an advertising representative, Lorraine, who Madeline has a known for many years. Lorraine also has a daughter, Petra, that is the same age as Abigail.

Lorraine proves to be a happy gossip. She giddily tells Madeline that she’s learned that Renata’s husband, Geoff, is having an affair with Juliette, their young French nanny. Madeline is startled, but she doesn’t take pleasure in Renata’s relationship problems, thinking “She wished Renata ill, but she didn’t wish her this” (337). Lorraine wants to keep gossiping about Renata’s marriage, but Madeline firmly tells her no.

Lorraine helps Madeline with her ad request. Lorraine heard from Petra about Abigail’s charity project. She mentions that some of the other girls in their class didn’t like Abigail’s idea, which makes Madeline curious. Madeline texts Abigail to call her right away. Instead, minutes later, Nathan calls, and ominously ends the chapter by saying “Don’t get upset” (340). 

Celeste recovers from Perry’s most recent attack. Perry makes Celeste tea and takes care of her, acting as if she is sick. While Perry goes about the house, Celeste reminisces about Perry first buying their beautiful house by the beach, before he had ever hit her.

After this latest attack, Celeste understands just how dangerous and paradoxical her situation is: “If she left, he would probably kill her. If she stayed, and they remained on this trajectory together, he would probably, eventually, find something to be angry enough about that he would kill her” (343-344). Celeste feels trapped. 

On the phone, Nathan tells Madeline that Abigail is trying to sell her virginity to raise money for Amnesty International. On a website she’s made, Abigail explains her rationality: “the world stands by while a seven-year-old is sold for sex, then the world shouldn’t blink an eye if a privileged white fourteen-year-old girl sells herself for sex” (345). Madeline finds the website’s presentation impressive and understands Abigail’s emotions, but she is nonetheless upset. Madeline reads the nasty and profane comments, filling her with dread.

Madeline asks Nathan if he can take the website down. She contains her anger, at first. Eventually, she yells at Nathan, questioning his parenting, and tells him to fix the problem immediately. 

Jane takes Ziggy to Blue Blues for breakfast. She mulls over all the negative things happening at the school. She debates moving, but Ziggy vetoes the idea. She asks Ziggy if he knows who is bully Amabella. Ziggy says he promised he wouldn’t tell, that Amabella said she’d be “Killed dead” (353) if anyone found out. Jane convinces Ziggy to write down the name of the bully instead of speaking it. As Ziggy goes to write down the name, Harper comes into Blue Blues with her husband, Graeme.

Graeme introduces himself to Jane and Ziggy, then proceeds to intimidate Jane. He hovers over their table and says that if anything happens between Jane and Harper again, he will issue a restraining order. Thankfully, Tom arrives with Jane and Ziggy’s order and promptly tells Graeme to leave. Graeme scoffs, but beys. After, Tom sits down to console Jane, and she feels even more grateful for the friends she’s made in Pirriwee. However, her happiness is bittersweet: “She’d made real friends here, but she’d also made real enemies. There was no future for her here” (357).

Jane reads Ziggy’s note and learns that Max, one of Celeste’s boys, is the bully. 

Celeste continues to recover from her head injury. Before he goes back to work, Perry sits beside Celeste and makes sure she is doing alright. Celeste and Perry briefly talk about when he was a chubby kid who got bullied. Celeste sees this as a potential origin point for Perry’s abuse: “Each time Perry felt disrespected or humiliated, Celeste bore the brunt of a fat little boy’s violent, suppressed rage” (360). The bullying only stopped when Perry’s cousin, Saxon, had beat up the bullies. Knowing Jane’s trauma, Celeste wonders what excuse Saxon could have for being so cruel to someone; he was never bullied the way Perry was. Celeste feels, at the very least, Perry isn’t as bad as Saxon.