Truly Madly Guilty

True to her trademark, Moriarty uses a snappy three-word title to set the groundwork for the novel’s main themes of friendship, marriage, and parenthood, and explore how guilt permeates these relationships. The novel’s title is a nod to Australian pop duo Savage Garden’s 1997 hit “Truly Madly Deeply.” By replacing “deeply” with “guilty,” Moriarty signals that guilt is at heart of our most meaningful relationships.

Moriarty uses juxtaposition and foreshadowing to build suspense and propel the narrative forward. In the earlier scenes, the characters’ lives—and marital quibbles—are ordinary and uneventful. In contrast, the later scenes highlight the characters’ distress, but the reason for their trauma is unclear. We know a terrible thing happened, but we cannot deduce what occurred and to what depth the events have affected the different characters. We later learn that the traumatizing event entailed the near drowning of Clementine and Sam’s youngest daughter, Ruby.

By focusing on a single event, the infamous barbecue, the author creates a microcosm of tension. This formula is similar to Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, which unveils the events of a school trivia night gone awry using foreshadowing and flashbacks. However, unlike Moriarty’s popular novels, the narrative of Truly Madly Guilty slowly unfolds to what critics consider a letdown reveal (Maslin, Janet. “Review: In Liane Moriarty’s ‘Truly Madly Guilty,’ a Very Unfortunate Barbecue Indeed.” New York Times, July 21, 2016).

Moriarty is Australian, and her works typically center around characters living in Sydney. In Truly Madly Guilty, Sydney’s relentless rain, or the “Big Wet,” functions as a symbol for everyone’s distress and physically demarcates the before-barbecue time and the after-barbecue time. The cabdriver Erika meets on her way back to work from the community center signals a recurring motif in the narrative, Climate Change. His inability to believe that the rain is due to climate change reflects the denial and avoidance of the other characters. In particular, Erika is self-critical and analyzes all aspects of her life except, ironically, her present feelings and reactions.

In the flashbacks to the morning of the barbecue, key tensions between the characters are established. Sam and Clementine are depicted as having a very positive relationship, and yet they are unable to really meet each other’s needs. Clementine and Erika’s relationship is established as forced. In the present time, Moriarty is setting up the questions that will drive curiosity in the reader. We know that Oliver and Erika asked Clementine a question on the day of the barbecue that she hasn’t answered yet, but we don’t know what the question is. We are also left to wonder what Erika has forgotten about the night of the barbecue and why the barbecue is repeatedly referred to as a “nightmare.” Moriarty deliberately relies on these cliffhangers to keep readers engaged.