REVIEW || ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ by Liane Moriarty
“Sometimes your life changes so slowly and imperceptibly that you don't notice it at all until one day you wake up and think, 'How did I get here?’”
—Liane Moriarty
★★.5
2.5/5 Stars
Heavy feelings of ‘meh’ and ‘why though?’ I went into this one a little wary after hearing my sister’s DNF reasons, but I thought hey, it’s Liane Moriarty, an author I love [scroll down for a few of my personal favorites], so I felt I owed it to her to see it through to the end. Also I’m a serial book-finisher regardless of my love/hate relationship with it.
Side note: do I realize that’s ridiculous and not serving me in any way and not the best use of my time? Yes, yes I do. It’s a control freak thing. I’m perfectly happy being my own breed of crazy over here.
I digress - now back to your regularly scheduled programming. I hate to say it, but this one just didn’t do anything for me. It wasn’t bad, by any means. But it wasn’t exactly good either…
PLOT SPOT
Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? These nine perfect strangers are about to find out...
Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.
Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer—or should she run while she still can?
It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.
WHAT WORKED
1. The Marconi Family.
If I’m being completely honest, I read the book as quickly as I did just because of their story line. It was heartbreakingly tragic, but also beautifully real. This is where Moriarty shines; it’s the reason I keep coming back for more every time. She was able to perfectly explain a horrible experience from 3 different perspectives and provide character development/growth for each of them. The addition of anecdotal details [like Zoe singing/not singing in the shower] made me feel like I was a part of their lives, like I really had a lens into this tight-knit, broken family. Unsure how I feel about Zoe’s conclusion, but I loved the final scenes with Heather/Napoleon. Confession: I cried. Just a little.
WHAT STRUGGLED
1. The rest of the characters were deplorable. And this is saying a lot because I usually LOVE unreliable narrators and broken protagonists. But lord help me, these people just ticked me off.
I’m not even sure where to start. Frances is a hot mess [literally and emotionally] who just made me cringe more times than I can count. My inner southern soul just wanted to interject and say ‘bless your heart, please stop.’ Tony is angry and brutish but then somehow becomes flirty and chivalrous? Ben is [pardon my French] kind of an a-hole who further perpetuates his wife’s deep-seated insecurities and shames her for her obsession with money/fame/possessions while ironically putting more time and attention into his bougie car. [He made me the most angry - I could spend a lot of time on my issues with that man-child.] The wellness retreat owner suffers from serious mental health issues which are ignored by literally EVERYONE. I can’t. I’m getting fired up just thinking about all the ways I wanted to scream at these people at some point or another. Makes me want to add a warning label to this book: “Readers with high blood pressure, beware.”
2. The actual transformation is condensed to a mere fraction of a 400+ page book. And those characters DESPERATELY needed redemption.
So much of the book is setting the stage from different perspectives, so we get a lot of repeat information. While the backstories for each character are necessary, so much of their time at the spa felt like filler. The meat of the story, the growth and development of these painfully annoying souls, is left as an afterthought in the final few chapters. Short, clipped chapters, might I add. We get an ungodly 10+ pages of Frances hot flashing and not understanding how to work the gate code, but then we’re cheated at the end and given only 20 pages to figure out the fate of the 230971 characters. [hyperbole is the PB to my J - don’t @ me]
3. The flippancy with which mental health is regarded.
Or disregarded, for that matter. Every single character needs a psychologist/psychiatrist. I get that we could all benefit from a little therapy, but these people REALLY need therapy. Way more than they need a recharge/retreat weekend at a health resort. And not one time did we really hear that pushed or encouraged. One character experiences enough growth to acknowledge their need for it, but that’s it. Some of the issues or struggles we see in the characters are unfortunately extremely common. And often times ignored or swept under the rug in everyday life. Self-harm/suicidal thoughts, self-esteem issues, body dysmorphia, depression, anxiety, drug addiction, narcissism, abandonment or attachment issues, trouble with denial, acceptance, avoidance etc. I feel it was Moriarty’s job to at least address it, but instead we’re presented with an unrealistic, too-perfect-and-tidy-and-neat ending.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Long story short: did I love this book? Nope. Will I continue reading Moriarty books? Hard yes. One less-than-perfect story doth not a failure make. But I can say that if you plan on binging the new “Nine Perfect Strangers” series set to hit Hulu this month, it’s worth a read first.
MY FAVORITE LIANE MORIARTY BOOKS
