NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
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“If three characters were good in Big Little Lies, nine are even better in Nine Perfect Strangers.” —Lisa Scottoline, The New York Times Book Review
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies
Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? In Liane Moriarty’s latest page-turner, 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.
Combining all of the hallmarks that have made her writing a go-to for anyone looking for wickedly smart, page-turning fiction that will make you laugh and gasp, Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers once again shows why she is a master of her craft.
I enjoyed the book, but it not one I would highly recommend. It was just a good read and somewhat novel in putting the nine people together with almost drastic results.
Informative, great background descriptions
Great book! Loved getting to know all of the characters.
I love Liane Moriarty!! I devour her books and so looked forward to this one – but I didn’t love it. I didn’t love the basic story – thought it was a bit unrealistic. I won’t spoil it for anyone by describing what specifically about the story I didn’t like, but I just found it unrealistic…
Not up to Ms. Moriarty’s usual great writing. Very disappointing.
slow
Nine disparate strangers are gathering at Tranquillum House, a gated health resort. Each is seeking a form of peace and change: through meditation, losing weight, counseling, and more. For Frances Welty, a famous romance novelist, she needs a way to start over. Her back is in intense pain, and she’s hurting from both a romantic misstep and a harsh review of her work. But once at Tranquillum House, Frances isn’t exactly sure what to think. The owner, Masha, is both dynamic and odd. What exactly does she have in store for Frances and her fellow resort-goers?
Well, this was an interesting one, to say the least, and not really what I was expecting! So, at first, it drew me in immediately, with a quick introduction to Masha and her associate Yao, in the past, and then fast forwarding to Tranquillum House. You then meet all the various “strangers” at the resort. It’s a pretty easy read; each character has their own unique voice, though it did take me some time to sort them all out and keep track of some of them.
However, once they are at the House, things sort of slow down (which you’ll find especially ironic, as the book is filled with little insider jokes about books and writing, including a particularly apropos mention of pace from Frances). Everyone is there, they have to take a vow of silence (umm, ok?), they can’t read (what?! I’d be out of there!), and you’re wondering what on earth is happening as your characters just sort of sit around and ponder to themselves. Oh, but don’t worry, dear Reader, it’s going to get much weirder.
Because the thing with this book is that so many of the characters are great–I really liked Frances, for instance, and Zoe, and Tony, and well–a lot of them–but the plot they are dropped into becomes almost too preposterous. It felt as if Moriarty was trying to see how crazy she was allowed to go, but no one was brave enough to stop her, so she just kept going. It was odd, and hard to believe, and I just couldn’t rationalize that everything that went on would really occur, could really occur, etc.
And, as I said, it’s a shame, because so much of the book is funny, with these great characters, and some of it is gut-wrenching, and so well-done. There’s a family whose son has committed suicide, and oh my goodness; their passages are just devastating. It’s been nearly 15 years since I lost my loved one to suicide, and yet these parts of the story were so real and so well-done, they were almost too hard to read: they hit me right in the gut.
Also, as mentioned, Moriarty fits in a lot of fun little asides about reading and writing books–some about romances, due to Frances’ occupation, but some just writing in general, and it’s very meta and very cool. Big portions of the book are really humorous, real, and fun. So it’s sad that I wasn’t really sure of the overall point of the book and its insane plot.
The end of the book picks up too, which complicates my rating even more. Let’s recap, shall we: oft funny and heart-wrenching story with realistic characters marred by an unbelievable plot that carries over for most of the book. What to do, what to do? In the end, between 3 – 3.5 stars, so let’s go with 3.25 stars. It’s quite a book, that’s for sure!
Ugh, this book was a slog to get through. Most of the characters were self-absorbed and the health resort was ridiculous. I didn’t enjoy this at all. The book could have been shorter by 100 pages or so.
So many people love Liane Moriarty books, but I don’t get the hype.
#NinePerfectStrangers #LianeMoriarty
It didn’t hold my attention.
As an avid fan of Liane Moriarty’s books, I found this one to be rather flat. I’m pretty disappointed I recommended Nine Perfect Strangers to my Atlanta Social Book Club. I heard rave reviews about this on social media, and was so excited to read another one of Moriarty’s books; but this was definitely not one of her best.
The idea of self-improvement, weight loss and even marriage counseling brings together nine strangers to Tranquillum House, an exclusive health resort in a remote part of Australia. From a once best-selling romance author, Frances, to a young married couple whose relationship has seen better days, Ben and Jessica; these three and the others are promised in only ten days that their lives will be changed forever, but at what cost?
From the hints by employees and even the demeanour of the owner, Masha, there is more than meets the eye at this retreat. What can a little yoga, meditation, hikes and even smoothies do to help these nine strangers achieve their goals? Well, it certainly wasn’t something legal.
I think I went into this book with too high of hopes. I’ve enjoyed many of Moriarty’s books; Big Little Lies, The Husband’s Secret, and Truly Madly Guilty, but this was certainly not what I thought it was going to be. It was extremely slow to get into, it honestly took me weeks to finish. I’m someone who reads a book in one sitting, maybe two, never more than a week.
The title kind of sold me on the idea there were going to be many characters, but in total there were actually 11 people the reader had to keep up with. From the back stories, the dialogues and plots weaving together, at times, I forget which character I was reading about and had to go back to the beginning of the chapters to find out.
With many of Moriarty’s other books, I felt like I was on the edge of my seating anxiously waiting to get to the end — to the explosive twist ending. With Nine Perfect Strangers I was on the edge of my seat laughing at how over-the-top the plots were getting and wondering how much further Moriarty was going to take it — to the point where it was really hard to believe.
While I found this book hard to read, I can’t put aside the writing that Moriarty is always so impeccable with. One of the lines from Nine Perfect Strangers that really struck me was from the character Zoe, who was describing the grief she was facing with her brother’s suicide:
She had not realized that grief was so physical. Before Zack died, she thought grief happened in your head. She didn’t know that your whole body ached with it….You wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.
Beyond this profound description of grief, Nine Perfect Strangers was a serious letdown compared to Moriarty’s other books I’ve read. I’m pretty heartbroken in having to give this rating, but I will say if you’re looking for a good laugh, this book will not disappoint. But it’ll certainly take you forever to get there!
See more of my review here: https://bit.ly/2tbbZzO
Not as good as her previous books.
Entertaining reading. I enjoyed this book.
This is the fourth book I’ve read by Liane Moriarty and I suspect this will be my last. For me, Liane Moriarty has become another shining example of how success as a bestselling author too often results in an author’s dangerous belief in her (or his) own infallibility, coupled with a decline in the quality of your writing. When I finished this one, the first thing I said, literally out loud, was, “Well, that was a ridiculous story!” I consider two stars to be generous.
But let me try to be more balanced.
First, the Pros:
• The premise seems intriguing enough. Nine people show up for a 10-day retreat at a remote spa facility. It’s a varied group, many of whom are looking to shakeup their lives. There’s one young couple struggling to adjust to a big lottery win. Another couple and their adult daughter are working through a family tragedy. There’s a formerly famous athlete and a romance novelist whose career seems to be taking a nosedive. You have a good-looking gay man whose partner is ready to have children. And a middle age mother of four who has recently been dumped by her husband. There’s also the phenomenally fit woman who owns the spa — a Russian emigre who chucked considerable success in the corporate world, after a near-death experience. Lots of drama to work with, right!
• The book has SO many surprises and unusual plot twists that are completely unexpected. Obviously, I won’t give any away, but they will keep you turning each page, because you will want to know what’s going to happen next.
• Each chapter is written from the point of view of a different character so you get to observe the retreat from varied perspectives and hear directly from the participants themselves.
BUT, OH the Cons:
• Despite all its promise, it turns out this is definitely NOT a character driven book. It’s completely plot driven. Although the unexpected plot twists start off believable enough, pretty soon they veer into the strange. And then, they become just plain absurd and totally unbelievable. And remember, all of it happens in a time period of less than 10 days.
• Then, in the last few pages, the author offers updates about the retreat participants, explaining what happens to them once the retreat ends. That helps to tie up loose ends. But she also uses this space to throw in some completely new and significant information, some of which isn’t even relevant to the main storyline. More like, surprise for surprise sake.
• Despite all the plot twists and turns, I didn’t wind up caring about ANY of the characters. They simply remained one or two dimensional.
Needless to say, I don’t recommend this one. Unless, of course, you want to see what results when an author apparently determines to create an original novel by piling on as many strange and unexpected developments as she can imagine. Did not work for me.
It was easy to read and yet made you think. I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to end up and it was realistic. A social experiment with huge moral dilemmas. You can a little bit of yourself in almost every character. My second Liane Moriarty read and I’m a huge fan.
Had hoped for better from this author! Have read all her books. Think she is being pressured to produce when she has nothing!
I’ve been in the tragic situation of being forced to take a break from reading recently as I was reaching the deadline for submission of my second novel to my publisher. I finally submitted the week before last and as a treat booked a long-weekend in Spain to visit my sister. Stopping off at the airport bookshop on the way I picked up Nine Perfect Strangers and all I can say is WOW! What a treat with which to launch myself back into the magical world of reading.
This is the first Liane Moriarty book I’ve read, although I’m a huge fan of the Big Little Lies TV series. It certainly didn’t disappoint. I was completely drawn in from the very first page. Perhaps it was due to the first character I met being a novelist. I was really engaged with her but as the story revealed itself to me I found that I was having strong emotional responses to all the characters. This book is fresh and edgy. It’s a real page-turner and I flew through it in three days, deeply regretting my arrival at the last page.
I loved that as I read it I found myself settling in, convinced I was fully aware of what was happening only to be hit by a punchy surprise every few chapters. I enjoyed it so much, the minute I got home I made my way to the nearest book shop and bought The Husband’s Secret by the same author. I can’t wait to get stuck in.
This is what happens when a really good writer takes a bizarre detour into a dumb plot. This book is full of fascinating details and her style is crisp and engaging. But halfway through, the story just falls apart. A lot of loyal readers have complained about it, and they’re dead right. There’s nobody at all to root for in this grim, offbeat story.
Can ten days at a health resort actually change your life? Is there something more going on at Tranquillum House than meets the eye? Nine perfect strangers are about to find out.
Tranquillum House is a remote “health resort”. A few are there to lose weight, a few are there to get a restart on their life, and a few are there for reasons only known to them. There is luxury, pampering, mindfulness and meditation on the agenda for the ten days. None of the guests are expecting the challenges they face.
A former best-selling romance author, Frances Welty, arrives at the House nursing a broken heart from an internet scam, a hurting back, and a very painful paper cut. She is intrigued by the eight other guests. Most seem to not even need to be at a health resort, but they are all there waiting for what is to come. Frances is especially intrigued by the owner of Tranquillum House, who is different and the charming director of their ten days.
Francis is not sure she should put her doubts aside and totally get into everything that is being offered to her, or if she should run and put Tranquillum House in her rear-view mirror.
It isn’t long before every guest there is asking if they also need to run.
I enjoyed this book and its story. It is a bit wicked, a bit dramatic, and a good example of Ms. Moriarty’s writing style.
This is the first book I have read by this author and not sure I will read more. The book was just “ok” to me. Very slow through most of the book. The last 1/4 of the book was the best and it still was a struggle to finish.
This felt more like a social satire than an action-packed thriller to me, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent at Tranquillium (but boy, was I glad my stay there was only fictional). I often find myself drifting off from books with multiple POVs, as there’s almost always one or two that entice me the most, but I enjoyed all the (very different) POVs on offer in Nine Perfect Strangers (almost) equally. Moriarty unravelled the guests’ various back stories and secrets with a deft ease, and I found myself sympathising with all of them at times , even if they had me rolling my eyes at other times. Masha was a particularly intriguing offering, who I felt had shades of Elizabeth Holmes of Bad Blood/Theranos fame, and who I’m sure is still out there somewhere, scamming and evangelising her way to the top…