There are a group of authors that when they write a book – I don’t need to know much about it. I know from experience it is going to be good. Liane Moriarty is one of those authors.
~Sheila
Nine Strangers sign up to attend a 10-Day Health Resort Retreat called Tranquillum House. All have different reasons for attending: lose weight, find themselves, reboot, peace, etc. After all, how could one really resist an add that promotes a 10-Day Mind and Body Total Transformation Retreat?
At first, everyone pretty much keeps to themselves. Beyond the (mandatory) daily smoothies, meditations and special diet they eye one another suspiciously. Then they began to talk – too much according to the Proprietress, Masha, who hand picked the retreat attendees. Masha seems to have an underlining agenda and methodically moves her guests through the 10-days almost as though they were puppets being worked by her hand.
As the retreat moves along and the guests start to have questions – they all pinpoint on one. Should they run while they still have the chance?
“Women and their bodies! The most abusive and toxic of relationships. Masha had seen women pinch at the flesh of their stomachs with such brutal self-loathing they left bruises. Meanwhile their husbands fondly patted their won much larger stomachs with rueful pride.”
I tend to listen to Moriarty’s books rather than read them as she has an amazing narrator. Caroline Lee, who narrated Moriarty’s other books: The Husband’s Secret, Big Little Lies, Truly Madly Guilty) has just the right amount of snark for Moriarty’s often fun and quirky characters.
Nine Perfect Strangers started out differently than the others I have listened to. The start up felt – well slow, and it took me a while to get into what was happening. Usually her books grab me right away, this one took a wee bit longer… once everyone arrived at the retreat, it started to get interesting. What was going to happen? Everyone was so different… why did Masha act so strange? What the %$*@ was in that smoothie she insisted that everyone drink every day?
In the end, I enjoyed the story. There were a few laugh out loud moments and once again Moriarty has created something unusual using trendy topics and real life issues. Recommended for Moriarty fans and I highly recommend if you have not tried her on audio to do so.
Sheila DeChantal
Now Blogging and Talking Life, Food, Happenings at: Iguessimdoingthis.com
Book Journey 
This was my last book of 2018 and my review goes up tomorrow. I LOVED this one. It didn’t begin slow for me (but I wasn’t on audio, so maybe that made a difference?) and once I started I just couldn’t set it down. Once we went off into the truly bizarre, I REALLY couldn’t stop. I’m not sure if this is my favorite of Moriarty’s work, but it’s the fourth of five that I’ve loved so I’m getting less leery after my bad experience with The Husband’s Secret.
That could be the difference Amanda… I was distracted by book sorting… lol 🙂 I have enjoyed all her books.
Stacked!
I’ve listened to one of her books and struggled with the narrator’s accent – isn’t it funny how it strikes us each differently. I might try this in print.
It is funny as often accents are hard for me to listen to – for some reason, I enjoy these 🙂
As you know, I don’t do audiobooks, (although I tried for about a half an hour in December, lol), but I have this one to read. Soon, I hope. I also love her books.
Thanks for sharing…and it’s good to see you blogging again. For a little bit or however long it lasts.
I hope it does last – I set up the whole other site and am just getting back to that as well. I miss the book community and talking books 😉
I do agree about the narrator but I read this one, it wasn’t a favourite of hers for me. I sort of found it okay but a bit wacky!
Yes, not a favorite – but in the end…. wack-a-doo interesting LOL
I love listening to Caroline Lee. She does such an awesome job!
I agree, she has just the punch in her voice to narrate these books!
This sounds like it would be a great choice for me as an audio book! I like quirky characters. Ihaven’t read or listened to this author yet, but I’d like to, thanks to your review.
I have listened to all her books on audio. I hope you give them a try Suko!
I have some of Moriarty’s books on my shelf but haven’t seemed to be able to get to them yet. This one sounds intriguing, as do all of her books, I’ve never listened to audios. Thanks for providing an excellent review. I will look up this one.
I love Caroline Lee’s narration and I finished this one this week. Wow. I agree that the beginning was slow and I wasn’t sure how I would fare. I was not a big fan of the Truly Madly book. However, once things started going – what a wacky, wacky book. Seriously.