Name: Nine perfect strangers
Rating: 3.501432664756447 (349 reviews)
ISBN: 9781250069825

Liane Moriarty

Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? These nine perfect strangers are about to find out.

Nine perfect strangers

I was really interested in the premise and I liked the characters. But with so many POVs the story moved slowly and didn't get exciting until the last third. And then the ending was very anticlimactic. 

Michelle Hruby

Victoria 

Audiobook: So much build up for such a quick ending. I will say I liked getting to know the minds of the characters and why they were there but really I just wanted to read this before watching the show. I could’ve done without the chapters at the end, a "where are they now" style. To me it was just fluff at that point.

Caroline

I read this book on a plane. It was like a soothing balm of small amusement. I did not cry but did think about a few things afterwards. To be fair though I do not remember what they were now.

Elizabeth Wood

I have few words for this book. It was kind of a pointless, waste of my time. I did enjoy some of the characterization, but there wasn’t enough substance for me. Seemed to me that the moral of the story is to micro-dose with LSD and all your life’s problems will be solved and you’ll get a happy ending. Also that you can make friends with the most unlikely of people (best part of the book 😅).

I did like the writing; it was a quick read so I will likely try another of Liane Moriarty’s books, but this was a no for me.

 2⭐️/5

heleen de boever

Started off promising, then quickly became predictable after the ~plot twist. Still an enjoyable enough read to while away that lockdown-time. Some interesting reflections on (and embodiments of) generational anxiety, as well as an impactful depiction of loss.

Nine Perfect Strangers

Lynn

This had interesting parts to it, but not my favourite Moriarty by miles. The different characters and jumping narrators gets confusing sometimes (I have to say the audible narration I listened to didn't help, possibly reading the book is a better experience). The events near the ending felt rushed and too drastically different to the rest of the book. Kinda predictable and not as thrilling as I hoped for. I expected more from the author, however I do think she did an accurate job describing how perspectives can shape realities. Just meh. EDIT: the series however is fantastic, surprisingly better than the book for me.

Alexa M

3.5
picked this up on a whim because i wanted to watch the hulu show when it comes out..
definitely very readable and enjoyable and i was able to fly through this despite it being quite long, however i didnt feel really connected to the characters or the story in any way. i definitely enjoyed my time reading it but dont think it will stick with me.

*4.5
i really really liked it! i usually read books in one reading but this one took a couple days and i'm glad it did. the plot was somewhat simplistic, a middle-aged romance author goes to a health retreat - but is it what it advertises itself as? (of course not) but i think what really made me like this novel so much were the characters and their stories. 

the plot and the story, you could tell where it was going as soon as you picked up the book. was it any less good due to the fact? no! it was still great. 

the characters, however, i loved them. it was just so interesting to see all of these different characters begin to slowly peel off their layers, uncovering their stories chapter by chapter. i would usually (literally, always) read lesbian books and this one had 0 lesbianism, it had one gay man, lars but that was it and the fact that i was still super into it really shows that i found it to be really good. 

i wouldn't say i l o v e d the book but i thoroughly enjoyed it. felt strongly for the characters, was actually interested in all of their stories, engrossed in the plot, there was nothing not to like!

Rachel Kanyid

Megan Snodgrass

This is my first ever Liane Moriarty read and it was so enjoyable. Gave me newage "And Then There Were None" vibes. The suspense part was a very very slowburn, but tbh I think it gave you more time to learn and understand each character. I ended up having a great fondness for each character and just wanted to cradle the Marconi family and drink wine with Frances. I love plotless books (not saying this was one of those but wasn't the murder thriller you might think it is), ensemble casts, and getting to know characters down to their deep deep core so if that's you too you'll really enjoy this.

NRBSN

I couldn’t really see where it was going and the ending fell flat for me. An OK read, but I wouldn’t say any more than that

Lauren Wightman

I liked it but also thought multiple times, "what the fuck is going on"

One luxury retreat in the middle of nowhere. Ten days in which no one can leave. Nine strangers seeking perfection. And each discovering the perfect lie...

This is different from her other books. Starts out gripping and page-turnery, goes on blandish and becomes very predictable in the end. The characters are one dimensional and cartoonish, and it will surely become a prestige mini series (you can almost hear “cut!” between scenes). For me it is offputting, maybe some other reader likes it, to each its own.

Celeste Richardson

Nine Perfect Strangers was not a book I intended to pick up. The idea of a novel this long set at a health resort sounded tedious to me. But after seeing the trailer for the Hulu series, I found myself intrigued. I enjoyed another of Moriarty’s books, Big Little Lies, and it was also a story whose premise did nothing for me, so I decided to give Nine Perfect Strangers a try. I’m glad I did, because it ended up being one of the best non-fantasy novels I’ve read all year. I was honestly incredibly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book.

As I mentioned above, our setting is a health resort. I’m not generally a fan of spas as a setting, but this one had a few things going for it: it’s housed in a converted historic home in Australia, and the treatments are uniquely tailored and often cutting-edge. But what really drew me into the story were the characters. We have the titular strangers who come to the resort at the same time for a 10 day cleanse, all of them looking to revamp their lives in different ways for radically different reasons. Then we have the owner of the resort and her two aides. All twelve of these people are perspective characters, and the narrative cycles through their points of view.

 Moriarty does a great job diving deep into the psyches of her characters and making them feel multifaceted and three-dimensional during their perspective chapters. The balance of this with how the same characters seem almost like caricatures through the eyes of the rest of the cast is an interesting, and compelling, one. By the midpoint of the novel, every single person felt real and absolutely believable to me. There was one major exception, but I think they were supposed to be an exception. I loved seeing how all of these characters grew and changed by the end of the book, and how they stayed the same. And I didn’t really expect to care.

This story is also a look at the dangers of playing God with the lives of others, and how that can negatively impact those people even when you technically get the results you want. It also showed how, no matter how tightly you try to control things, people are unpredictable and can always find a way to worm free that you didn’t anticipate. People can always surprise you, especially when you truly believe you have them all figured out. They’re also resilient, even when they don’t believe they are.

There came a point in the story where the narrative could have gone completely off the rails as the plot suddenly veered from its trajectory up to that point. But, to stick with the metaphor, Moriarty kept things on track with both finesse and a firm grip. Even at its wildest, you could tell she had the story completely under control. I don’t want to go into detail, as I found this portion of the book impact because it caught me so off guard, but it was definitely surprising. There was a bit of a fourth-wall break that was jarring but fascinating. That entire segment of the story was really weird, but I was hanging on every word. This is where to book went from a 4 star read to a solid 5 stars.

I didn’t see how following the growth of these characters during their time at a health resort could possibly be that interesting. It didn’t sound like there was going to be much plot. Turns out I was wrong. The story ended up being far, far twistier than I expected. While it was a bit slow to start as groundwork was laid, even then I was never bored. But after about two hundred pages, I was hooked. There were surprise revelations being thrown out even in the very last pages. 

Nine Perfect Strangers is not a typical read for me. But I’m so glad I decided to give it a try. I guess should thank Hulu, since the ad for the show is what drew my attention to it in the first place. After having enjoyed both this book and Big Little Lies far more than I anticipated, I’m very interested in reading more of Moriarty’s work.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

Mary Rose Luksha

I’ve only read Big Little Lies by Moriarty, but I knew going into Nine Perfect Strangers that it’s a very different kind of book. Nine Perfect Strangers is the definition of a slow burn, but I loved the pay off. The chapters told in Frances’s voice were absolutely perfect — Moriarty had this deft way of almost-but-not-quite breaking the fourth wall that was wry and refreshing and I loved it. At first you wonder how these “nine perfect strangers” will all connect, but all I will say is this: we are all connected through love and devastating loss, and when we learn how to carry the pain (and hopefully the pleasure) together, it’s a beautiful thing. And that’s why this was a solid 5 stars for me.

Mariane Ferrantino 

** spoiler alert **
           I want to give this more stars, but it just wasn’t that transcendent 5 star experience I reserve for my most favorite of books on GoodReads. I really like Moriarty’s writing style. The story jumps between perspectives, and I felt each person was unique enough that I didn’t get confused. It reminded me a lot of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None minus the murder. A solid read. Check it out if you have enjoyed anything else Liane Moriarty has written.

Fraser Simons

This is in pretty stark contrast to Apples Never Fall, which feels far tighter and interesting to this. The idea of nine strangers going to a resort to “fix” their lives is trite as it is. It turns out that it’s even less dynamic than that; much of the book takes place in a locked room that the author simply doesn’t pull off. 

This has some of the worst middle book syndrome I’ve encountered. Very little to nothing happens and most everything we need to know about the characters has been established. Strangely, it does have good comedic timing and situational comedy throughout. But this tone made the overall piece feel even more disjointed to me. I’m not sure what this was actually going for. 

This feels superficial and sadly only continued to navigate to the very least interesting aspects the story could have gone in. I have no idea how this would make for an interesting TV show. I own Big Little Lies and need to get to that, but so far this author is a hugely mixed bag. I loved Apples Never Fall released this year, and was close to giving this a 1 star review, despite finishing it and wishing for that time back.

Nine perfect strangers

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