Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Let me start off by saying I don’t think I have ever been more disappointed in a book than with this one. As I have been told, it takes a lot to impress me and this just didn’t make the cut. I don’t know if my expectations were too high based on the author and her past success or seeing it on different must read books lists and inquiring that it must be good. For those who don’t know, or like me only knew because it said this on the book cover, Liane Moriarty is the bestselling author of Big Little Lies. A book that has over 800,000 ratings on Goodreads, an average 4.3 rating, and was the baseline for a very successful TV show. Though I have not read this book you can see why my standards might have been a little high with this one.

The premise of the book surrounds these nine strangers (obviously) who are far from perfect. The book starts off with these individuals making their way to a ten day health retreat in rural Australia. The retreat is lead by a lady named Masha who once lived a very different life than the one she currently does. She is all about transformation and believes that all her actions are for the good of her clients. You start to learn about each of the characters on a base level and it slowly goes into deeper of who they actually are. But things don’t seem right. Things almost seem too perfect. When the pieces of the puzzle start to be put together you see that everyone has something to hide, including Masha.

Where I struggled with the book is that it is just not interesting. It’s almost a 450 page book and the first actual sign of action wasn’t until page 400. So much of the book is backstory, and yes that is helpful getting to know the characters and why they decided to go to this retreat in the first place, but I didn’t need 200 pages of backstory. I kept thinking that something had to happen soon. This can’t be it. Just was so boring.

As we know not every book can be 5 stars. There are lots of duds within the greats. I apologize if you have read this and enjoyed it. For me it was a dud unfortunately. I have Big Little Lies on my books to read list but right now I am a little skeptical after reading this one. I’ll give it some time before I return to Liane Moriarty and hope that it intrigues me just a little bit more. I would save yourself some time and not pick up this one the next time you are looking for a book. But nevertheless, onto the next one.

Until Next Time, The Library Abroad

Picture Credit: Book Club Questions for Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty – Book Club Chat