PAGES Moriarty’s latest novel just like life
Nine Perfect Strangers — Liane Moriarty (Macmillan, $37.99) by Louise Ward, Wardini Books.
Liane Moriarty crafts stories that are populated by people you know.
Her latest, Nine Perfect Strangers, charts the fortunes and misfortunes of the random residents of a heath retreat, Tranquillum House, as they attempt to find their true selves and emerge transformed.
The characters are a varied bunch who are all, at first, slightly horrified by one another. Romance author Frances’ career is stalling; Lars is a serial heath retreater; Ben and Jessica’s marriage is suffering after a huge Lotto win; Napoleon, Heather and their daughter Zoe have suffered loss; Tony is middle aged and overweight; Carmel’s husband has left her for a younger model. Overseeing their transformation is Masha, an intimidatingly strong and healthy specimen who promises a life changing experience but warns that there will be challenges along the way — little do this rag tag bunch of strangers know just how challenging it will be.
What makes this novel riveting is Moriarty’s ability to see inside people’s souls and present us with truth.
These characters are clear on what life has thrown at them but haven’t figured out the destructiveness of their reactions and behaviours and the author, through the terrifying figure of Masha, picks this apart with disturbing clarity. Some characters are more sympathetic than others: Zoe because of her youthfulness, Napoleon because he’s trying so hard, Frances because she’s funny and has one eyebrow raised at all times.
The absolute genius of the writing is that there is one character that each reader will identify with. Frances is mine; she’s about my age so if she’s not quite me, I certainly know her.
Nine Perfect Strangers is a fabulous dissection of personality in which each character discovers a lifechanging truth, but not in a cheesy way.
It’s the clever, dramatic plotting that leads them to self-discovery as Tranquillum House is not quite your usual retreat but the receptacle of Masha’s past life and trauma. It’s a cracker of a read with a deft, light touch, full of humour, darkness and light. Just like life.