‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ tells tale of radical self-help
In “Nine Perfect Strangers,” Liane Moriarty expertly weaves the narratives of 12 individuals’ experiences up to and during a 10-day spa retreat, where nine of them have been beckoned by the promise of revolutionary personal transformation. The nine perfect strangers of the title arrive eager to relax and recharge through outdoor exercise, sleep, personalized diets, therapy and spa treatments.
But the Tranquillum House guests don’t know that the unconventional spa is undergoing its own “program reformation” and that they will be the first to receive the “new protocol” created by spa owner Masha and her wellness consultants.
“Nine Perfect Strangers” opens with Yao, a wellness consultant and former paramedic who helped save Masha from a heart attack that she was intent on ignoring and working through. The narrative then switches focus to client Frances Welty’s bleak view of her trek to the spa.
Situated in the Australian countryside northwest of Sydney, Tranquillum House is a restored three-story Victorian mansion where Masha promises guests they’ll find themselves anew. When we meet middleaged Frances, she is ripe for a nervous breakdown and desperately in need of a fresh perspective. Having just realized she’s been the victim of a costly online romance scam, her pride and selfperception are distorted and deflated. She’s come to the retreat seeking peace, weight loss and restoration.
After establishing Frances’
story, Ms. Moriarty then introduces each of the nine guests and three employees in narrative sections. Each one presents a character’s perspective in third person, slowly revealing essential personal details that invite the reader in. As their stories unfold and intertwine, we are brought to the brink of their personal transformations. Steadily and slowly, Ms. Moriarty builds a foundation that anchors the narrative before unleashing the reader and characters on a trippy and relentlessly surprising exploration of consciousness and reality.
Ms. Moriarty’s impeccable narrative pace builds her characters’ credibility so that readers will easily relate to the well-crafted but flawed characters. None are as earnest in their pursuit of self-improvement as Masha would like them to be. Having undergone her own physical and mental transformation, the spa owner’s expectations of her guests are high and often unmet. Like her guests, she is in need of a radical life improvement, which she expects to result from the expedited implementation of her new protocol.
In the range of complex and simple characters, Ms. Moriarty subtly juxtaposes youth and fortune with age and loss. Life tends to introduce more loss the longer one lives, though some losses are more devastating than others. Each character’s experience of loss and resulting internal conflict seem both fitting to the character and likely to prompt them to seek revolutionary change.
Ben, the husband of Instagram-obsessed and cosmetically enhanced Jessica, finds it easier to show affection for his yellow Lamborghini than his wife. Extra-talkative Napoleon and his fragile and agitated wife Heather have brought their daughter Zoe for a peaceful vacation. Tony, an overweight, middle-aged man, has built professional success at the price of personal disappointment. Similarly, the gorgeous and aloof Lars has come to the retreat to escape the pressure of his partner’s wish to become a father. Finally, Carmel, an overworked, underappreciated and recently divorced mother of four whose ex left her for an upgrade, is wrestling with her sense of self in a life she didn’t quite expect to be living.
Ms. Moriarty, author of the best-seller turned HBO hit “Big Little Lies,” seamlessly leads the reader through an unpredictable maze of struggles with love, loss and understanding. Her pacing, character development and knack for packing a surprise punch will keep readers engaging in literary therapy by turning the pages late into the night.