Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Amy        

fiction

Nine Perfect Strangers arrive to spend 10 days at a transformative health resort.  Their time together involves a variety of experiences—some that were expected and some that were quite surprising.

Liane Moriarty did it again!  I was all set to not like this novel, despite the fact that I’ve enjoyed four of her other novels, because a) the story description did not interest me, b) her last novel was not as good as the others I’d read previously, and c) my sister, with whom I usually agree about books, was unable to finish it she disliked it so much.  So, I went into it with a level of dread but had to give it a try.  After all, I had recently met Liane and gotten her signature in my copy of this novel.  Thankfully, I loved it! 

Liane had me at page 56 when she described a character as “chronically loquacious”.  Hilarious!  As is typical with her novels, things did end up getting a bit out of hand and it was all in a good way!  It completely worked for me.  I adored the quirky characters who, despite their quirkiness, were all relatable.  I became invested in their individual issues and paths to transformation.  And I was so interested to find out how they all managed in the end that I wanted to keep reading and listening.  (I listened to the audiobook and also read the hardcover book, alternating the media based on my circumstances—listened in the car, on walks, and while working around the house and alternately read the hardcover while at home.) I was concerned at the beginning that getting to know so many characters was going to be exhausting but it was easy to get to know them all the way Liane crafted the tale.  I also loved reading about how all the characters fared after their stay ended.

The audiobook was narrated by Caroline Lee.  I also heard her narration of Liane’s novel Truly Madly Guilty and she, again, did a terrific job.  Her Australian accent was easy to understand and she pulled off a reasonable Russian accent for the voice of Masha.  Her voice acting was fun—she has great comedic timing.  However, she didn’t distinguish the other characters’ voices very much so I’ll give her an A- on this one.

P.S. Lynnie and I rarely have a large disagreement of opinion on novels.  So, this is quite notable!  Amy's 4 stars vs. Lynnie's not finished! It is the largest variance we’ve ever had!  Of the 226 books we've both recorded on Goodreads, we differ by more than 1 star on only 10 books.  All 10 of those differ by only 2 stars (and most of them are older novels that fall under the situation where Lynnie read them when she was younger and Amy read them when she was older).  But this is our first 3+ star discrepancy.