Book review and synopsis for Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty, nine people at a very odd getaway.
Synopsis
In Nine Perfect Strangers, Nine people gather at the Tranquillum House Resort for a 10-day wellness retreat, run by a former businesswoman named Masha. While these strangers get to know each other and grapple with their own issues, they start to have questions about what exactly is going on at this retreat.
(The Detailed Plot Summary is also available, below)
Detailed Plot Summary
Section-by-Section SummarySee the Section-by-Section Summary of Nine Perfect StrangersQuick Plot SummaryThe one-paragraph version of this: Nine Perfect Strangers is about a group of people who go to attend a fancy but strange wellness resort where they each work on their personal issues. They later get trapped in a room at the order of the resort director, Masha, and learn that it's all part of her experimental treatment where she's been administering them micro-doses of LSD.
A group of people show up to a wellness resort (the Tranquillium House) for a 10-day retreat. It includes Frances (romance novelist), Lars (health-retreat junkie), Ben and Jessica (rich young couple), Carmel (divorced single mother and Tony (divorcee). Plus, there's the Marconi family, consisting of Napoleon (schoolteacher), his wife Heather and their daughter Zoe. Tranquillium House has weird, stringent rules. As the guests do activities like hikes, therapy and meditation, we learn more about why they're all there. The Marconis lost a child, Zach. Ben and Jessica won the lottery and it changed their relationship. Frances was scammed by a man pretending to date her. Carmel's ex-husband and daughter are off traveling with his new fiancee, and she's here to lose weight.
Meanwhile, Masha is the resort director, and Yao and Deliah are wellness consultants. They are surveilling the guests closely. On Day 5, Heather figures out that the smoothies they've been fed are drugged. Masha admits that they've been micro-dosing them with LSD (to help them open up), but tried out a larger dose today. The guests are upset, but are soon all too high to do anything about it. High and hallucinating, they have various revelations. Lars sees how his parent's unhappy marriage has made him afraid to marry his loving partner, Ray. Heather feels guilty about Zach's suicide because she gave him medication that causes depression. Carmel decides she loves her body as it is.
When they sober up, the guests realize they are locked in. As they try to find a way out, the staff discusses the situation. (Deliah realizes this is not going to end well and leaves, stealing Ben's Lamborghini on the way out.) This was supposed to be a teamwork exercise, but Masha decides she's trying something new. When Yao protests, she drugs him. Masha gives the guests a new game to play, but then starts thinking of her baby son who strangled himself (with a curtain cord) while she'd been distracted with work and died. She takes LSD and is soon clearly out of her mind. The guests hear and smell a fire outside and are freaking out until they realize it's just a recording. They door is now unlocked and outside there's just a small wastebasket with burnt stuff.
Now free, Masha (still high) asks them if they're pleased with their revelations and results. When Heather insults Masha, Masha attacks her, so Frances knocks her out. A cop shows up (he went to check it out after catching Deliah speeding in the stolen car) and they tell him what happened. Masha and Yao are arrested. Afterwards, the guests end up resolving the root issues they went to the resort for. Many years later, Masha is out of jail, has written a book and has a exclusive, secretive LSD-based (illegal) therapy program still going on. Frances and Tony marry.
For more detail, see the full Section-by-Section Summary.
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I bought this book recently and I want to read it. I love Big Little Lies (the TV-show), though I still have to read the book as well (which I also have sitting on my shelf).
I totally agree Big Little Lies is fantastic — the whole cast is great. There were definitely some pros and cons to Nine Perfect Strangers but as a whole I thought it had some good insights! :)
this book was too “out there” for me
haha totally understandable :)
It did start getting a bit silly halfway through. This definitely isn’t her best, but still quite an enjoyable read.
yeah, I think she tied up the story nicely in the end which helped it feel more satisfying even after the weirdness :)
I enjoyed her book What Alice Forgot! But I don’t think I will read this one!
oo I’ll look into that one, thanks for the heads up! :)
I completely disagree with you about the audio book. Caroline Lee is one of the best readers out there, she’s Australian, hence the accent. There’s a reason for the Russian accent for Masha, and I think it’s done very well.
There’s conflicting opinions about this book but overall I really liked it.