Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty: A Review

“I don’t get the obsession with strangers, her first husband, Sol, once said to her, and Frances had struggled to explain that strangers were by definition interesting. It was their strangeness. The not-knowing. Once you knew everything there was to know about someone, you were generally ready to divorce them.” – Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

Nine strangers. Ten days at a remote health resort. All of them are looking to transform their lives at the hands of Masha, the resort’s owner who promises to help them achieve their potential. Each guest arrives with their own hopes and goals, but within days, they are questioning the wisdom of having given themselves over to Masha and her unorthodox “treatments” in their desire to change their lives.

This novel follows the style of Moriarty’s other books. There is a sharp sense of wit as Moriarty takes tongue-in-cheek aim at health resorts, romance novels and our desire for “happily every after” endings but beneath the surface runs a dark undercurrent of obsession, loss and madness. I always enjoy the way that Moriarty is able to take everyday characters – in this case, a novelist, a lawyer, or a teacher – and put them in circumstances that are exceptional to create tension and suspense. Her books are fun, scary and clever.

Nine Perfect Strangers is not my favorite of Moriarty’s novels (although I know some people who think it’s her best so far). I liked the characters and I’m not going to spoil any surprises but I will say that there is a point in the novel for me where the plot came very close to jumping the shark. Regardless, this book was a page-turner and all of the characters do leave Tranquillum House transformed, just not in the ways they expected. The novel is about change – what drives us to change and what holds us back. Moriarty examines how much of life is what happens to us, and how much is shaped by how we handle those events. But don’t expect this novel to leave you with positive affirmations or new yoga poses … the changes the characters experience come through adversity, not meditation or spa massages.

If you are looking for a novel that is pure entertainment, then this would be a good choice. Until next time, happy reading!

Bonus Book: Lost & Found by Brooke Davis

“The start date and the end date are always the important bits on the gravestones, written in big letters. The dash in between is always so small you can barely see it. Surely the dash should be big and bright and amazing, or not, depending on how you had lived.” – Brooke Davis, Lost and Found

This novel opens with three characters: seven-year old Millie Bird has red hair and wears red rain boots and is otherwise a pretty normal kid until her mother abandons her in a department store. Agatha Pantha is eighty-two and hasn’t left her home since she was widowed seven years ago. She fills her days following a strict schedule and yelling her criticisms of passers-by from her living room window. Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven and escapes from a nursing home. This unlikely trio are brought together in search of Millie’s mother and a kind of coming-of-age road trip ensues.

I looked at some reviews for this book and some people criticized it because it’s not realistic. I want to be clear from the start – the story line isn’t meant to be particularly realistic. I mean, who expects a story of a seven-year old and her two octogenarian sidekicks taking off across Australia to find a mother who left her own daughter under a rack of ginormous women’s underwear in a local store to be realistic? But I digress.

This novel is heart-warming and funny and sad. In their search for Millie’s mom, all three characters learn more about themselves and the value of friendship than they anticipated. The chapters move between the three main characters and through their narration, the reader gets a sense of Millie’s fear and loss, Karl’s kindness and Agatha’s fierce, cranky determination. Their voices come together to weave a quirky story about all things lost and found.

Is it too late to pick it up as a belated Jolabokaflod gift to yourself? I think not. I hope you read it and enjoy it as much as I did.

Half Spent was the Night by Ami McKay: A Review

“Christmas Day has come and gone, the New Year lies ahead. Strange things happen Between the Years, in the days outside of time. Minutes go wild, hours vanish. Idleness becomes a clever thief, stealing the names of the days of the week, muting the steady tick of watches and clocks. These are the hours when angels, ghosts, demons and meddlers ride howling wind and flickering candlelight, keen to stir unguarded hearts and restless minds.” Ami McKay, Half Spent was the Night: A Witches’ Yuletide

It is fitting to be posting about this book now as it is set in the “dead days” between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. If you have read McKay’s novels The Virgin Cure or Witches of New York, then you will already be familiar with the three witches, Adelaide, Eleanor and Beatrice. The novella is a bit of a Christmas ghost story that includes divinations, a mysterious Baroness, a New Year’s ball, a demon and some “ghosts” from the witches’ past that they would rather forget. The story is charming and full of fun touches like recipes that McKay includes of her characters’ Christmas dishes. I like how McKay is able to create an atmosphere that is both cozy and mysterious at times. There are a lot of beautiful details in this story (not to mention that the book itself is gorgeous – I am a sucker for fancy end papers).

I read The Virgin Cure but Witches of New York is still hanging out in my TRP and I wish I had read it first. There are a lot of references to the witches’ backstories from the other novels and I think the story would be more meaningful if I had more understanding of those events. Someone told me (after I read Half Spent was the Night) that the novella finishes a lot of plot developments that McKay started in Witches so I guess that’s what I get for jumping ahead. For me, the plot moved too fast, especially when it came to the events of the ball. It felt like McKay was trying to wrap up several story lines as quickly as she could and I would have preferred a longer book to give the story a chance to develop a little further. Especially as the plot reached it’s climax, it felt like the clock struck midnight, the story ended and I was thinking, “that’s it? But I wanted more!” The character of the baroness is really interesting and I would have loved to see McKay develop her story further.

If you are a fan of McKay’s writing, I think you will like this book. It has all the richness you associate with her novels and evokes that feeling of hearing stories around the fire on a winter’s night. Let me know your thoughts if you read it!

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng: A Review

“One had followed the rules, and one had not. But the problem with rules… was that they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time they were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure what side of the line you stood on.” – Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere

I really, really liked this book. Set in the community of Shaker Heights, Little Fires Everywhere follows the story of two families: the Richardsons – a wealthy family with four teenaged children and their tenant, Mia Warren and her daughter, Pearl. Shaker Heights is a planned community where everything from the layout of the streets to the colours of the houses is carefully designed. The families of Shaker are rich, their children go on to prestigious universities, they give to the right charities, they help those in need. They follow the rules. They do what is right. Nobody embodies Shaker more than Elena Richardson, who was raised in the community and returned there to raise her own family. When Mia moves to Shaker, Elena sees the artist and her shy daughter as an opportunity to help someone deserving. Very quickly the two families become entwined via the children; Pearl becomes a fixture in the Richardson home while Izzy, Elena’s challenging youngest child, comes to idolize Mia. When a white couple in Shaker attempts to adopt a Chinese-American baby who was abandoned by her mother, a custody battle ensues that divides the community, and puts Elena and Mia on opposite sides.

One of the things I most enjoyed about this book was how unexpected so much of it was. As the novel progresses, secrets are revealed that threaten to pull both families apart. The narrative moves between Elena, Mia and each of the five children. Ng’s writing is like a slow burn. I found myself drawn in almost without noticing, and then I couldn’t stop reading. Ng reveals the complexities of family, especially the relationships between mothers and their children. She also examines what it means to follow the rules, and what it means to break them. Both Elena and Mia are strong characters with faith that their actions are the right ones and this sets them on a path that will eventually result in heartbreak for both of them. I think the reason the novel works so well is because Ng is careful not to create heroes or villains. Each character’s choices and feeling are understandable given their circumstances and this makes the events that unfold – some of them shocking – feel inevitable. Ng’s writing creates an immersive world in the suburbs of Cleveland that feels both familiar and alien as she pushes the readers’ boundaries about who is right and who is wrong in the conflicts she creates.

If you are looking for a book to read in the new year, you should pick up Little Fires Everywhere. I would really love to hear what you think about it and if you loved it as much as I did! Until next time, happy reading!

The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley: A Review

“‘I’m just a girl,’ I said, hating myself even as I said it. ‘Ever so many girls have mousy hair. I’m just one of the mice.'” – Alan Bradley, The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place

Apologies, dear readers! I’m afraid the holidays have me way behind schedule posting my December blogs. I will do my best to have everything back on track for you before the new year. I will post on each of the Jolabokaflod books in the coming days, and hopefully you will have the chance to put your feet up and do some reading too.

If you have never read on of Alan Bradley’s “Flavia de Luce” mysteries, I would recommend starting with the first book in the series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Bradley is Canadian but the novels are set in the English countryside in the early 1950s. Throughout the series, Bradley is able to play on conventional British murder mysteries but his choice of detective (an eleven-year-old girl with braids, knee socks, and a passion for chemistry) makes them stand out. The main character, Flavia, is a refreshing change as a sleuth; instead of a hardbitten former police officer with a drinking problem and an ex-wife, picture Sherlock Holmes meets Wednesday Addams and you will have an idea. Flavia is brilliant and maybe just slightly intrigued by all things death. Bradley infuses his novels with dark humour as Flavia judges (and often finds lacking) the wit of the adults around her.

If you have read other novels from this series, then this one won’t disappoint. On a boating afternoon with her sisters and their loyal servant, Dogger, Flavia discovers the corpse of a young actor drowned in the river. This unexpected turn of events forces the group to stay in the local village while Flavia, often slowed by the efforts of the police investigation, attempts to solve the mystery of the actor’s death. Often frustrated by being the target of condescension and suspicion, Flavia never doubts her own intellect and flouts authority and rules in order to be the one to solve the case. True to his style, Bradley colours the novel with local eccentrics and looming dangers that threaten Flavia as she comes to close to revealing the truth. Set against the back story of the family’s recent loss of their father, the mystery can also be read as Flavia’s attempt to find order and predictability in the chaos their lives have been thrown into.

I can’t help but be charmed by these novels every time I pick one up. They are both familiar and unexpected at once. Bradley’s wry humour is contrasted by surprising moments of vulnerability as Flavia tries to overcome the grief and worry her father’s death has left behind by portraying herself as a cool and saavy detective. She is one of my absolute favourite fictional people and if you are looking for a good mystery over the holidays, one of Bradley’s novels would be worth picking up.

December Line Up

OK, so, have you ever heard of Jolabokaflod? If you haven’t, get ready for this: it’s an Icelandic traditional that roughly translates to ‘the Christmas book flood’. It turns out that every year, publishers in Iceland release their new titles in the run-up to Christmas (side note: turns out the Icelandic are a very bookish people). So every year, the ‘Book Bulletin’ – a catalogue of the new books – is published and then everyone spends the next several weeks going through it and deciding what books they are going to give (and hope to get) for Jolabokaflod. Which is all very nice except I haven’t gotten to the best part – on Christmas Eve, Icelanders exchange books and chocolate and then sit around in their pjs reading their new books and eating their new chocolate. HOW GREAT IS THAT? So while I clearly do not need any new books this Christmas (don’t take that as a hint not to get me any), I thought I would go through my TRP and choose the books I would most like to read for the December Line Up – a little early Jolabokaflod gift to myself. So without further ado, here goes:

December 1: The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley

This is the ninth novel in Bradley’s Flavia de Luce mystery series. Flavia is a twelve year old chemistry genius with a penchant for solving murders. I love Bradley’s novels because they are darkly comedic and while they play with conventions of British mystery novels, they are not at all predictable. And … Bradley’s next novel in the series is coming out in January so I really do need to get a move on.

December 8: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

This one came up on so many “best of 2018” lists this year that I felt like I had to read it. The novel follows the stories of two families who are connected but ultimately divided by a community conflict. It deals with the price of secrets, the nature of art and identity and the dangers that come from following the rules.

December 15: Half Spent Was the Night by Ami McKay

I really enjoyed Ami McKay’s novels The Birth House and The Virgin Cure. This novella follows the three witches from Witches of New York (which is also in the TRP) in the nights between Christmas a New Year’s. They receive an invitation to attend a New Year’s masquerade ball at the home of a stranger – and as the witches go into the New York night to meet their mysterious host, they may be facing unknown dangers.

December 22: Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

I think I’m at the point where Liane Moriarty could publish the phone book and I might buy it. I have really enjoyed her other novels which are big, generous, gossipy stories set in contemporary Australia. In this novel, nine people gather at Tranquillum House, a health resort, to recover from what ails them. The main character, Frances, is soon fascinated by the houses’ owner. Within days, all the guests are asking, should they surrender to the “recovery” that Tranquillum House offers, or run while they still can?

December 29: The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

This one came recommended by a friend. The House at Riverton reminds me of The Thirteenth Tale – a story line that shifts between the early twentieth century and the contemporary world, a shocking death and secrets revealed. It sounds like the perfect book for unraveling in front of a warm fire over the holidays.

I am really excited for this month’s books. If you are planning on reading along, let me know. Happy Jolabokaflod, everyone. I wish you books and chocolate this holiday.