So, what is this book actually about? I can literally only find the one line description (and praise for the book). Is it a mystery? Is it a self-help book about therapeutic health resorts?

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7 years ago
27 answers

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Heidi Lane It's about nothing. Absolutely nothing! Follow 9 people as they spend a week in a spa. Hear their lives after the spa retreat. The end. Crap book with no story line.

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Elaine Skip it! It's about nothing. It almost had me banging my head against the wall in sheer boredom!

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Wanda Keith I felt that I wasted time reading this book. I cannot honestly tell you what it was about because it made no sense.

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Samantha I'd say it's campy in tone. It's not a mystery or thriller. I see it under Contemporary Fiction and that fits. Similar tone to the TV show The Good Place.

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Michele Cryan This book puts 9 really different personalities into a pressure cooker and we get to ride along seeing how they are going to get through various challenges. The author constantly allows their very real personalities to bubble up in some compelling, strange and funny ways. While obeying some self-help yoga in a confined space the person in charge takes total control and we realize she has lost her mind. Anything can happen.

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Priyanka B great question. Read the book and still trying to figure it out!

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Louise Rochaix

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

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Rudy Parker This book is exploring the self-help and wellness culture in a funny satirical way. It looks at the experience through the eyes of the people attending and those working at the resort.

The wellness phenomenon has been growing rapidly into a multimillion or even billion-dollar industry over the last 40 years. As society grows richer we also seem to be getting less happy. So it's natural that we are spending a lot on this.

Personally I find the character, Masha, the Russian emigre who runs the business, quite intriguing. I hear that Nicole Kidman (who was a character in the TV show adaptation of the book 'Big Little Lies) has bought the rights to make a film of it and that she wants to play this character.

I recommend this book. Five stars.

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Carmen I liked it. I think each person that attended the "retreat" grew in unexpected ways.

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Lori Here's the description from Barnes and Noble:

Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? In Liane Moriarty’s latest page-turner, nine perfect strangers are about to find out...

Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer – or should she run while she still can?

It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.

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Susan I liked it. I like the way it unfolded. Some of the story is laugh-out-loud funny. The characters are well developed and I related to each of them in some way. The ending was a bit disappointing, as in I saw it coming. All in all , Moriarty is a talented and clever writer.

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Linda Thank you for your answers, I wish I had read these before I got 80% through this book. Ugh. I don't see what others are raving about. This is not a good book. I guess I am just not interested in the characters' lives. The only thing I found interesting was the idea of micro-dosing therapy, but not in this setting.

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Varis Rauta I really enjoyed the many viewpoints into humanity on this one. The assumptions people make of others motives that are sometimes correct notions but often deceptive as well. Maybe the book is not too realisti , but on the other hand there is true psychological insight. The book feels kind of fast food literature, but I still find it more deep than youd think about the issue of being social animal.

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Lisa It's about Moriarty trying out her surreal fiction chops on a dare, probably from her editor or her partner, which means it ultimately is about people realizing life has no meaning but what you give it.

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Mary T I was VERY disappointed in the ending. Wouldn't recommend this one. Most of her others were very good.

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LeeAnne Here is what Audible.com says about the audiobook:

Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these 10 days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next 10 days are going to be.

Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? These nine perfect strangers are about to find out…

(Nicole Kidman bought the rights to star in the small screen adaptation of this book.
The move puts Kidman back in business with the 'Big Little Lies' author.)

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Michelle I'd say it is a "tongue in cheek" psychological thriller???

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Ray Brunger It's about kicking yourself for picking it up in the first place and wasting hours of your life rather than reading a good book. What a horrendous, story-less, pointless waste of time.

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Kodi Thelusma Agree with everyone else!! I still don't know what the point of the book was. It seemed to have no point to it at all. I finished it so I could participate in book club discussion, but I wish I had put it down, because it was a waste of time!

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marie I just finished the audiobook. 30% and up to 70% in I wanted to chuck it. Kept asking myself where this was going and what it is about. My guess is it's about each character making positive changes in their lives based on the relationships developed during an absolutely horrendous experience. Not sure I like the message there: An unhinged woman does people a favor by putting them through hell so they will grow. um.. no. Not this time.

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Robert Most of it is a character study. Nine people attend a healing workshop to deal with personal issues. The leader is a control freak and the agenda is different than advertised. Eventually something happens and then there is a plot.

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George [This is not an answer, but:] Thank you for the question! I was dubious based on a) the publisher's 4-paragraph blurb and b) my generally wretched experiences w/ "mainstream" and/or "literary" novels. Now that I also have c) multiple opinions that the thing is plotless, I can more happily leave the library's copy for somebody else to read.

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Summer Summers This book is not about a plot or anything of the like. It is written in a way to make you look at people and the way they struggle with themselves and interact with those around them. It is not about the plot, just entirely character based. It is a fictional work about characters who all live different lives and how each one of them end up at a health resort to try and find a reprieve from their struggles. It is supposed to make you think about your life and the lives of those around you. Very thought provoking.

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Kimberly had the same question. Thriller cynically based around woo new age health center? Sign me up. Romance/Nothing Book set in a "health spa" that doesn't openly mock it? hard pass

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Sandra Jackson - Alawine I think it was about how some people can't accept mistakes they made in their past and move on. The owner of the spa for example. But is very esoteric and covers a lot of ground.

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