Nine people gather together at a resort for ten days for various reasons. They are required to give up all connections to outside life - cell phone, no TV, no newspapers - and fully immerse themselves into the resort's ways. At one point during the ten days, there is absolutely no talking. They all have specific foods that they are eating but it's not all the same foods.

Masha is the owner/director of the resort and she works with Yao and Delilah. Masha was formerly an executive who suffered a heart attack and Yao was one of the paramedics who saved her.

It's not long into the ten-day retreat when everyone is wondering if the retreat is really helping them. The story was good and then kind of went "off the rails" towards the end but everything was pretty neatly wrapped up.

I've always enjoyed Liane Moriarty's book but wasn't as thrilled with this one as I would have hoped. ( )

I love this author, but this was not one was not one of my favorites. Kept me hooked, but very weird! ( )

Read this one for a new book club starting at my local Starbucks, plus I like Liane Moriarty so it was an easy one to pick up.

This story is about the 9 strangers who attended a 10 day “health clinic” run by a by a mysterious & charismatic women who had transformed her own health.

It’s a good beach book - a mix of serious and funny like all of Moriarty’s books are. I liked most of it but it did drag on a bit (especially the parts in the yoga & meditation studio) and the ending was oddly rushed but overall fine.

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I could have skipped this one and been okay with it.
Liane Moriarty can write books you can hardly put down, like The Husband's Secret and Big Little Lies, but not all her books are as good as that and unfortunately this is one of the not-so-good ones. While it's still very readable, the story is silly and unsatisfying. It has an enormous build up with not a lot of payoff.

The story is about nine people (who incidentally are not perfect strangers - two pairs are married couples and one is someone's child) who go to stay at an upmarket health & wellness retreat for a 10 day transformational cleanse. Over the first half of the book we gradually get to know them all and the emotional baggage that they have brought with them: failing relationships, failing careers, bereavement, personal dilemmas. It's all quite enjoyable to read, but it moves slowly. There's a lot about their daily routine - walks, clean food, spa treatments - and I had no sense of where the book was going or what the point of it was.

At about the halfway mark, that all falls into place as we finally understand the unusual intentions and methods employed by the spa's director. The second half is faster paced and we get to know all the participants very well - it's one of those books where everyone gets an epiphany - but what happens feels way too silly and I didn't find anything from this point on terribly interesting. I wanted to love it I really did and while it is a great concept, I could have skipped it and I would have been fine.
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The book centers around several people who take a two week vacation at a spa. They go for many reasons, couples therapy, depression, to lose weight, etc. Sessions are led by a recently retired, Masha Dmitrichenko. After having a heart attack at her highly stressful job, Masha decides to change careers and opens a new spa. Masha has very unique teachings and processes, some of which her group of guests do not enjoy. Towards the end of their stay, the guests realize that Marsha may not be all there after getting locked in a meditation room. During their time while "imprisoned", they find out about each other and themselves. They come together to try and overthrow Masha, hoping to get out alive. ( )