Book Talk | Here One Moment
In case you don't know me or are new to my blog, Liane Moriarty is one of my favorite authors. I really enjoy her way of giving the reader suspense with little twists and turns here and there. The plot lines are always interesting and there's never a huge ending surprise in the sense that you will have these outlandish ideas, only for it to be the last thing you would have thought about but makes the most sense (did that even make sense?). Anyway, Here One Moment came out on September 10th, 2024 in the U.S. and best believe I was there at Barnes & Nobles on the day of (and receiving 30% off. Thanks B&N!). So here are my thoughts and feelings on Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty.
About the Author
Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of eight internationally best-selling novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, Nine Perfect Strangers and the number one New York Times bestsellers: The Husband's Secret, Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and sold more than 20 million copies.
About the Story
The plane is jam-packed. Every seat is taken. So of course the flight is
delayed! Flight attendant Allegra Patel likes her job—she’s generally
happy with her life, even if she can’t figure out why she hooks up with a
man she barely speaks to—but today is her twenty-eighth birthday. She
can think of plenty of things she’d rather be doing than placating a
bunch of grumpy passengers.
There’s the well-dressed man in seat
4C who is compulsively checking his watch, desperate not to miss his
eleven-year-old daughter’s musical. Further back, a mother of two is
frantically trying to keep her toddler entertained and her infant son
quiet. How did she ever think being a stay-at-home mom would be easier
than being a lawyer? Ethan is lost in thought; he’s flying back from his
first funeral. A young couple has just gotten married; she’s still
wearing her wedding dress. An emergency room nurse is looking forward to
traveling the world once she retires in a few years, it’s going to be
so much fun! If they ever get off the tarmac. . . .
Suddenly a
woman none of them know stands up. She makes predictions about how and
when everyone on board will die. Some dismiss her. Others will do
everything they can to make sure her prophecies do not come to pass. All
of them will be forever changed.
Book Talk
Right off the bat, this is probably my favorite Liane Moriarty book that I have read thus far. It's an interesting concept to think about, especially as I was mainly reading this during the Halloween/Dia De Los Muertos season. Our author poses the question: What would you do if you knew when you were going to die? And then gives us examples of different scenarios through the lenses of people our main character interacts with on the plane.
Speaking of different perspectives on dying, there are six characters that we focus on during each chapter of the story. Now that may sound crazy and you may think that is too many characters to keep up with, but our author has a talent for creating a big, diverse group and making sure you aren't lost during the ride. With each short chapter focusing on a different character, the story never feels boring and it always feels like it's moving forward, even if we do get some flashbacks from our main character.
Readers will find interesting takes on the prospect of dying through the eyes if our characters as well as their loved ones around them. There's an old saying that goes something along the lines of, you know who's really there for you at your funeral. Well, the same goes for when the people around you find out that you might pass. We see how a mother reacts to her infant son being told that he would drown at the tender age of seven and how an entire family reacts to finding out their adult daughter might die fro suicide. We get all the different perspectives and it makes for a very well put-together story.
Overall, I had a great time reading Here One Moment. It's a riveting story that will have you reading until the wee hours of the night wondering and asking yourself the question, what would you do if you knew you or your close family members were going to die?
Until next time, Happy Reading!
Comments
Post a Comment