Liane Moriarty's newest, Here One Moment is one of those rare novels that had me wanting to finish up errands so that I could run home and keep reading. It also had me laughing and crying (sometimes on the same page). And the character development is so profound that I caught myself (still do) wondering how a particular character is doing now, forgetting for a moment that they're not real. Liane Moriarty is magical.
A lady in Australia boards a short flight from Hobart to Sydney. She is not anything anyone later would recall: Middle to elderly-aged, silver hair, sensible shoes, not beautiful nor ugly. She rises from her seat, and seemingly to be in some sort of trance begins pointing at each passenger and telling them when and how they're going to die. Some are told they have until into their nineties! But others are not. Predictions include dying in a work-place accident, succumbing to self-harm, drowning, physical assault, and pancreatic cancer. The passengers from that flight are forever changed by the lady on the plane.
Thus commences Moriarty's marvelous character development in Here One Moment as we become acquainted with the people from that flight and their interconnectedness (six degrees of separation comes to mind). Some presume she is a charlatan or dementia addled. Others take her to be a clairvoyant and decide they can change their fate by taking precautionary steps. Still others are more resigned to their fate. None were aware of the power that event would have over their lives, including the lady on the plane herself as she soon is deemed the Death Lady by the internet.
Cherry (as we eventually learn is her name) has no memory of predicting people's deaths. It was like she was under a general anesthetic. But she is told that she kept repeating, "fate won't be fought" as her mother would say when she was still alive. However, Chaos theory - which is the idea that a tiny change now can result in a large change later - is an idea that comes into play as the novel progresses. Cherry comes to believe that she was an agent of chaos that day on the plane.
Here One Moment is a little paranormal and a lot of heart. Wisdom and truisms, along with humor, are expertly peppered throughout like when Cherry has this thought: "we are socialized to believe the world is fair. The problem is that we often subconsciously (!) believe people who suffer must deserve it. People say that everything happens for a reason. No. No, it does not." This reader found that to be oddly comforting. And when Cherry is suffering through a profound time of grief she realizes, "that's the thing about life: both your wildest dreams and your worst nightmares can come true".
Liane Moriarty's magic is in the details. Relatable observations and comical musings flesh out the plot such as when a character named Ethan, upon seeing Cherry first board the plane, thinks, "the lady is small and seems harmless. In a hurry. A little irritable. She reminds Ethan of his grandmother when she is required to download an app". Moriarty is the kind of author that can describe a character in a spot-on way, like "fizzy", and you'll know exactly what she means.
To read Here One Moment is pure joy. It's this reader's favorite book this year. Liane Moriarty's newest novel is wildly entertaining and emotive, and I give it a resounding five stars out of five. https://youtube.com/shorts/xh8KOBJPbzw?si=Ky6oR9TJFytJVJ8d
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