Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
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Web ID: 19875997Life is unexpected, Live it now
When I started reading Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty, I found it to be a little slow and hard to get into at first. That was unusual because I generally dive right in to all her books with gusto. If you stick with this book, though, you will be rewarded with unexpected and pleasant surprises. In the beginning, the author lays out the story and important elements that will pan out as you turn the pages. A typical flight to Sydney takes a turn when an older woman forecasts when the majority of the passengers and flight workers will die and the cause of their deaths. Some passengers scoff at the numbers, others relax and smile at the prospect of many happy years. For many, the predictions make them consider how they should take advantage of the alleged time they have left. It may inspire you to look at life out of a different lens and see if you're really living your best life. I've always loved the way Moriarty writes and how her characterizations are so distinct and relatable. Her ensemble cast is made up of very diverse people of all ages, statuses, dynamics, and professions. It's so interesting to see how all the central passengers handle supposedly knowing their date and cause of death. Some go to great lengths to prepare for it while others live in fear of it. Some hide it from their loved ones while others let everyone know as a warning and maybe to get some solace and reassurance that the "Death Lady" is crazy. The story flips back and forth from the different characters and the psychic. It's very easy to keep track of everyone, and the author is an expert at giving equal time to all the characters. She also devotes chapters in between the ones focused on the passengers and flight workers with chapters about the "Death Lady" and how she came to be on this flight. The author carefully drops breadcrumbs about this woman so you really don't know what prompted the predictions in the first place and if she's a legitimate psychic or not. When three passengers do die after the flight around the right ages as forecast by the "Death Lady," many of the survivors search high and low to find this woman and get some further answers. While this story starts out slow, it picks up speed as you learn more about the characters. Once my interest grew, I looked forward to reading more about what would happen to the characters. You feel for everyone involved and wait on pins and needles, hoping that the characters can avert their demises. The book also makes you reflect on your own life--not your mortality--and what you could be doing better and what ambitions and dreams you should make a reality. It's inspiring, and I found the ending of the book incredibly satisfying and not like anything I would have expected.
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How would you change your life if you knew the end
Here One Moment is a reflection on grief and the choices we make in our lives. While on a plane, a woman suddenly stands and proclaims to each person on board a why and age of death. Some people laugh it off, some people dismiss her. Then to predictions start to come true. People start to change their lives. How much of of life is determined by fate, how much by choice and what could you change if you knew?
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Unexpected but incredibly beautiful
This book was not what I expected at all but in the absolute best way possible. I have always been a fan of Liane Moriarty since I picked up "Big Little Lies" several years ago. Since then, I've read her entire collection of works and I think this one is working up the ranks to be my new favorite. "Here One Moment" asks the question "can you fight fate?" and allows for the reader to answer that question for themselves. I love the multiple perspectives from each important member of the flight and the fact that the chapters always ended on a note where I was anticipating when that character's next chapter would pick up. I also enjoyed hearing from the main character directly in her own chapters. The way Moriarty laid out this novel was pure perfection and really gets the reader to consider both perspectives and all points of view regarding the future. It also allowed me to think long and hard about my own future and whether or not fate plays a key role. Truthfully, I loved every second of this novel and it made me fall in love with Moriarty and her writing all over again. What a wonderful introduction into her collection of works.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Thought Provoking Read
Wow - this book really made me think. It also kept my brain whirring the entire time I read it because I was trying to think five steps ahead to what I thought would happen next, Let me give a bit of advice to future readers - - don't do that - - just sit back and let this book unfold and savor it for the book it is. Everything is explained in the end so don't wrack your brain trying to figure anything out - - just enjoy. I think the message behind this book is timeless. If you knew when you'd die, would you do anything differently? I think it's a tough question. Some people seemed to want to make light of it and ignore it while others became hyper-focused on it. Others were angry - - while some were fearful. It was interesting to see the gamut of emotions and reactions to the older woman's predictions. The premise behind this story really did interest me and I was intrigued until the last page. Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Love
I can’t say enough good things about this book. I’m a fan of Liane Moriarty, so I was excited to read this novel. But the story isn’t like her other, twisty thrillers. This is an original, stand-alone story unlike any other I’ve read. I loved the characters and their multiple POVs. The pacing felt just right, and I think Moriarty did a great job resolving each storyline. I would recommend this book!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Can We Tempt Fate?
Can we tempt fate, or do we accept fate? Cherry's mom. the much later in life fortune teller, would always say, "Fate cannot be fought." Was Cherry's mom a true psychic? Cherry never figured that one out completely. I found this new novel by Liane Moriarty intriguing. I've liked many of Moriarty's to date - Big Little Lies, Apples Never Fall, Nine Perfect Strangers. Like her others, Here One Moment, contains delightfully, eccentric and quirky characters whose lives become not only entwined, but later intertwined by a chance encounter of being on the same flight back to Sydney. As with many of Moriarty's previous works, Here One Moment is told as a flashback. The story opens with our main character, Cherry Lockwood (now probably in her early 70s), walking up and down the aisle of a plane predicting the age and cause of death of each of the flight's passengers. Would you want to know when and why you were going to die? This bizarreness causes a frenzy with the plane's passengers. Is Cherry the real deal? She did seem to be in an almost catatonic state during her "episode." What follows is full disclosure on Cherry's entire life and also background and current updates on the passengers' lives. Some are "dying" to find her to ask her more; however, her identity is shrouded in mystery, as she was traveling alone and people were so taken back with her predictions. She certainly wasn't asked any informational or personal questions about herself. She's soon dubbed the "Death Lady" by Tik Toc as some of her predictions start to materialize. I really enjoyed the way Moriarty introduced multiple little nuances about the characters that tie their lives together as they search for answers concerning their own predictions. I ended up loving the plot and the characters. Thank you, NetGalley and Crown Publishing for this ARC of Liane Moriarty's newest novel. "It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on Earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we begin to live each day to the fullest as if it were the only one we had." - Elizabeth Kübler-Ross What an appropriate quote to appear on this book's ending page. It's 4 1/2 stars for me.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Can you escape fate?
3.5 A new book by Lianne Moriarty is always a must have for me since reading What Alice Forgot. I immediately read everything she had published prior and have eagerly read each one since. Here One Moment feels like a bit of a diversion from her other works for me. A new way of telling the stories of the people that inhabit her mind. It took me a bit to adjust my expectations of how a new Liane Moriarty story would be told, but that is all on me, truth be told. While on a flight from Sydney-Hobart an older woman stands up and and while in what seems to be a hypnotic state walks down the aisle of the plane telling each passenger their age at death and their manner of death. A flight attendant valiantly tries to stop the woman, but she makes it through a good portion of the plane before she stops. The book progresses with multiple POVs as passengers digest the unsolicited information. What would you do with such information? Would you try to cheat death? Would you dismiss this as the babbling of an unwell woman? What about those whose age of death is very near? Coming in at over 500 pages, there were a couple of spots where the doldrums set in. None the less, it has thought provoking question of the reader about how to live and embrace life, what is truly important to you and will you be content with how you used your days when your time comes?
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What would you do?
What would you do if a stranger walked up to you, unprompted, and told you two things: The cause your death, and the age at which you will die. Take a breath and count to three, because this is what happens to the people aboard what should have been a routine flight when a lady gets up and makes her way down the aisle of the plane. Would you take a random fortune teller seriously, or chalk it up to a 'mental health crisis'? As some of the predictions prove to come true, and the woman in the eye of the storm becomes known and The Death Lady, the remaining passengers must decide how they are going to live the "rest of their lives" Do they believe that fate can't be fought? Do you? A home run from Laine Moriarty. She seamlessly weaves together the lives of some passengers from the plane and follows them as they navigate the after affects from their encounter with The Death Lady. We even learn about The Death Lady herself, and the events leading up to her boarding the plane that fateful day. My only issue is the chapters jumping perspectives. Other than the chapter number, there is no indicator as who's life we have been thrown back into, and that for me was difficult at times and I found myself being taken out of the book. (this is not an uncommon critique of mine - sometimes I handle it better than other times. This wasn't the worst one, but caused some mild annoyance throughout.) All in all, 4.5 stars so, a round up to 5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC of this book.
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