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dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Such a fun book that feels dark on the surface, but is actually incredibly insightful and optimistic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Vomit, Death of parent
Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Pregnancy, War
Minor: Toxic relationship
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It takes quite a while for the story to get going and some characters' story feel more like a blockade until you can come back to the ones you want to read about. It's quite hard to keep track of all the characters. Overall, I did enjoy the read in the end, the last chapters were my favourite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Car accident
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infertility, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts
Drowning
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
What would you do if you knew when and how you’d die? Try to prevent it? Accept it and live your fullest life?
Here One Moment explores how people react when faced with the realization that everyone’s time on earth is limited. An elderly woman enters a trance-like state on a flight and, unprompted, predicts age and manner of death for passengers. When a few of her predictions appear to come true, a frenzy ensues. Some characters attempt to change their fate, some sit in worry, some are content in the “knowledge” that they’ll live long lives and die of old age. In the end, Cherry’s predictions are revealed to be nothing more than guesses.
The story is told with dual timelines: one covering Cherry’s life and the other the lives of plane passengers after the flight. I enjoyed Moriarty’s writing, but the plot progressed slowly and the book felt too long for the story it told. I enjoyed the questions she explored and the content made me think a bit.
I’d recommend it!
Here One Moment explores how people react when faced with the realization that everyone’s time on earth is limited. An elderly woman enters a trance-like state on a flight and, unprompted, predicts age and manner of death for passengers. When a few of her predictions appear to come true, a frenzy ensues. Some characters attempt to change their fate, some sit in worry, some are content in the “knowledge” that they’ll live long lives and die of old age. In the end, Cherry’s predictions are revealed to be nothing more than guesses.
The story is told with dual timelines: one covering Cherry’s life and the other the lives of plane passengers after the flight. I enjoyed Moriarty’s writing, but the plot progressed slowly and the book felt too long for the story it told. I enjoyed the questions she explored and the content made me think a bit.
I’d recommend it!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Liane Moriarty always writes characters with so much depth, which was both good and bad because it made me genuinely concerned for each one in this book! The story takes off (ha) immediately with Cherry predicting the deaths of every passenger on the plane, which built the suspense right away. I enjoyed reading through the chapters following each character after their predictions. At first, Cherry's chapters were interesting to give backstory, but I found myself skimming over them after a while because I just wanted to get back to the other characters. In the end, I love how it all came together to a satisfying ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Stalking
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
With Here One Moment the readers were promised a story that takes you on a bunch of different rides but “lands on a dime”… I respectfully disagree. While the various story lines do wrap up, and you find out “the truth” behind the predictions on the plane, the ending truly feels like a cop out akin to your middle school essays ending with “and then I woke up, it was all a dream!” I enjoyed some of the reflections on the twists of life and speculations on relationships with yourself and your loved ones, but the author borderline proposes determinism as the central theory of the book and then the actual outcome completely rejects the concept. If you are interested in passing a lot of time with over 500 pages of glimpses into different lives and dynamics, this would be for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Alcohol
challenging
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Terminal illness
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this one for my book club this month — my pick. I was a little hesitant because I'd read so many negative reviews, about how this was long, with too many characters and was not typical of Liane Moriarty. For the most part that is true. The book IS long and there ARE a lot of characters, but not too many characters, though it does take a few chapters to get to know them well enough to keep them all straight. And it IS different from other Liane Moriarty stories. But in my opinion, it is her best one yet! WOW! After a few chapters, I could not stop reading. I really liked the characters and especially to Cherry, the 'Death Lady'. I started the book really disliking her, but as I got to know her, I found her more and more relatable. One thing I really appreciated was how the author resolved the mystery of the Death Lady. This is going to be a great book for book clubs with a lot to discuss: grief, how you'd react to knowing your future, and more. This gets 4.5 Stars from me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy
Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Alcohol