Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty is one of those novels that will stay with me for a long time. Usually, when I make that claim about a novel, it's because the character development and personal journeys resonate with me on a level that allows those characters, fictional though they may be, to continue to live and influence how I see real people and the world we all share. Although that is all true about Moriarty's characters, each one strong and clear and sympathetic, the bigger reason this novel will stay with me is the fundamental questions it raises about what we have control of, and what is meant to be.
What is fate and what is choice? Does everything happen for a reason? Will one small decision or action put into motion a series of events that cannot be stopped?
The story starts on a domestic Australian flight from Hobart to Sydney where a seemingly innocuous woman rises from her seat and then proceeds to walk
the aisle, pointing at each passenger in turn to predict their age of death and
cause of death. Her language is specific and focused, and when a passenger
resists, the woman simply answers: "Fate won’t be fought.”
We follow a set of characters whose future deaths have been foretold – including a young mother, a newly married couple, an overworked father, a set of
grandparents, and others – as well as the woman herself (Cherry), who gradually
reveals her life story as we progress through the novel. Although we get to know quite a few people across multiple generations and circumstances, each one is
written with such clarity and purpose that I felt I knew them - every one of
their fears and questions and rationalizations resonating with each perspective
switch.
One of the things that I most enjoyed about this novel was the multiple explanations for all the things that could be circumstantial. Was it really chance that the young bride had bought the very wedding dress that Cherry had given to a thrift store from her first marriage? Were they meant to be on that flight together? Without revealing too much, let’s just say that this book is full of similar connections that constantly made me question what was beyond the scope of scientific understanding, and what fit within it. By the end, I still didn’t know what was evidence of the supernatural, and what was explained by logic.
And that ongoing questioning is exactly what will make this book stay with me for a long time.
One of my favourite quotes (and the one I shared with my scientifically minded family members), is this:
“We lay in bed on a Sunday morning because we had nowhere to be and talked about the belief that mathematical truths are discovered, not invented, because they already exist, which, if correct, means reality must extend beyond the physical world.”
Woah.
That’s a big thought for my relatively small human brain. I’ll be letting it float around in there for a while. And in the meantime, I’ll make sure to look both ways before crossing the street.
Have you read Here One Moment? What are your thoughts? Please share below!