A group of strangers struggling in various aspects of life are voluntarily locked inside a wellness retreat that uses risky and unprecedented emotional and psychological healing techniques to reach an advanced stage of enlightenment. What could possibly go wrong?
This book follows the experiences of nine people; some are related to each other, and the rest are single. Each character brings their own backstory, complication, mystery, and drama. The one thing they all agree upon is trusting Masha, a corporate woman turned health guru, and her two young proteges with their collective journeys toward healing and enlightenment over a 10-day period at the Tranquillium House. What starts as junk food detox meals and morning yoga sessions turns into highly emotional therapy sessions. Things then take a very weird turn when Masha requires them to participate in truly disturbing activities all in the name of trying to achieve mental clarity, acute understanding, and universal acceptance. When they realize their healing retreat is more dangerous than any of them could ever imagine, it may be too late.
Why I read it: Recommendation in a Facebook book group
Trigger warnings: language, sexual content, drugs, suicide
While I thought most of the characters were interesting, delightfully complex, and unexpectedly relatable, I just could not get into this one. I had such high hopes as the beginning of the book made me laugh at many different points. The characters’ internal dialogue was humorous and enjoyable, and I couldn’t wait to see what disaster would inevitably unfold (because how could it not?). However, as I got further into the book, it just got more and more ridiculous. It had an “Anxious People” kind of vibe which I enjoyed, but by the end I was merely speed reading and turning the pages trying to get to the end (not to find out what happens…but so that I could go ahead and move on to the next book because I refuse to DNF a book as I am obsessive compulsive about finishing everything I start).