Nine Perfect Strangers

The guests arrive at Tranquillum House burdened with the regrets of the past. Whether affected by death, divorce, or self-doubt, they struggle to forgive themselves and others. Until this forgiveness is attained, however, they’ll be unable to heal or grow. As such, the difficulty of forgiveness becomes a key theme. The most pronounced example of this theme is the Marconi family. After the death of Zach Marconi, the surviving family members struggle to forgive each other and forgive themselves. Zoe blames herself for not noticing her brother’s depression, Heather blames herself for not reading the side effects of his medication, and Napoleon blames himself for being asleep when Zach killed himself. They repress their feelings of guilt, by withdrawing from the world like Heather, diminishing the importance of the relationship like Zoe, or actively seeking out every possible cure like Napoleon. None of these techniques provide solace because none of them address the guilt the characters feel toward themselves and others. Zach’s death is such a totalizing event in their lives that forgiveness is difficult to give and receive. Only by being honest with one another can the Marconi family achieve forgiveness. After years of silence, they talk honestly about the difficulty of forgiveness. While they may not achieve complete happiness after the events of the novel, they learn to forgive each other and themselves. This forgiveness allows them to live happily with one another again and recover together after years of misery and depression.

Like the Marconi family, other guests feel a need for atonement. They actively seek out treatments that they may not enjoy to punish themselves for transgressions. Ben agrees to take part in the therapy not only because he loves Jessica but because he feels that taking part in expensive spa treatments is something that rich people do. Participating in expensive but unenjoyable pastimes is a vindication of Ben’s guilt. He doesn’t feel that he deserves the lottery money, nor does he want it. He punishes himself with bad experiences to forgive himself for enjoying life. By spending his money badly, he justifies his desire to be poor again. Lars is also rich, but he feels as though he’s earned his money. He visits the spa to punish himself with exile. After mistreating his boyfriend, Ray, he feels the need to atone for his behavior. He wants to be punished with fasting and strange health treatments to escape his regrets. Neither Lars or Ben can forgive themselves for their current travails, so they embrace strange and punishing spa treatments to atone for their mistakes. Even if they can’t forgive themselves, they can at least punish themselves.

Masha’s approach to forgiveness is blunt. Her life is filled with mistakes and tragedies, but she refuses to address or accept these as her own. Masha reinvents herself whenever she needs to forget the past. Forgiveness is too difficult to achieve, so Masha instead opts for rebirth. She can’t look her ex-husband in the face because he reminds her of her dead child; she can’t accept her second child because she feels guilt about the death of her first child. Masha harbors so many repressed regrets that the burden is too much to bear. Rather than find a way to forgive herself, Masha dedicates her life to helping others find forgiveness. This approach doesn’t make her happy, and it completely affects her mental health as a result. However, Masha doesn’t learn from her lesson. She emerges from a short prison sentence promising that she has learned her lesson, but she continues to offer the illegal and unethical treatments that caused her legal problems. Masha may have served her time to society’s satisfaction, but she’s done nothing to atone for her mistakes or change her behavior. She continues to ignore her past, further removing herself from the past tragedies and denying that they even exist. Masha can never forgive herself for the past, so she invents new futures that are easier to navigate.