The Almost Moon: A Novel
by Alice Sebold
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Book Reviews of The Almost Moon: A Novel
Book Review: Extremely well written, scary subject matter handled like the pro she is
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me get this out of the way up front: Alice Sebold is an extraordinary author. As a fellow writer, I learn a lot from both of her novels just walking through how she handles a scene, or a flashback, or a set of dialog.
Let me also get this out of the way: her subject matter bothers me on levels that I can barely describe. The Lovely Bones was extremely well-written, but, as a father with a daughter, it brought a parent's nightmares to the page. The Almost Moon comes at your from a different tragic perspective, from a middle-aged mother who murders her dementia inflicted invalid mother.
The copy I have read is an Advanced Reading Copy graciously given to me at the recent Book Expo America, so the excerpts that I quote may change in the final copy (coming out in October 2007 according to the book's cover).
The first paragraph of the first chapter sets the stage excellently for the entire book:
When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily. Dementia, as it descends, has a way of revealing the core of the person affected by it. My mother's core was rotten like the brackish water at the bottom of a weeks-old vase of flowers. She had been beautiful when my father met her and still capable of love when I became their late-in-life child, but by the time she gazed up at me that day, none of this mattered.
For the next 24 hours, Helen Knightly confronts the events that unfold from the act she has committed and reflects on the events of her life that led her to this decision. Her relationships with her mother, father (who died before her mother), her two daughters, her ex-husband, her best friend and her best friend's son all act as mirrors both past and present for the person Helen is, how low of an opinion she seems to have of herself, where that low opinion stems from and how it motivated her decision to kill her mother.
My friend John DeNardo at SF Signal has written that a reader/reviewer reads books and comments on them based on many characteristics: background, mood, etc.. Ms. Sebold's novels certainly bring the reader's family background into play. Having neither parent needing care nor suffering from dementia (at least not that I know of, and as the intro says, I'm the one hearing voices), the book's plot shocked me, continues to shock me, and makes me think. I would surmise that a reader with a family history of taking care of dementia-sufferers or with some other reason to hate one of their parents would be less shocked, may have even contemplated similar actions (whether in fantasy and/or reality), but will also be made to think more by Ms. Sebold's story.
The story made me think, even worry and I continue to roll it around in my head. That, combined with Alice Sebold's wonderfully fluid prose:
It had been his illness as well as hers. She just garnered more attention. She was always - day in, day out - there. My father had been pity to her blame, warmth to her cold, but had he not, in the end, been colder than she?
Ms. Sebold has written two excellent novels of difficult subject matter that come off as immensely readable and leave the reader considering the actions in their own context. While I have not read her memoir, Lucky, I am motivated to do so now, to look at her own background and experiences.
Book Review: The Almost Moon was Worth A Million Stars
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently read "The Almost Moon" by Alice Sebold and was impressed. I decided to try out Sebold due to the Peter Jackson movie "The Lovely Bones," which is based off of the book with the same title. Of the two Sebold books read, I really like how she uses the first sentence of the book as a punch in the guts then continues working from that main point.
In "The Almost Moon" the first line in Chapter 1 states, "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily." Very quickly the reader is grabbed with this statement and then there is no turning back.
This work of fiction is about a woman named Helen, who takes care of her mother Clair, who suffers dementia. After Helen murders her mother, the remainder of the book is the following 24 hours. Although the style of murder Helen uses is clean and quick, Sebold describes the scene very quickly and grotesquely so that the reader wasn't severely repulsed but deeply shocked.
Although murder is committed, I felt extremely sorry for the victim and the murderess as it seemed that every character in this book were good at heart. Despite the innocence this book insinuates, there is a great deal of hurtful scenes and negative emotions that can easily strike too close to home for some individuals.
The mother Clair, although not a bad person, defiantly never took the responsibility of a mother and when dementia kicked in, her mean streak showed even greater, especially to her daughter. As the book progresses the reader experiences bitter sweet emotions as Helen recalls fond memories and hurtful events regarding her parents. The reader is left feeling sorrow for Helen as it seems like she had never truly made her mother proud, despite her efforts.
In the end I felt that Helen committed a mercy killing without thinking of the consequences. At first, everything seems almost cold hearted, however, as you read on you discover that mother and daughter had formed a very codependent and unhealthy relationship, somewhat like Norman Bates and his mother in Psycho. Although, Helen did have a family and career of her own, she put everything aside to appease her mother, who had never granted her unconditional love.
I believe what Sebold is focusing on in this book is consequences and if an individual is truly happy being dependent or codependent. When the book began, Helen felt liberated as she had granted her mother peace and had finally cut the apron string, however, the reader later learns that although Helen claims killing her mother is easy, the aftermath is devastating. I won't spoil the ending for anyone and although I saw the ending coming a mile away, I was shocked to actually read the conclusion, which is just as big of a gut punch as the first sentence of the book.
Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I give this book a 9 1/2. Many people didn't care for this book as they were hoping for another "Lovely Bones". In all honesty, I'm glad to see that Sebold is a woman who isn't scared to jump into untested waters. Due to her style, emotion, and characterization I honestly feel Sebold is the modern female version of Hitchcock or Stephen King.
Book Review: You have to know crazy to get this book.
Summary: 4 Stars
I was drawn to this book for two reasons. The first is because I had previously read another book by this author and I wanted to see if I would like this one better. The second was the first sentence in the book...no, I will not give it away...go find it!
After reading that first sentence, I found myself completely absorbed by the book. I could not put it down. Flipping through the pages of this book was like reading pages from a journal that could very well have been my own. Though the words and experiences were different from those that lie within my own tortured past, the feelings this account roused from me were extracted from somewhere deep within my soul.
Reading this book, I was sent spiraling into a life of hurt, pain, torture, agony, and sacrifice. Almost Moon is Helen's story of the life she knows, the agony of her memories, and the future she dreads, with the chapters jumping between and through each in turn.
The puzzle pieces of Helen's life are scattered throughout the book and slowly the reader brings the jumbled mess into comprehension. As these jagged chunks of life begin to form what is now the essence of Helen, the reader comes to love her and understand some of the choices she has had to make. We witness the deterioration of her mother's mind and body. We learn of the chaos concealed within her father's tired mind which was sadly overshadowed by the needs of his wife. We ache with her as she uncovers family secrets that have been buried so deep and so long. We watch and cry as she gives up the one person who loved her and was there for her. And we sympathize with her fear for the pain that she may or may not inflict upon her own children. And Helen suffers through all of this misery for a woman who could have cared less about the devastation she was causing for her only daughter.
Now Helen finds herself in a situation that is turning from bad to worse. Unfortunately, she ends up getting her loved ones involved which does nothing to alleviate the situation. In the end, she finds she has no choices left, but one...
Though I will not divulge my reasoning's here, I identified with Helen very much. As I read about her fears for her children and the relationship she had with her mother, I could not help but see myself in this character. Sadly, this book did not receive good reviews. I believe that in order to understand this book, you have to know Crazy. If you don't know Crazy, you just cannot appreciate Crazy.
I still have not made my decision about Alice Sebold as a writer. The ending to this book was too hurried (almost as if she realized she had run out of pages and just stopped writing) and the last book I read had enormous potential but left me flat. I guess I have to read her first, autobiographical, book to make my final judgment.
Even though this book had a quick, seemingly unfinished ending, I must say it was well worth my time. I'm not even sure I can say it was good. It was...familiar...recognizable...at least to me.
I guess if you want an opinion of the book, you will have to read it and form your own.
Book Review: "There are secret rooms inside us."
Summary: 3 Stars
Forty-nine year old Helen Knightly is severely depressed, but she is not fully aware of how low she has sunk until one day, in a fit of despair, she smothers her demented eighty-eight year old mother. Although Clair Knightly had been a great beauty who modeled for lingerie ads, the years have not been kind to her. She becomes needy, demanding, and eventually, agoraphobic; she seldom leaves her house, and then, only while buried under heavy blankets. Helen's father is extremely protective of his wife, but Clair's strangeness becomes an intolerable burden on both him and their only child. Most of the neighbors shun them and Helen feels like a pariah. After her father dies, Helen is locked in a vise. She was divorced years earlier and her children are grown and on their own. She is left alone to care for her ailing mother, who becomes the center of her universe. This heavy and unwelcome responsibility has a devastating impact on Helen's emotional well-being.
In "The Almost Moon," by Alice Sebold, Helen spends the twenty-four hours after her mother's death looking back at her unhappy childhood, married life, and many years as a single woman, wondering how she could have committed such a cold and brutal act. How will she escape the consequences of her crime? What words should she use to explain the reasons for her actions to her ex-husband, Jake, and her grown daughters, Sarah and Emily? She will have to endure the censure of her friends and loved ones and the inevitable punishment that will follow. There was a time when Helen thought that she could live a normal life. However, even a satisfying marriage to a loving man and the birth of two beautiful daughters could not erase the pessimism and self-loathing that Helen's dysfunctional parents instilled in her.
Alice Sebold's second novel is a dismal work that features a pitiful and self-destructive protagonist whom it is difficult to like. Helen is foolish and self-centered. Since she is not overtly psychotic, her behavior is difficult to comprehend. Many children have parents who make them miserable and who have become a burden to them. However, it is one thing to want to kill a parent; it is quite another to go through with it in such a shockingly cold-blooded manner. Helen never explores her options before she takes this terrible and irrevocable step.
This book is all the more disappointing since Alice Sebold is a stylish writer who knows how to construct memorable scenes and create evocative imagery. There is humor here, but it is dark and biting rather than amusing. As the reader gets to know Helen, it becomes apparent how much pressure she has been under and it is possible to empathize with her. After all, she has martyred herself for a parent who is incapable of giving her love or gratitude, and Helen is undoubtedly so lonely and exhausted that she can no longer think straight. Still, the central theme of the book and the way that it is developed are so unpleasant that "The Almost Moon" is likely to evoke discomfort rather than admiration among Sebold's readers.
Book Review: "Killing my mother came easily."
Summary: 2 Stars
In spite of the beginning of Sebold's novel, where she impulsively smothers her eighty-eight-year-old mother, Clair, the topic offers much material, the complicated relationships of mothers and daughters, especially the kind of toxic relationship that often develops in dysfunctional families. What is extraordinary- almost slapstick- is Helen's resolution to years of seething resentment, as well as her decision about what to do with the body, who to contact and what her actions will mean for the immediate future. The death is a fait accompli; once done, little is left but deciding the next step.
Sebold quickly disabuses me of any pretensions about this pathetic mother-daughter connection, a long history of rage, resentment and twisted love the hallmark of a mother and daughter who act out their tug of war on a small stage. Any similarity to other such situations end there- Helen's disposal of the body narrated with the embellishment of years of pain, their history related in a disturbing diatribe, giving vent to a girl's efforts to find love where there is none. At forty-nine, Helen is a mother and a grandmother, certainly having learned something along the way about what we pass on to our children. But Sebold clings to Helen's commitment to her action, regressing to an angry child raging at a terrible mother. In death, as in life, Clair has nothing to offer; her daughter having stolen her mother's bitter legacy, her last breath.
Sebold offers her readers but page after page of anguish, turmoil and a profound lack of love in a family of three. Ex-husband Jake, a stupid and meaningless coupling with her best friend's son and her recreation of an unfortunate childhood leave a vacuum in their wake, save a shocking decision by a daughter whose life might have been far less successful, given her family history. Helen chooses to descend into this madness, her adult life clearly different from her childhood. I find it impossible to fathom the point of this story, except perhaps as a matricidal fantasy. The Almost Moon is a human train wreck, the only fascination in passing the scene of the accident, a piece of work unremitting in its self-absorption. I simply cannot care about these characters or whatever purgative message the author intends. The title, "The Almost Moon", refers to an almost mother, never quite there, the perfect foil to an almost novel.
Whatever Sebold's talents, this novel fails to inspire me, a toxic stew that is vaguely repulsive for all its fantasy fulfillment; I haven't the energy to consider the context of this work, weighted by overwhelming emotional burdens that certainly describe Helen's state of mind and her years of denial at the hands of a selfish woman; but there is no meat here other than the temporary exorcising of Helen's demons, a daughter in eternal lock step with a destructive woman now that the deed is done. Luan Gaines/2007.