Not Easy to Understand if Your Mom Baked You Cookies

books:


	• The Almost Moon: A Novel Alice Sebold Little, Brown and Company, 2007 - 304 pages view larger image
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Such a Talented Writer

I was profoundly affected by Alice Sebold's novel, "Lovely Bones," feeling that she was one of the best authors I had ever read. Her imageries and plot nuances are so very creative and unique, unlike anything I had ever read before(and I'm a very avid reader.) I became a big fan with "Lovely Bones" and couldn't wait to read "Almost Moon." I was not disappointed. She makes her characters so believable and so familiar and she draws one in to her book completely. I didn't feel that "Almost Moon" was quite as strong a novel as "Lovely Bones," but I surely felt that it was an amazing novel written by a very talented author.

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Not Easy to Understand if Your Mom Baked You Cookies

I was shocked to read that so many people were disappointed by this book but I suppose it is to be expected. Alice Sebold has proven thrice now that she understands the darker aspects of humanity in a profound and unique way. She understands that mother-daughter relationships are always complicated but when these relationships are complicated by mental illness, the water gets even murkier.
This book will likely be difficult to understand if you've never been close to someone suffering from mental illness or if your relationship with your parents was mostly a happy one. Sebold has a way of reaching out to those who have experienced loss and pain and difficult relationships and telling them "I know what it's like." This book profoundly touched me. Unlike those who have written so many poor reviews, I have to say that I DO empathize with Helen. I understand that she both loves her mother for her beautiful parts and out of sheer obligation and hates her for the baggage she left her and for the neglect she suffered because of her mother's illness. But this book isn't even about understanding why Helen killed her mother. It's about the insight we gain as we grow older that we are deeply and unavoidably shaped by our unending quest to be loved by our parents. When that love is withheld in any way or for any reason, we are left incomplete and constantly searching...an almost moon.
In sum, those who have little background for empathizing with Helen likely will not understand the book's message. Those who know what it's like to have true love and true hatred simultaneously for the same person will find this book perfectly in line with Sebold's moving, beautiful, poignant body of work.

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Unfair to Compare to "Bones"

I read Alice Sebold's first novel The Lovely Bones about four years ago. The plot was rivetting, the characters were relatable, and the emotions ran high. After having so much success with Bones, I think that fans were expecting Sebold to have written a similarly great, if not better, novel. I must admit, my expectations for Moon were initally high, but it wasn't until I'd read a good number of the seemingly endless bad reviews on Amazon.com, that I decided to proceed reading with caution.

The Almost Moon is dark, disturbing, and destructional to its core. The opening pulls you in immediately, detailing the action of Helen - our mentally disturbed heroine - murdering her own mother. The given images throughout Helen's attempt to cover up her crime are graphic and unpleasant; sometimes downwrite vile. This isn't a revel read you want to curl up with before bed with a warm cup of milk. It makes you think and it forces you to consider some of the underlining motivations of mental illness.

I think that if Alice Sebold had not gained such a strong sole base of fans from her first novel, The Almost Moon would have undoubtabley received more positive attention. Because it focuses only on the thoughts of a single character, Moon reflects a much more psychological piece of work, than a novel story. The entire book spans just over the length of a single day, filled with snips of Helen's difficult family past, while counting down the tocks of her present clock. Will Helen be caught for her peccancy? Will another suspect take the blame? Will her two daughters find out the truth of their grandmother's death? And will Helen's supportive ex-husband be penalized for trying to help her?

The Almost Moon took on two interesting topics that aren't easily ignorable in our present society: Mental illness and family dysfunction. I fully commend her for exploring such difficult subject matter, as it could not have been an easy book to write. Perhaps the author was going through a dark-phase herself, or had experienced similar trepidations she wanted to use as a jumping board for serious writing. Whatever the reason, I'm giving her praise where she deserves it... because too many people have condemned this book by comparing it to her first novel, which isn't fair at all.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

A woman steps over the line into the unthinkable in this brilliant, powerful, and unforgettable new novel by the author of The Lovely Bones and Lucky. For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and now grown children. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined. Unfolding over the next twenty-four hours, this searing, fast-paced novel explores the complex ties between mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, the meaning of devotion, and the line between love and hate. It is a challenging, moving, gripping story, written with the fluidity and strength of voice that only Alice Sebold can bring to the page.

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