Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4181 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 291 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780316067362
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Alice Sebold is the bestselling author of The Lovely Bones, a novel, and Lucky, a memoir. She lives in California with her husband, the novelist Glen David Gold.

Customer Reviews

Realistic and well written
I actually found this quite a gripping book, which after reading the reviews on here, I wasn't expecting.

The story is told in the first person, by 50 year old Helen who is worn down and tired from looking after her elderly mother. I'm not giving anything away by saying that she kills her mother and then over the course of the book we learn more about Helen, her parents and childhood, and her life now. I've not had to deal with any of the issues in the book myself, but I could empathise with the main character, her feelings seemed understandable and even normal in a depressed kind of way. I could imagine the awfulness of looking after someone with dementia. She still had humour...albeit very black - but it appealed to me.

I found myself liking the child Helen more than the adult Helen but this was probably intentional on Sebolds part, and made understanding the adult she became a little easier. As her life opens up to the reader we discover more about her parents and her neighbours and their impact on her. In parts I was reminded of 'To Kill A Mockingbird', the ignorance and the insight of various characters.

I did find myself understanding Helen more as the book went along...but not always. She liked one of her daughters more than the other which I found hard to relate to, and she had an obsession with dismemberment which was a bit disturbing. Bearing in mind that I haven't experienced mental illness, I did accept the wanderings of her mind to be pretty realistic.
Although it's a work of fiction, I really felt it illustrates how much parents, upbringing and experiences influence a child and who they grow up to be.

Depressing and boring
Although not a lover of The Lovely Bones, I read The Almost Moon because it was recommended as a "favorite paperback" at the book store. Mistake. It is dark and nonsensical. The best thing I can say about the author's work is that she does a good job of describing the protagonist's physical characteristics. If this is a "#1 National Bestseller," it is only because readers were expecting something better from Alice Sebold. Do not waste your money.

The Almost Moon
The Almost Moon is a shocking story about a woman named Helen Knightly who has been taking care of her ailing mother for some time. As soon as you read the first line, you know that Helen ends up killing her sick mother. So with that information, the book takes off with Helen trying to figure out what to do with her mother's body. All the while she is having flashbacks of her life and her mothers odd behavior. It turns out her mother was suffering from severe depression from early on.

While reading this book, I found myself in shock quite a few times. I almost felt like I was watching a train wreck, I knew it was bad, but I just couldn't look away. Not to say that this book was 'bad', but the author writes several graphic and shocking passages. I really was stunned. I felt bad for Helen as she recounted the memories from her childhood. However, I didn't particularly like Helen's character and I found some of the things she did to be atrocious. I did feel bad for Helen's mother who suffered from such a horrible mental illness and her father who struggled to keep his family together.
As strange as the story was, I found Alice Sebold's writing to be exellent. Several times I found myself going back and re-reading a passage.