The Almost Moon
Encyclopedia
The Almost Moon is the third book and second novel by American
writer Alice Sebold
, author of her memoir, Lucky
and The Lovely Bones
. It was released by Little, Brown and Company
in the United States on October 16, 2007.
, by suffocating her with a towel. But while her act is almost unconscious, it also seems like the fulfilment of a long-cherished, buried desire, since she spent a lifetime trying to win the love of a mother who had none to spare.
Over the next twenty-four hours, Helen recalls her childhood, youth, marriage, and motherhood. Her life and the omnipresent relationship with her mother rush in at her as she confronts the choices that have brought her to that crossroads. Partly absent-mindedly, partly desperately she tries to conceal her crime, and in doing so ropes her ex-husband into the conspiracy.
and mental illness
, others found it messy and unconvincing.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer Alice Sebold
Alice Sebold
Alice Sebold is an American novelist. She has published three books: Lucky , The Lovely Bones and The Almost Moon .-Early life:...
, author of her memoir, Lucky
Lucky (memoir)
Lucky is a 1999 memoir by Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones. The memoir describes her experiences of being raped and how the experience shaped the rest of her life.-Summary:...
and The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones is a 2002 novel by Alice Sebold. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal Heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she comes to terms with her own death. The novel received much critical...
. It was released by Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...
in the United States on October 16, 2007.
Synopsis
Artist's model and divorcee, Helen Knightly spontaneously murders her mother, an agoraphobic now suffering from severe dementiaDementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
, by suffocating her with a towel. But while her act is almost unconscious, it also seems like the fulfilment of a long-cherished, buried desire, since she spent a lifetime trying to win the love of a mother who had none to spare.
Over the next twenty-four hours, Helen recalls her childhood, youth, marriage, and motherhood. Her life and the omnipresent relationship with her mother rush in at her as she confronts the choices that have brought her to that crossroads. Partly absent-mindedly, partly desperately she tries to conceal her crime, and in doing so ropes her ex-husband into the conspiracy.
Reception
The novel received mixed reviews from literary critics. While some lauded the story for its unflinching portrayal of violenceViolence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
and mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
, others found it messy and unconvincing.
- The Almost Moon, comparable to Jeffrey EugenidesJeffrey EugenidesJeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer. Eugenides is most known for his first two novels, The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex . His novel The Marriage Plot was published in October, 2011.-Life and career:Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan,...
's The Virgin SuicidesThe Virgin SuicidesThe Virgin Suicides is the 1993 debut novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides. The story, which is set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers on the suicides of five sisters. The Lisbon girls' suicides fascinate their community as their neighbors struggle to find an explanation for...
(1993), is a candid, at times horribly funny and often beautifully touching exploration of one woman's realisation that her life has been swallowed, or rather cancelled. The genius which guides The Almost Moon is its absolute, horrible, multiple truth; its staggering clarity. - Eileen Battersby, Irish Times
- This will be welcomed by admirers of Sebold's dirty realism, quasi-poetic style and helter-skelter storytelling gifts. Amazingly, she manages to make her gothic tale as moving as it is unquestionably gripping. - ObserverObserverObserver may refer to person who is observing. More specialised meanings follow.-Computer science and information theory:*In information theory, any system which receives information from an object....
- Chapter by chapter, Sebold peels away the layers of her narrator's misery and self-deception, and creates an extended and sometimes blackly comic critique of a popular literary genre. - Helen DunmoreHelen DunmoreHelen Dunmore is a British poet, novelist and children's writer. Educated at the University of York, she now lives in Bristol....
, The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- The novel is so morally, emotionally and intellectually incoherent that it’s bound to become a best seller. - Lee Siegel, New York Times
- Practically every paragraph is a talking point. - NewsweekNewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
- Sebold can write, that's clear, but her sophomore effort is not in line with her talent. - Publishers WeeklyPublishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
- Simultaneously uncomfortable and absorbing. - Kim Hedges, San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
- The book is emotionally false... it is implausible that people would react to the murder as they do. - Elizabeth Hand, Village Voice
- Sebold has achieved something vastly more resonant and real than the fairy tale that made her name. - Michael Antman, PopMattersPopMattersPopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
External links
- An interview with Alice Sebold (concerning The Almost Moon) at Pan Macmillan websiteMacmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...