Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold


The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
291 pages
Finished 12/11/07






When I saw this at HPB, I snatched it up right away, even though it was a brand-new hardcover. I didn't know this author had another novel out. I had read her two previous books - her memoir, Lucky, and her first novel The Lovely Bones, and I adored them. I figured this would be the same.

Except, yeah, not so much. The main character (Helen) was disgusting. The book starts out (the first sentence) with Helen proclaiming that she killed her mother. The book follows the next 24 hours as she tries to decide what to do next. I'm not sure if Sebold's intention was to make us feel empathy for her, but whatever the plan was, Helen came off as a serious lunatic. And she didn't really have any redeeming qualities, and yet it seemed like everyone in her life (especially the men) would do anything for her. Unfortunately, whatever they saw in her doesn't come across to the reader.

An utterly disappointing Two stars.

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