The Almost Moon: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Alice Sebold
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $26.99
Buy Used: $6.30
You Save: $20.69 (77%)
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Rating:  182 reviews
Sales Rank: 1135999
Format: Large Print
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.5
ISBN: 0316004308
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780316004305
ASIN: 0316004308
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Hardcover. Ex Public Library, Light circulation. Very nice reading condition. Dustjacket in protective Mylar Plastic. May have usual markings, stickers or pocket. Shipped promptly via USPS. Thank you for shopping with us!
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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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 177 more reviews...
 Hard to compare with the writing of Lovely Bones... November 19, 2008
I loved the book Lovely Bones and thought this book would be well written also, but I was dissapointed. I only read through the part where she kills her mother and I just could not go on anymore. I just could not get into it. Im glad I borrowed the book and didnt pay for it.
 family frustration November 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Helen does the unthinkable, while caring for her mother. You can feel her frustration that leads to her actions.
This book was terrible! November 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really did not like this book and that says a lot coming from me. I read 2-3 books a week and I read all types. It is very rarely that I think a book is terrible. I liked her other books but this one was almost unreadable. I felt like the whole thing was just disjointed, I didn't care about the characters and just wanted it to be over. I found myself skimming to just get through it.
 Loved the darkness, but too tedious November 13, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I actually applaud Alice Sebold for writing this novel. Unlike the previous subject matter of both her first novel and memoir, rape, where not every woman has been raped, this novel touches upon something we all have--mothers.
She deftly writes about that which we sometimes think but don't dare ever say about our mothers and fathers, I might add, all under the guise of mental illness. It's an introspective look at how a woman's life is swallowed up by mental illness.
But, what I didn't enjoy was the long, stuck in one-day thing, in tedious scenes almost like theatrical blocking where she is carrying her purse here, there and everywhere. I found myself screaming, put the purse down for god sakes and get on with it.
But overall, still a great writer who tells it like it is.
You have to know crazy to get this book. November 13, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
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