An intelligent, generous, and essentially loving person finds herself cutting a long braid from her mother's head…having just killed her. So goes the opening scene in Alice Sebold's new book, The Almost Moon. In her newest novel, Sebold, the author of The Lovely Bones, draws us into a mother-daughter story which is at once unique and universal. In a moment of passionate desperation, Helen Knightly suffocates her mother with a bundle of towels. The murder wasn't something she planned (though heaven knows she often said to herself "I could just kill her"). Nor, as it turns out, is it something she regrets. As we become privy to the complicated emotions which characterize Helen's feelings about her mother, we come to understand the burden of having grown up with a dysfunctional mother ill-equipped for her role. Over a 24-hour period, as Helen decides exactly what to do with her mother's body, she brings us fully into her life, and to the experiences which have formed her as a full grown woman. We meet Jake, her ex-husband, who comes to help her deal with both the physical dilemma of her mother's body as well as the emotional (and life) implications of what she has done. Clearly, their marriage was a love-hate relationship but at this point it has a tenderness that almost makes one yearn for a great ex. We also come to know Helen's best friend since childhood, Natalie. The two of them are quite the duo...smart, feisty women that have the kind of bond and intimacy that can only come through years of shared life experiences. They have talked about everything...or almost everything. And we meet Alice's current lover, a twenty-something hunk who is almost a cliche, but who cares given he can generate such heat. Sebold is a master storyteller. Her prose is clean, unencumbered by excess pathos and fast paced. And her characters are both believable and engaging. This is a great read.

A bit strange. It wasn't my favorite book.

I seldom take books out from the library, I take out a lot of Audio books but not actual paper books. It always seems that the popular books are always not available or on a VERY long waiting list where you have to wait ages to get them. So when I saw The Almost Moon By Alice Sebold sitting there in the “library staff recommends” section I was happy because Alice Sebold has written lovely bones and I thought it was a GREAT book. I am sorry to say that the book disappointed me. It was so meh. It is a story about a woman who on an impulse kills her 80 something year old mother. Don’t worry I didn’t spoil anything because this happens right as soon as the book starts. The first half of the book goes on and on. It felt like it dragged on forever. It was very disconnected and all over the place. I usually can follow a plot quiet easily but the first part of the book left me very confused. The second half of the book was alright. Nothing to write home about. All in all the book was messy and all over the place. I didn’t connect with the characters, some parts were far-fetched and the ending was anti climatic. If I didn’t love the authors earlier book I most probably would have passed by it at the library and not given it a second thought.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold is about a woman who, in a moment of feeling overwhelmed, desperate, and frustrated, kills her elderly mother. From the time of that event, her life starts to unravel, she makes many poor choices, and she revisits many childhood memories. For the record, those aren’t spoilers. The murder of her mother is revealed in synopsis on the cover. The book was very well written, and vividly captured the disturbing nature of the events that take place. The first fifty pages left me feeling disgusted and horrified, but at the same time I could almost understand how such an act could be merciful. A lot of conflicting thoughts and emotions were inspired in me. The main character, Helen, was hard to relate to, for obvious reasons, but I found myself seeking to understand her actions and thought process. Helen made a lot of very poor decisions throughout the book, but her situation was described in such a way that one could see how she would be driven to make such choices. The exploration of Helen’s childhood was very engrossing, particularly as it delved into her relationship with her mother. As one would expect, Helen suffered a lot of inner conflict during the course of this novel. The strength of Sebold’s writing is that she is able to insightfully portray the inner monologue of a character who is struggling with a lot of contradictory emotions in a way that it’s fluid and easy to follow. Upon finishing The Almost Moon, I couldn’t help but questioned my own morality with regards to what I would do in Helen’s situation. This novel was an uncomfortable read because the subject matter is often hard to digest, but overall, I enjoyed it. The Almost Moon was a heavy read expressive of a great deal of difficult emotions, but I would recommend it to anyone looking for an original well written novel.

that is why the title is The Almost Moon. It is unfortunate that many reviewers didn't really enjoy this book but fortunately for me, I read many of their reviews before picking up The Almost Moon and buried all notations that this would be similar to The Lovely Bones. I personally enjoy when authors write different books. I hate picking up a novel and thinking, didn't he/she already write this book? That being said, there are some characteristics in the novel that remain true to Sebold's style: dark, satirical, intensity, and most importantly, I favour how she never feels it necessary to provide the reader with the answers to all of the questions. She challenges her readers to think for themselves, to engage the characters on a personal level. I really enjoyed this book. It is not for everyone and by about the 60th page in, you will know if it is for you or not.

The Almost Moon is the second book I’ve read by Alice Sebold (the other being The Lovely Bones). This book was a bit like watching a train wreck – you couldn’t really believe what was happening but you couldn’t look away. The main character is not terribly sympathetic – we meet her right after she has killed her elderly mother – but we can all recognize the humanity in her. Sebold is clearly a writer in a different category from most. She tackles the most unusual story lines and holds the reader for the entire novel. While I enjoyed The Lovely Bones more, if enjoy is the right word to use with Sebold’s novel topics, I still found this book to be a very good read.

I much more preferred The Lovely Bones. This is the story of a woman who almost-spontaneously kills her mother and when happens in the hours to pass. I am still somewhat undecided on the ending, even after rereading it a few times.

this book was hard to get into. the first half of the book was so gruesome that i was afraid of what might happen next, after reading that this woman not only killed her own mother, but dragged her into the basement to hide her in the freezer, than went out to her best friend's son's place and slept with him, among other things.. but once all the twisted information was spilled, it was actually a pretty interesting book, though i still find it did't compare to the lovely bones.

This book had all the potential of a great book. An interesting story line, great characters and conflict. However Alice Sebold had the cards set against her for this book. I read this when it first came out and finished it utterly disappointed. Now 9 months later I have re read it and found a new liking for it. Lovely Bones was FABULOUS!!!! It was an amazing book that an authour dreams of creating far down in their career. She just happened to do it right away. The expectations were high and for many people Lovely Bones was a quick favourite. The Almost Moon when compared to Lovely Bones is mediocore at best. When you take it aside and seperate the two it's a captivating read. If you're looking for something to compare to Lovely Bones this won't be it. I was originally disappointed with this title because we saw what this authour could create and we hoped for the same results. Alot like myself were disappointed but all in all I think this book was worthy of it's best seller status. Give it a fair chance and if you can stop yourself from comparing to Lovely Bones you'll probably find yourself enjoying it more.

I adored the lovely bones and read this novel shortly after it's release and was extremely disappointed. I found that the novel featured no redeeming characters and that you are made to care for neither the protagonist nor any of the secondary characters. The story is long and rather pointless and I found myself in a depressed mood just by reading it. Like another review stated, there is no climax and I found that at the end (which doesn't entirely tell you what happens to the main character and leaves you hanging) I just didn't even care which way it went. Definitely one to skip.

Thank god I listened to this book on Audiobook, I don't think I could trudge through it in paper format. It's long, circuitous, and worst of all - so anticlimatic that I'm not even sure there WAS a climax in this book. If you like a story that has a point or a conclusion, steer clear of this one.