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.