***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***
Let me start this by saying that I loved The Lovely Bones. I
thought it was a wonderfully-written book that was miles higher
than the movie. Thinking I'd try something else written by Alice
Sebold, I picked up The Almost Moon from the library and was quite
disappointed (read: happy I checked the book out at the library and
didn't buy it!).
I expected so much more from such a great writer. This book was
quite disturbing, focusing on Helen, who is dealing with her
invalid mother. Not able to take it anymore, Helen kills her. This
might have been a tolerable book to read, if the reader could
actually like Helen, but she's pretty unlikeable and a horrible
person throughout the whole book. Sebold might have set out writing
The Almost Moon thinking the reader would show compassion towards
Helen, but the decisions Helen makes, along with her narcissism,
are just unbearable.
The description of The Almost Moon makes it seem like this book is
fast-paced, but I was so disgusted (and mildly bored) that it was
anything but. If I could have empathized with Helen in any way,
maybe I would have cared about her past and what she had to go
through. But I didn't. Sebold might have been trying to shock her
reader, but talking about Helen's mother's genetalia, or having
Helen sleep with her best friend's son, is gross and disturbing.
Not so much shocking.
When I picked up The Almost Moon and read the first few lines, I
assumed that this book would be about Helen coping with killing her
mother-with people, with therapy-and dealing with the consequences.
I didn't expect an entire book written in a kind of
stream-of-consciousness bouncing back and forth from the present to
the past.
I really don't recommend this book. Even if you're a fan of Alice
Sebold. Read The Lovely Bones - it's a much more moving read.