Alice Sebold

Having set aside her own life in her support of her parents, husband, and children, Helen Knightly confronts the realities of the choices that were imposed upon her during a harrowing twenty-four-hour period of death and revelation. By the author of The Lovely Bones. 750,000 first printing.

A Novel

The Almost Moon

Lacy W

2.5 stars 

I'm starting to think that Alice Sebold isn't the author for me. Her writing is beautiful, don't get me wrong. It reads like one long poem. But her plots make no sense half the time and I'm usually either lost or bored. Which is never a good thing.

This book is about matricide....I think. It had topics such as mental illness and divorce. I'm going to be honest and say that for the most of the book, I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. The plot literally bounced from past to present in the span of a paragraph. One paragraph would be about the present and then the next time I know, we are in the past. It was confusing and incredibly frustrating at times. I think it tried to fit too much into a small amount of time and that's one of the reasons why this book failed for me.

I didn't like learning about Helen's family sooooo slloooowwwllly. For being just shy of 300 pages, it felt like a 600 page book. Maybe I should say that because I have read some incredible 600 page books that read like they were 200 pages. There were be times where absolutely nothing happened and then there would be times were twenty different things happened and I had to go back and re-read parts of the book. 

I couldn't keep the characters straight because they had no personality, which didn't help me in trying to figure out what the plot actually was about. Helen was terrible both in personality and as a narrator. I couldn't really trust anything she said, which sucked because the entire book was from her POV. I had no idea and still don't about whether or not she hated her mom or what their relationship actual was. 

Clair was made to look like this weak willed individual with a heart of ice. I obviously didn't care for her. Because Helen never really knew what was wrong with her, we didn't either. Don't get me wrong, that works for some books. But because this book was very character driven, I felt this really didn't help things. I don't know if I was supposed to hate Clair, feel sorry for her or both. The rest of the characters were so flat and dull that they aren't even worth mentioning. Not to mention the fact that I can't remember any of their names.

I think I am done with Alice Sebold. She has one more book that I haven't read, which is a memoir. But honestly, I'm going to pass. She obviously needs to work on writing better and building better plots. You can write beautifully but still have a plot, like Roshani Chokshi. But if you just have beautiful words and no plot, the book falls flat. Like this one did.

Mariel Adrianna de la Garza

This book made me cry more times than I care to admit.

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.

Allison Garber

Helen Knightly has spent a lifetime trying to win the love of a mother who had none to spare. And as this electrifying novel opens, she steps over a boundary she never dreamt she would even approach. But while her act is almost unconscious, it also seems like the fulfilment of a lifetime's buried desire. Over the next 24 hours, her life rushes in at her as she confronts the choices that have brought her to this crossroads.

Corrine Sing

Lara Engle

Lisa Lindquist 

Caitlin Hooker

Anna Bold

Jaymie Lemke

Mirella Hetekivi

Susan Forsythe

Jeanie Cha

Alice Sebold is the author of the number one bestseller The Lovely Bones and the memoir Lucky. She lives in California with her husband, Glen David Gold.

The Almost Moon A Novel

Reviews