The opening paragraph is bound to pull anyone in to this book - "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily." I certainly was no exception, and after reading the "Lovely Bones" and "Lucky" by the same author, I was looking forward to another excellent read.
This is the story ... Read review
When all is said and done killing my mother came easily.' For years Helen Knightly has ... more
given her life to others: to her haunted mother to her enigmatic father to her husband and now-grown daughters. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary her...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Helen Knightly has spent a lifetime trying to win the love of a mother who had none to ... more
spare. 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.
For years, Helen Knightly has given her life to others. When she finally crosses a ... more
terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined. Unfolding over twenty-four hours, this novel explores the ties between mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, the meaning of devotion and the line between love and hate.
Advantages: Errm Disadvantages: The story behind WHY she did it has more holes than swiss cheese.
The opening paragraph is bound to pull anyone in to this book - "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily." I certainly was no exception, and after reading the "Lovely Bones" and "Lucky" by the same author, I was looking forward to another excellent read.
This is the story of Helen Knightly, a fifty something mother who decides to kill her own eighty-eight year old mother. The reasons by ... ...and almost brutal childhood in the hands of her mother and has finally had enough of her mother's nasty ways.
All is to be revealed about why she is driven to do such a thing through flashbacks to said childhood and to the present, the hours following the murder.
'''My Thoughts'''
****************
I have to say that I really struggled with this book. My main reasons are because I didn't find any characters ... more
The opening paragraph is bound to pull anyone in to this book - "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily." I certainly was no exception, and after reading the "Lovely Bones" and "Lucky" by the same author, I was looking forward to another excellent read.
This is the story of Helen Knightly, a fifty something mother who decides to kill her own eighty-eight year old mother. The reasons by behind it at the beginning of the book seems to be that Helen had an unloved and almost brutal childhood in the hands of her mother and has finally had enough of her mother's nasty ways. All is to be revealed about why she is driven to do such a thing through flashbacks to said childhood and to the present, the hours following the murder.
My Thoughts ****************
I have to say that I really struggled with this book. My main reasons are because I didn't find any characters that I particularly warmed to, least of all the lead character Helen. She was detached from her actions - and I certainly felt detached from her in it too. At some points I hoped that she might get some peace from whatever it was that had plagued her her whole life, but always after reading a couple of paragraphs on, I found I was back to having no sympathy for her whatsoever and being totally baffled by her actions (and reactions when the deed was done!)
The main reason for my lack of compassion for Helen and her actions are many. Helen and her mother Clair quite literally had love hate relationship, during her childhood she fantasizes about cutting her mother up and mailing her around the world, but then she also talks about the time her mother had to leave the house (amongst her mental illnesses, it appears Clair suffered from Agoraphobia) and Helen made notes out of circular pieces of carrots and posted them everywhere encouraging her on her brave steps showing how she wanted her mother to see the love she had for her without having to actually tell her as Helen wasn't speaking to her at this time.
Some things in the book just don't add up and it is difficult to sympathize with Helen, and quite honestly you find yourself almost disliking her. The blurb on the back of the book starts with "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 approach."
I have several problems with this summary and I found it quite misleading. Firstly I was led to believe from this as well as the opening couple of paragraphs that Helens mother Clair is a nasty and evil woman who was so horrible and brutal to her only child that Helen couldn't help but be driven to this awful act, as well as almost unconsciously dong this act, she had never in her life dreamt she would do it.
As I have mentioned, the fact that Helen fantasized about killing her mother when she was a child and often saying that she hated her is almost testament to the fact that this act HAS in fact crossed her mind (at least In an adolescent way) and so, although not premeditated, it wasn't quite an act "she never dreamt she would approach."
The actions Helen takes after killing her mother are also in direct contrast to this, she is almost clinical in her processes, and we don't see any emotion which in the book I assume was meant to be interpreted as shock, but to me, I just felt that it was total lack of feeling and therefore I wasn't fighting her corner so to speak.
As the book wears on, it is also clear that Helen's motives for killing her mother aren't as solid as we are lead to believe. Obviously, there is no justification for murder, especially for the woman who has given you life. However, I expected, through the unraveling of Helen's childhood, to be some accounts as to why Helen would be driven to this act, premeditated or not. However I simply found that Helen was a lonely child, jealous of the affection her mother and father once had for each other and a child that craved the attention of her mother and father. Helen even feels triumphant as a teenager when her parents' friend befriends her and she feels like she has won something over her mother.
Her mother Clair on the other hand, though clearly not the best mother on the planet, (often indifferent to Helen, neglectful and sometimes tactless and insensitive), was by no means a devil that needed to be killed! It is unclear exactly what is wrong with Helen's mother - mental illness is bandied around a lot in the book and it's clear from the flashbacks that Clair is not well at all. But at times we see a tenderness that she shows Helen, and it is clear from some of her actions that she doesn't quite know how to deal with her child and how she should act. Yes, Clair is selfish and really not a good mother, but there was nothing truly awful about her.
I just found that things were too vague and I kept on waiting for some big secret to be revealed as to why Helen (and indeed her family, especially Helens daughters who seems to think that Clair has ruined their mothers' life) hates her so much. As much as I don't want to ruin the plot for anyone who is intending to read this, I do have to say that no such revelation happens.
We do however find out that Helen's father is also suffering from some kind of mental illness, and this might be something that Helen has struggled with since he passed away - again without ruining anything it is possible that this is a trigger and that Helen blames Clair, but again it's all told in half stories...I'm all for subtlety in novels, but I just did not get it. At all!
Summary ********
Despite the horrible character of Helen and the forgettable other family members (except Clair of course, although dead from the first page, she is the most lively and interesting one when the flashbacks are told!), the fluffy plot that didn't seem to reveal anything interesting and the general depressing vibe of the whole book, I kept on reading regardless, as is my nature! Sadly it did not get any better, nothing more was explained and it is still a mystery to me now I have finished it. The ending was not disappointing, just inevitable and I literally felt nothing afterward except relief that I had finished it!
As I mentioned, Clair was the most interesting character; Helen's flashbacks revealed a wicked sense of humour on occasions which made me smile. However her humour seemed to be a result of her mental illness, and a ploy to shock her daughter Helen as much as possible! Still, it was the most upbeat part of the book! The plot really did lack substance to make Helen's actions even remotely justifiable and believable. I just found there were far too many holes in the story and just thoroughly disappointing. I recommend you give this one a skip!
Advantages: Some good writing in it Disadvantages: Depressing, flawed and confussing
== THE ALMOST MOON ==
=== ALICE SEBOLD ===
I shouldn't do it, but do it I do over and over. That is I chose books so often from their covers, I should listen to all those old adages out there. But I have to admit when choosing books from the library I often pick up books that have a very plain cover - and I'm usually pleased with the result. I do look at the genre etc, I'm not that bad, and when I saw a crime novel with a pale blue cover with just ... ...a lifetime trying to win the love of a mother who had none to spare'., so I decided for some insane reason, that it would be a good read!! Was I right? I'm afraid that I was rather disappointed on this occasion, granted there was some good writing in it, but I generally found the book rather depressing and with several flaws in it. === THE STORY ===
Alice Sebold opens "The Almost Moon" with the sentence, "When all is said and done, killing my mother ...
oldchem 05.10.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
Advantages: A good idea... Disadvantages: ...not quite well-enough executed
...she would even approach" says the cover-flysheet blurb. Actually, it's not true. Not only did killing her mother come easily - as Helen tells us in the very first line - it was actually something that she'd spent much of her childhood fantasising about. OK we all have moments, especially as children, when we believe we would like to kill our parents…but Helen was different. She wouldn't just kill her mother, she would cut her up into tiny pieces, ... ...mail them off around the world.
In fairness, given the childhood she had ~ or at least the mother she had ~ it might not be that much of an over-reaction given that it was just a fantasy.
In reality Helen continued to spend her life looking after her mother. She aided and abetted her father in trying to keep up appearances with the neighbours, and getting the family through the 'hard days' without too much trauma.
As we meet Helen, she is divorced ...
hiker 06.12.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
Advantages: Brilliant, taboo, character-driven story Disadvantages: Emotionally difficult to read at times
Few books open with the main character killing their mother within the first chapter, which makes The Almost Moon quite unusual. The mother is Clair Knightly, a woman who's needed looking after her whole life due to mental illness - a situation that's worse than ever now she's in her late eighties and needs help with everything. Helen has looked after Clair since her father's death, with a little help from a neighbour. She feeds and washes her mother, ... ...She is intending to ring the hospice to take Clair when, out of impulse and confusion, she smothers her. Alice Sebold excels in building up the layers of complexity surrounding each relationship and each element of the story. Helen blames her mother for her father's death and her own relationship with her daughters is strained. The only person she's close to is her best friend, Natalie, who works as a life model - as does Helen - at the local university. ...
DoubleFantasy11 16.09.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
Advantages: potentially gripping storyline Disadvantages: cold and unsympathetic main character
...I acquired this book - The Almost Moon - in a very unexpected way as it was my Secret Santa present at my work's Christmas meal. Somebody obviously knew that I liked reading and I have to admit it makes a change from the crazy ideas or sexy undies that I normally seem to receive. It looked as though it was going to be quite an absorbing book too especially as the blurb on the back cover promised much! It starts off by saying that: 'Helen Knightly ... ...is about at all! The story is set in America and is told by Helen herself. In the very first sentence she tells the reader that she has killed her mother (so I'm not spoiling anything for anyone here) and then goes on to describe her actions, which are most bizarre at times, over the next twenty four hours. It seems strange that the timespan is so short, but the events are interspersed with lots of flashbacks that delve into events that led to that ...
kingfisher111 05.03.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
Advantages: Unusual, excellent writing skills Disadvantages: Sometimes can get a bit annoying
...with this book, as honestly the only reason I picked it up was because I was looking for another of Sebold's book at the library. They didn't have it, but they did have The Almost Moon, and as I hadn't read it before I thought I'd give it a go.
The plot is based around the character of Helen, and her mother Clair. On the very first page Helen kills her mother, and the rest of the novel is based around the aftermath of this and the story of her life ... ...life was like with Clair, the relationships she has with her daughters which she feels have been strained because of her mother, her ex husband, and her father. The book is extremely interesting to follow. For starters, the subject is completely unusual and therefore interesting, I'd certainly never read anything like it. I felt that the book was very realistic, as it touched upon the strange emotions that go through your mind after committing such ...
hi_nicola 02.01.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
Similar products and search queries by other users »
The Sebold, The Almost Sebold, The Moon Sebold, The Alice Sebold, The Almost Moon Sebold, The Almost Alice Sebold, The Moon Alice Sebold, The Almost Moon Alice Sebold
Are you the manufacturer / provider of The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold? Click here
