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I read both Lucky and The Lovely Bones and enjoyed them both, so I was looking forward to reading Alice Sebold's next novel, The Almost Moon. While it's not as bad as people are saying on here (discomfort about descriptions of genitalia should not affect one's opinion on the books, guys, because as far as those go, Sebold's descriptions were not that bad), it did not have the emotional connection for the reader and the ending was very unsatisfying. The premise of the book was excellent. People treat mental illness like it's some hush-hush thing, and the way we're supposed to care for our aging parents is a touchy subject. And no one likes to admit it, but caring for someone elderly and caring for someone with a mental illness is emotionally and physically taxing. Thus, I felt some of the sections were touching--the fact that the main character wanted to clean up her mother because she would have liked to be that way when she died or when Helen describes how her mother tentatively stepped into the outside world to help her daughter buy pads at her menarche, versus all the times Clair would leave the lights on or accuse the neighbors of theft. As far as the rest of the story goes, it has too many characters that I couldn't get into enough to remember their names: Natalie, Hamish/Hamish Jr., Leo, Janine, Emily, Sarah, Jake, the neighbors, etc. I hate to compare it to The Lovely Bones, but there, Sebold limited the sheer volume of characters so we could better follow the story and get a better sense of the supporting cast. I couldn't remember that Emily and Sarah were Helen's children and not grandchildren, etc. And I'm going to compare the two novels again: The Lovely Bones had one of the most beautiful, haunting, and memorable last lines ever. The ending here sucked, as if Sebold had run out of steam right at the end of that chapter. Overall, not the worst book in the world, but one I'm glad I didn't purchase.

2020-08-27 23:25