The Almost Moon is Almost Enjoyable

In celebration of my country's birthday, I recently embarked on a camping trip. I was extra jazzed as a fresh shipment of books came in only 4 days prior. Nothing says relaxing like a stack of novels and a hammock.

I had started Alice Sebold's The Almost Moon before leaving for the weekend, but had not really found myself engrossed by the tale. Now, let me start out by saying that although I possess a graduate-level degree in literature, the purposes of this blog are to review from a purely pleasure reading standpoint. However, this book was ripe with rich passages begging to be dissected by any eager second year lit student. Moving on...

This story contains an interesting premise (a woman plagued by her mentally ill mother finally snaps and the book details the next 24 hours with frequent flashbacks filling in the gaps).

I was looking forward to this anything but conventional examination of the mother-daughter relationship. I must say, here the book succeeded. It really demonstrated the way that this relationship can be both one of love, but can also be emotionally crippling in a way that no other relationship can. 

While these insights were profound, and offered a lot of meat to this story, overall this could not carry the story. Oftentimes the inner dialogue of the character was convoluted and I found myself skipping many a paragraph (never a good sign). Similarly, the writing style, while rich, did not lend itself to the more thrilling, leisurely read I had in mind.

So - my final thought here is Literature majors with a need for some meat - Pick this one up. Kelsi on the beach in a hammock - Leave the weighty stuff at home next time.

Currently Reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

Just Finished: The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

Up Next: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls