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    The Almost Moon
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    The Almost Moon
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    The Almost Moon
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Almost Moon

    Written by Alice Sebold

    Narrated by Joan Allen

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and 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 audiobook 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 has.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateOct 16, 2007
    ISBN9781600240317
    Unavailable
    The Almost Moon
    Author

    Alice Sebold

    Alice Sebold is the author of the bestselling novels The Lovely Bones and The Almost Moon, and the memoir Lucky. She lives in California.

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    Reviews for The Almost Moon

    3/5

    1,081 ratings107 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the book as I also enjoyed her other two books.
    • 1/5
      Blah. Central character coldly distanced and unsympathetic.
    • 5/5
      After reading The Lovely Bones, I had high expectations of Almost Moon, and I felt they were definitely met - it was an exhilarating read and I felt connected to the protagonist, despite the fact she was absolutely crazy. This seemingly impossible story is told in such a way that makes it believable and, in my opinion, makes the reader feel almost sorry for the protagonist. I loved it!
    • 1/5
      Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Terrible book.
    • 2/5
      Not only did I find this book highly boring, the ending seems unfinished and almost mean. After all the time slogging through the book nothing is even resolved at the ending? I would like to say that this book made me think but all it made me was sad. Sad that I wasted my time on it.
    • 3/5
      I liked the basis of the story, it was interesting... but please authors, do your research on mental illness medications if you are going to specifically state a medication and it's amount prescribed, get it right. (the normal prescription for xanax is 0.25-0.5 mg so nobody is going to be prescribed 10mg of xanax)
    • 3/5
      This was just okay, I did finish it. But I also thought that The Lovely Bones was very over rated as well.
    • 3/5
      Like many others, I found this book to be a difficult one to get through. I listened to it on audio and almost gave up after the second tape as Helen was becoming rather unlikeable and the subject matter was getting a bit heavy and depressing for my afternoon commute home from work. However, I believe one of the qualities of a good writer is the ability to make the reader have feelings (good or bad) about your characters. I gave this 3 stars because it was such a tough, heavy book to get through. However, I thought Sebold's writing was excellent, particularly during the scene when the neighbors came into the yard looking for Helen's mother. The tension was palpable and listening to this on audio had me gripping the steering wheel until this part was over.
    • 1/5
      I was so hoping to like this book. I loved the beginning of "The Lovely Bones" and was hoping Sebold could keep it up through an entire novel. Unfortunately, on page 44, I read the worst line I have ever encountered in literature. I finished the book but never got over that awful, awful line. I have no idea if this is a good book or not. I only know it contains the most disturbing sentence ever written.

    • 3/5
      If this book were not a book club pick, I don't think I'd have read past the first sentence. However, in the end I found it worthwhile and relevant to today's elder-care issues. I am looking forward to a spirited debate about the characters and ending.
    • 1/5
      The book opens with Helen recounting that she has killed her mother.We are given an account of how that happened followed by the events of the next 24 hours intertwined with flashbacks through their life.This is a very confusingly written book, with an ending that isn't an ending at all.Very disappointing. The Lovely Bones it is not.
    • 5/5
      I've had this book for I don't know how long and I tried to read it several times before and just couldn't get into it. But for some reason this time it grabbed me. This book was incredibly fascinating as we followed Helen through her actions, thoughts and memories of her life. What a sad moment when she decided to end her mother's life and then she had to figure out what to do now that it was over. Her memories of her life with her mother explained a lot about the relationship that she had with her family. And yet, how that reflected on her relationships with her two daughters. So much that had happened and so much that she had to endure as she was growing up. Even her relationships with friends and others seemed downright strange. She kept her distance, but yet still gave all she had to her mother. And even after ending her mother's life, she didn't want to, but yet she called her ex-husband for help. In turn, he did. But the end of the story was sad, it seemed like it was left open for the reader to decide whether she ended her own life or what, This book was a great read and very deep on the subject matter, which is why, maybe this time when I sat down to read it, it hooked me right from the get-go. I'm sure every single one of us has a dark thought about someone, but to actually act on it is a completely different thing. Perhaps the readers can somewhat relate to this character doing what she did.
    • 3/5
      This book didn't live up to my expectations of Alice Sebold at all. Though it was about as disturbing as her other books, it wasn't nearly as compelling and even near the end of the book I found it difficult to care about the main character. Don't expect a book anywhere close to as good as her other books and perhaps you'll be able to appreciate this one a lot more than I did. I considered not finishing it a few times, even though it didn't take me long to read.
    • 3/5
      Fifty-something Helen Knightly is burdened with taking care of her agoraphobic, unpleasant, controlling, eighty-something mother. One day, as Helen attempts to heft the limp body her mother, who is criticizing and complaining to Helen, to a place where she can wash and change her mother's soiled undergarments, Helen simply, without forethought, presses the towel down over the face of her mother, pushing so forcefully to smother her that Helen only stops when she hears the crack of her mother's broken nose bone. Throughout the rest of the novel, Helene goes back and forth, between the past, in which she examines her familial relationships, and the present, in which she ponders what she should do now that she has committed matricide. (A fascinating and depressing, but well-written adult story.)
    • 2/5
      If I could quantitate it, I would say that as much as I loved The Lovely Bones, that's how much I didn't love The Almost Moon. I'm willing to cede it might be unfair to compare the two, but it is inevitable that it will happen.To say that the main character, Helen, kills her mother in the early pages of this book is not a spoiler It says so right there on the jacket and in all descriptions of the book. To explain my dismay at this story is difficult to do without spoiling, but I'll try.I get it, I really do. The plot is as disjointed as it is for a reason - there's unraveling all around, not the least in the narrative. I know why, I just didn't like it. It made it an extremely difficult book for me to follow. Or finish. Or care, frankly. I didn't mind the actions Helen took - any of them. What's despicable to some is absolutely necessary to others. I don't mind hating the protagonist of what I'm reading. And I definitely did. I also don't mind a perpetually bleak outcome. Like some books I've read, I didn't mind the parts; it's the sum of them that were untenable.I don't mind dark, I don't mind depressing. Heck if I did, I wouldn't have loved the author's previous novel as much as I did. I'm also willing to cede that it might have indeed taken much thought to come up with something that appears so poorly thought out, I just didn't care for it. Disappointing.
    • 2/5
      I would have enjoyed this book, I read it quickly (just over two days and I work full time, etc) except it was seriously depressing.
    • 3/5
      Disclaimer: I'm not sure why I read this, as I'm not a fan of Sebold's fiction, but somehow I ended up with this novel in-hand. As is revealed on the novel's first page, the narrator kills her mother, and the rest of the book's nonlinear timeline is concerned with the events leading up to and following this action. It's ironic that Philip Roth is name-dropped by the protagonist at one point, as I'd call Helen the female equivalent of one of his own characters - white, middle-aged, middle-class, and dissatisfied with her life and the direction it's taken. It's not hard to identify with her, but it is difficult to particularly care what comes out of her self-manufactured mess. Yes, suburban life can be hell - especially with mental illness thrown into the mix - but it all feels like retread ground to me.
    • 3/5
      I found this book rather odd. Almost every decision the main character made made me cringe and think 'Oh no! Why are you doing that?' Strange story and a very strange ending.
    • 3/5
      Alice Sebold once again writes a moving story that keeps you reading. The book is very depressing and never picks up, there is no happiness in the whole book. I continued to read because Ms. Sebold is a great story teller but this left me wanting at the end.
    • 2/5
      This is a novel that explores mental illness in a family and how everyone is affected. The writing is good, but the subject matter is very dark and disturbing. I read this book because I have read the author's previous books, "Lucky" and "The Lovely Bones", which I enjoyed. This book does not compare to her other novels, and I would not recommend it for enjoyable reading.
    • 4/5
      Great book by a favorite author. The reader know from the first sentence that Helen has just killed her very elderly and abusive mother. We continue reading to learn what led to this event and what will happen next. Though a series of flashbacks on the past plus actions in the present, we come to know Helen and her terrible family situation, and we fill with sympathy for her, wanting peace and understanding for her as the public knowledge of the murder evolves.
    • 3/5
      A kind of dreary and depressing novel about a woman who, at the beginning of the book, suffocates her elderly long-abusive mother in an impulsive act, and then spends most of the book enlisting her ex-husband to help deal with her act, and flashing back on the circumstances that led her to this point. It was a squirmy feeling, reading about the bad decisions that follow this monstrous act and lead to a roller-coaster fall toward self-destruction. Yet, the book is (almost) redeemed by Helen's last hopeful choice, inspired by a deceased elderly neighbor who knew that life and sanity are too precious to let slip away.
    • 3/5
      This was quite a frustrating read, as the action taking place in the present is constantly interrupted by random reminiscences, and the unsettled mental state of the narrator mean that these are not straightforward by any means. It's an impressive piece of writing overall, though, with a three-dimensional feel. Reading Alice Sebold's books is a bit like crocheting a blanket. The end result is great, but there is an awful lot of fiddling, fussing and losing of threads along the way.
    • 1/5
      After loving the Lovely Bones, I waited in near desperation for Alice Sebold's second novel. I was gravely disappointed. The main character wasn't likable or even very interesting. There was just nothing good to hang onto in the plot. Some writers only have one good novel in them, and Alice Sebold just might fall into that category.
    • 3/5
      Alice is an excellent writer, I have read all of her books. I love her descriptions, I can easily imagine what is going on. This book was equally as well written but the ending... not so good. I am frustrated. I want some answers.
    • 4/5
      I found this book very complex and confusing, and I expect there is more to the book than I first gave it credit for. The narrator, Helen, telling the story in first person, seems to become more and more mentally unstable as the story progresses, making irrational decisions and becoming increasingly unhinged, while still trying to function and stay connected to the people in her life. I would say Helen is herself as unbalanced as both her mentally ill parents. She is self destructive and disintegrating before us as we turn the pages. Once into the story, I was hooked and could not put it down. There is more here that meets the eye, and I will be thinking it through in days to come.
    • 4/5
      Alice Sebold is so very good with weird. Absolutely loved it.
    • 4/5
      It seems with this book that either you love it or you hate it. I loved it.Alice Seblod delivers another great, unexpected novel about the fragile and complicated relationship between a mother and a daughter, only - of course - with a twist. Helen's beautiful mother suffers from mental illness that has made Helen's life hell. Nothing Helen has ever done is good enough and Helen was neglected and often unloved as a child. In her mother's later years, Helen has to look after her mother and she's just had enough. So, she kills her. The murder opens the book, and over a period of twenty four hours, we discover the history behind this brutal and savage act, going back through Helen's memories and past feelings to find out why she has killed her mother.Written in simple but beautiful language, you hang off every word. Although a little slow in places, it kept me reading until the end. The mental illness Helen's mother experienced did not only harm her mother, but the whole family. It was easy to lose yourself in Helen's memories and especially the fond ones she holds for her deceased father. It is easy to tell how Helen's mother has influenced the rest of Helen's life; her failed marriage, her affair with her best friend's twenty-something son, her suicidial thoughts.It was a painful and dark story that had everything a painful and dark story should have.The ending was wonderful, a passage of self-interpretation: did Helen kill herself or did she give herself up? This is only one of the questions you will be asking yourself during, THE ALMOST MOON.
    • 1/5
      After this book, I hate to be so ugly about it, but I will probably not read another of her books. The only reason I read it all the way through was because I hate to have unfinished books and I was hoping that it would get better by then end. I found this book to be a bit pointless and it had no real ending. I wouldn't recommend this book and was very disappointed.
    • 4/5
      Alice Sebold again astonishes me with her amazing talent. She is truly a master of her craft, and is probably one of my all-time favorite authors for that reason. She manages to create a (disturbingly) realistic story about an uncomfortable topic: Dementia. And of course, the worst-case-scenario when it comes to dealing with it. I ate through this book over the course of a day, because I just couldn't put it down. I found that it was deliciously dark, and heavily disturbing at times. There were points where I had to put the book down because I felt queasy. This didn't deter me, though, and I'm very glad that I finished it. I loved that it all took place over 24 hours - it gave just enough time for events to unfold, and for the main character to come to grips with herself. And it had a very realistic ending. Another masterpiece from Alice Sebold.