BOOK REVIEW: “The Almost Moon” by Alice Sebold

By Kellye Wantz | gargoyle@flagler.edu

“When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily.”

From the moment you read that first sentence, Alice Sebold captures your attention in her most recent book, “The Almost Moon.” Like her earlier novel, “Lovely Bones,” and her memoir, “Lucky,” Sebold’s third book is just as graphic and violent. All three take dark, overlooked subjects and bring them up front and center.

The plot of this twisted tale revolves around murder.

Main character Helen Knightly never thought that her relationship with her mother would be the way it had become. Being a professional art-model and a single mother of two, Helen never thought she would spend most of her adult life being her mother’s caregiver as a result of colon cancer, breast cancer and dementia. After taking care of her mother for years, Helen snaps and smothers her mentally ill mother.

Helen takes readers through when she started caring for her ill mother shortly after her father’s suicide, which is what drove her into a mental break down.

Once Helen does the deed, she feels ashamed but also a strange new sense of freedom engulfs her, and no longer is she held back from what she wants to do.

Over the next 24 hours, Helen’s life finally becomes her own as she faces her traumatic childhood and awkward relationship with her now-dead mother. She calls upon her ex-husband for help and he unwillingly becomes an accessory to the murder and she also has a wild fling with her best friends son.

“The Almost Moon” has many unexpected twists and turns. Find a comfortable and quiet place to sit and read because once this intense novel starts, it is quite difficult to put down.