There are some impulses that, simply said, should never be
acted upon. Unfortunately, people act upon them all too often. What
allows a person to let go of their conscience and follow their dark
desires? Helen Knightly should be able to tell you.
 
“Morality was just a security blanket that didn’t
exist. All of it, what I had done and what I was doing, was not
leading me perilously toward the edge of a cliff. I had already
jumped.”
 
Helen might have started out as an ordinary child, but living with
other-than-ordinary parents molded her into a supremely troubled
adult. Her father took himself away frequently on what he called
business, but often it had nothing to do with his job. And for as
long as Helen can remember, her mother suffered from severe mental
issues --- so severe that Helen felt like an outcast in their town.
She learned to cope in strange ways.
 
Helen quietly went about daily living like most people. Then one
day, she quits doing what is expected of her. When she does, she
does it in a big way. She tumbles into an abyss of human tragedy
and takes others down with her. One thoughtless, rash act sets in
motion a series of events that rush to ruin not just Helen’s
family but others in her far-reaching grasp. At every intersecting
point, one choice will take her to possible forgiveness; another,
total devastation.
 
During the 24 hours that THE ALMOST MOON spans, Helen makes very
few good choices. In fact, she makes such unbelievably bad choices
--- one after another --- that it becomes hard to care about what
happens to her. If she ever had a soul, it seems to have fled.
Still, it is possible that one huge sacrifice on her part might put
her back on the road to recovery, but she may yet be beyond
salvation.
 
Certainly Helen’s mother, Clair Knightly, sounds like a hard
woman to love, although Helen says she does. She also claims to
hate her. Helen wonders sometimes if her father, a gentle but
essentially spineless man, died to escape his beautiful but
unstable wife. Age never softened Clair. Her inveterate meanness
persisted, assaulting her daughter with constant criticism and
groundless derision. Clair was a woman incapable of being pleased.
Yet Helen sacrificed her personal happiness to care for her mother.
Whether out of guilt, a sense of duty or merely the strength of
familial bond, even she may not understand her reasons. Her own
failed marriage and strained relationships with her children
probably stemmed from what ultimately tied her to her mother. The
urge to be free must have been irresistible.
 
The line between a soul that is yet redeemable and one that is lost
is fragile. Has Helen Knightly gone beyond the turning point? If
not beyond, she certainly teeters on the brink. She spends one day
after her awful deed indulging in retrospection. She rethinks her
childhood, her marriage, her own motherhood, her friendships --- as
if she’s replaying her life in preparation for what she now
faces. If she survives, she will face a burden worse than her
abusive mother.
 
THE ALMOST MOON is as flawed as its main character. Had Alice
Sebold chosen one conflict for Helen Knightly to resolve instead of
allowing her to explode in many obscenely wrong directions, the
result would have been more satisfying. As it is, Helen has too
many problems converging in one day for her to adequately work out.
With that caveat, this novel will keep you mesmerized, from
the powerful opening sentence that will hit you like a blow to the
chest to the stunning ending. And when you close the book for the
final time, be prepared for a long night. Sleep will not come
easily.