An almost novel by Alice Sebold (From Swindon Advertiser)

An almost novel by Alice Sebold

10:39am Sunday 3rd May 2009

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THE Almost Moon by Alice Sebold (of The Lovely Bones fame) tells the story of a middle-aged woman who kills her ageing mother, no longer able to cope with her dementia.

When I picked this book I have to admit, I expected it to be a sensitive treatment of the horrors of dementia and the difficulties it imposes on those caring for a sufferer. I braced myself, for my father died from Alzheimer's and I thought this book would touch a raw nerve.

Instead, it turned out to be more a tale of a woman who does something unthinkable in a rash moment and how she copes with the hours and events that follow.

All I can say is it's quite a good read, but not brilliant, and certainly not as good as The Lovely Bones.

There's something that bugs me about Sebold's writing - and the only way I can describe it is that the book reads as though she's written it in line with a manual on How To Write A Bestseller. The way the plot is knitted together is clunky and obvious, giving the novel the feel of being the literary equivalent of painting by numbers.

You can see the picture, you can tell what it is, but it doesn't feel natural or from the heart.

That said, it was perfectly readable, with a gripping start, a flagging middle and picking up pace again towards the end. It just ain't no masterpiece.