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imperfectcj's review
4.0
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
I liked the story itself, but I really liked Olivia Moon and I loved that it was set in West Virginia, the birthplace of my maternal grandmother and a place of great beauty and great poverty, which is alternately maligned and ignored by the rest of the country.
When we lived in Utah, for a while we lived next door to a couple who spent some time riding the rails (when they weren't squatting in abandoned properties). They also played punk rock with their band until late into the summer nights, but it never kept my kids awake, so I never minded much. There was something kind of romantic about the way they talked about the freedom and the danger and the community that surrounded hobo life, and it was interesting to read Walsh's fictionalized take on this.
Her characters were rich, and while the emotion was a little melodramatic at times, it wasn't so overdone that it pushed into the unrealistic. I dislike writer characters in novels, so my annoyances with Jazz on that account I'm willing to set aside (except for her accidentally writing poems while eating a bagel in a nameless coffee shop. That detail seemed a little overwrought).
I found myself feeling like characters as young as Olivia and Jazz couldn't possibly make the kinds of life decisions they were making, which is a little funny when I look back on just how qualified I felt to direct my own life when I was their age and younger. It was kind of fun to go back into the tangled emotions of that time.
The detail with which Walsh describes Olivia's perspective, although clumsy in the first few pages, quickly becomes comfortable and vivid and really helps me feel what her world is like.
Although I found the ending a little too tidy (I'm rarely completely happy with a book's ending), it didn't stop me from quite enjoying this book.
I liked the story itself, but I really liked Olivia Moon and I loved that it was set in West Virginia, the birthplace of my maternal grandmother and a place of great beauty and great poverty, which is alternately maligned and ignored by the rest of the country.
When we lived in Utah, for a while we lived next door to a couple who spent some time riding the rails (when they weren't squatting in abandoned properties). They also played punk rock with their band until late into the summer nights, but it never kept my kids awake, so I never minded much. There was something kind of romantic about the way they talked about the freedom and the danger and the community that surrounded hobo life, and it was interesting to read Walsh's fictionalized take on this.
Her characters were rich, and while the emotion was a little melodramatic at times, it wasn't so overdone that it pushed into the unrealistic. I dislike writer characters in novels, so my annoyances with Jazz on that account I'm willing to set aside (except for her accidentally writing poems while eating a bagel in a nameless coffee shop. That detail seemed a little overwrought).
I found myself feeling like characters as young as Olivia and Jazz couldn't possibly make the kinds of life decisions they were making, which is a little funny when I look back on just how qualified I felt to direct my own life when I was their age and younger. It was kind of fun to go back into the tangled emotions of that time.
The detail with which Walsh describes Olivia's perspective, although clumsy in the first few pages, quickly becomes comfortable and vivid and really helps me feel what her world is like.
Although I found the ending a little too tidy (I'm rarely completely happy with a book's ending), it didn't stop me from quite enjoying this book.
cansail's review
4.0
Two very different sisters learn to deal with their mother's death by supporting rather than battling each other. Recommend to everyone who enjoys memorable, distinctive characters and lyrical writing.
debnanceatreaderbuzz's review
4.0
Their mother is dead and Olivia knows she must head out to the setting of her mother's longtime work-in-progress story, and, of course, her sisterJazz must come, too. There's a tattooed man and a drinking dad and a few other damaged people the two equally damaged sisters meet along the way. It makes for a satisfying story, I think.
mikolee's review
3.0
Family. Secrets. Sisters. Adventure.
A road trip following the death of their mother leads a pair of sisters on a journey of discovery. Each holding on to her own version of their troubled mom. Makes me think of how different my relationship is with my two daughters and how my sisters each brought out different qualities in our mom. Even within the same family the lens which we view the world can be so vastly different.
The younger sister who sees words as music and "tastes" life, has grown blind from staring at the sun. She stubbornly wants to travel to spread moms ashes amidst the Glades where her moms long unfinished fairy tale is set. The older practical sister complies only after the insistence of her grandma and memories of her mom admonishing her to "take care of your sister." A surprise ending.
Written with lovely attention to detail and clearly drawn characters.
A road trip following the death of their mother leads a pair of sisters on a journey of discovery. Each holding on to her own version of their troubled mom. Makes me think of how different my relationship is with my two daughters and how my sisters each brought out different qualities in our mom. Even within the same family the lens which we view the world can be so vastly different.
The younger sister who sees words as music and "tastes" life, has grown blind from staring at the sun. She stubbornly wants to travel to spread moms ashes amidst the Glades where her moms long unfinished fairy tale is set. The older practical sister complies only after the insistence of her grandma and memories of her mom admonishing her to "take care of your sister." A surprise ending.
Written with lovely attention to detail and clearly drawn characters.
lisagray68's review
3.0
3.5 stars. I got this book as part of the Library Thing early reviewers program. The writing is good and the story interesting, a nice twist at the end. I just wasn't feelin' it, though, and I'm not sure exactly why that is. Maybe it's because I don't have sisters and so the interactions between the sisters just seemed too intense or at odds for me. Also, there wasn't enough similarity in any of the characters to my own experience to be able to really enter into their way of thinking. I actually wanted to put the book down a few times, not because the story wasn't a good one and the writing good, but because I didn't really feel compelled to hear what happened next. It feels like normally this would be a book I'd really like and there was just some disconnect there that is hard for me to articulate.
penny_literaryhoarders's review
4.0
Lots of layers here - and her ability to create great, believable and strong characters shines through again here in The Moon Sisters.
silverthistle5b786's review
5.0
I loved this one so much! I was offered this one by the publisher and I'm so thrilled I accepted because it's a wonderful story. I barely laid it down from start to finish. I'm a REALLY slow reader usually but I just rattled through this one.
It's hard for me to write a review for something I loved as opposed to one I hated as it's all about the 'feels' for me and I can't put it into words sometimes. (Just an FYI - with this one I have a lot of feels and chances are that this review is going to be all over the place because of it.)
I don't read very much in this genre (is it Women's fiction? Family drama? Coming of Age?...I'm not sure) but the thing that drew me to accepting this one was the mention of Synesthesia. It's a condition I've heard of before but don't really know much about. It's fascinating. No two people who are affected by the condition have the same experiences and it varies from person to person but Wiki describes it as -
"A neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who report such experiences are known as synesthetes.
In layman's terms, it's the ability to hear colours, or smell sounds, or even taste words. It's fascinating to me.
Anyway, the story. It's just so interesting! Told in alternating chapters from Jazz and Olivia's points of view with some chapters interspersed with letters written by the girls' mother to her father when she was alive. Is it fate or luck that leads someone to make a certain decision over another? Is life all mapped out for us or is it just about being in the right place at the right time? Maybe it's a bit of both?
I really cared about the characters, I loved them, both the main two girls and their family and the interesting people they meet on their journey (and their stories which run alongside Jazz and Olivia's are equally wonderful). Brilliantly written, evenly paced and satisfying to the end.
I'm not doing this justice at all, I'm all over the place with it. I can't find the words. I just loved it all and everyone needs to read it!
It's hard for me to write a review for something I loved as opposed to one I hated as it's all about the 'feels' for me and I can't put it into words sometimes. (Just an FYI - with this one I have a lot of feels and chances are that this review is going to be all over the place because of it.)
I don't read very much in this genre (is it Women's fiction? Family drama? Coming of Age?...I'm not sure) but the thing that drew me to accepting this one was the mention of Synesthesia. It's a condition I've heard of before but don't really know much about. It's fascinating. No two people who are affected by the condition have the same experiences and it varies from person to person but Wiki describes it as -
"A neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who report such experiences are known as synesthetes.
In layman's terms, it's the ability to hear colours, or smell sounds, or even taste words. It's fascinating to me.
Anyway, the story. It's just so interesting! Told in alternating chapters from Jazz and Olivia's points of view with some chapters interspersed with letters written by the girls' mother to her father when she was alive. Is it fate or luck that leads someone to make a certain decision over another? Is life all mapped out for us or is it just about being in the right place at the right time? Maybe it's a bit of both?
I really cared about the characters, I loved them, both the main two girls and their family and the interesting people they meet on their journey (and their stories which run alongside Jazz and Olivia's are equally wonderful). Brilliantly written, evenly paced and satisfying to the end.
I'm not doing this justice at all, I'm all over the place with it. I can't find the words. I just loved it all and everyone needs to read it!
elfygirl45's review
2.0
I decided not to finish this one. I got about halfway through it and never became interested in what was happening to the Moon sisters.
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