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The Boy in the Moon
Mariés depuis dix ans, Julia et Brian traversent une crise conjugale en demi-teinte. Julia s'interroge avec causticité sur la personnalité de l'homme qu'elle a épousé. Pourquoi lui semble-t-il si souvent impassible devant certains événements de la vie quotidienne ? Leur fils Sam, sept ans, est un enfant sensible et enclin à la rêverie qui voit dans la lune un petit garçon qui pleure. Lors d'un week-end, ils quittent Londres pour rendre visite au père de Brian en Irlande. Un drame affreux survient, qui se soldera par l'échec de leur union. Julia pourtant décide d'aller vivre chez son beau-père, un homme tyrannique. En lisant des carnets dérobés, rédigés par la mère de Brian depuis décédée, elle ressuscite le secret qui étouffe les membres de la famille. Dans ce roman troublant et inoubliable de sensibilité et d'amour, construit comme un suspense, Kate O'Riordan s'impose de nouveau dans une magistrale fresque sur l'ambiguïté des sentiments et la fragilité de la nature humaine.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 18, 2026
4 ☆
a complex study of grief, guilt, abuse and trauma.
a complex study of grief, guilt, abuse and trauma.
August 17, 2016
A bleak, ominous, compelling portrait of the shadows of childhood grief and abuse, the guilt these engender, and ultimately the tragic trust of a child left with an abusive parent.
The tragedy of Brian and Julie losing their bright seven-year-old son to an accident sends both parents back to exaggerated, desperate versions of their childhood selves struggling with inflamed flaws and hopeless compensations for a lack of love. Julia flees to Brian's father in Ireland, an austere and wholly righteous abuser who has psychologically manipulated the entire family to believe him morally exempt, even to the point of rewriting his son Brian's memory of the death of his twin by the force of his will alone. Jeremiah is a compellingly dark character, charismatic, disdainful, and yet almost convincing in his superiority, even to the reader. Brain's flashbacks to his childhood are also heartbreaking, that impulse that only children have to destroy themselves and their belief in their own virtue in their desperation to vindicate their parents. The love and pity Brian felt for his sickly brother Noel was palpable and deeply identifiable. I found Brian a rich, sympathetic character both in his child-self and as a grieving adult. Julia at first seemed to embody the marital equivalent of Jeremiah, remote, contemptuous, fundamentally destructive and her complete self-absorption made her a fascinating parallel to the abusive father. A tense psychological read.
However, there were a few problems with the prose. O'Riordan is obviously a talented writer, but she should not feel the need to prove this with such fervour. There were several instances of outlandishly high vocabulary punctuating the otherwise identifiable inner monologues of the characters which really took me out of the story. I mean, would someone really think of a friend as an "interlocutor" whilst having a conversation? The metaphors also often tried too hard. Although I appreciate synesthesiac imagery in fantasy or psychedelic writing, it felt out of place in a psychological contemporary. I think the writing worked best when the images were less abstract, more grounded in real sensations and less, well, cognitive.
Although the plot was very engaging and natural, I have to dock a star for the ridiculous scene in which Julia, a manipulative and needy woman, sleeps with Brian's brother. Who was a virgin. Who has loved her from afar for decades. Who has not looked at another woman because of his love for her even though he knows he's only a substitute. Yeah. Whatever. I don't really believe that anyone is so special that someone else will completely forego their own romantic and sexual life out of some weird loyalty. It seems like something a 13 year-old would promise, not a psychologically healthy 40 year old accountant. It just stank of melodramatic young adult paranormal romance.
Overall, Brian and his relationship with his father was fascinating and the self-absorption and arrogance of Julia was needed to break his facade of virtue. An entertaining and thought provoking read.
The tragedy of Brian and Julie losing their bright seven-year-old son to an accident sends both parents back to exaggerated, desperate versions of their childhood selves struggling with inflamed flaws and hopeless compensations for a lack of love. Julia flees to Brian's father in Ireland, an austere and wholly righteous abuser who has psychologically manipulated the entire family to believe him morally exempt, even to the point of rewriting his son Brian's memory of the death of his twin by the force of his will alone. Jeremiah is a compellingly dark character, charismatic, disdainful, and yet almost convincing in his superiority, even to the reader. Brain's flashbacks to his childhood are also heartbreaking, that impulse that only children have to destroy themselves and their belief in their own virtue in their desperation to vindicate their parents. The love and pity Brian felt for his sickly brother Noel was palpable and deeply identifiable. I found Brian a rich, sympathetic character both in his child-self and as a grieving adult. Julia at first seemed to embody the marital equivalent of Jeremiah, remote, contemptuous, fundamentally destructive and her complete self-absorption made her a fascinating parallel to the abusive father. A tense psychological read.
However, there were a few problems with the prose. O'Riordan is obviously a talented writer, but she should not feel the need to prove this with such fervour. There were several instances of outlandishly high vocabulary punctuating the otherwise identifiable inner monologues of the characters which really took me out of the story. I mean, would someone really think of a friend as an "interlocutor" whilst having a conversation? The metaphors also often tried too hard. Although I appreciate synesthesiac imagery in fantasy or psychedelic writing, it felt out of place in a psychological contemporary. I think the writing worked best when the images were less abstract, more grounded in real sensations and less, well, cognitive.
Although the plot was very engaging and natural, I have to dock a star for the ridiculous scene in which Julia, a manipulative and needy woman, sleeps with Brian's brother. Who was a virgin. Who has loved her from afar for decades. Who has not looked at another woman because of his love for her even though he knows he's only a substitute. Yeah. Whatever. I don't really believe that anyone is so special that someone else will completely forego their own romantic and sexual life out of some weird loyalty. It seems like something a 13 year-old would promise, not a psychologically healthy 40 year old accountant. It just stank of melodramatic young adult paranormal romance.
Overall, Brian and his relationship with his father was fascinating and the self-absorption and arrogance of Julia was needed to break his facade of virtue. An entertaining and thought provoking read.
February 3, 2025
An amazing study on trauma and grief as well as on women in rural Ireland.
February 13, 2025
El final me ha parecido un poco demasiado, pero la novela en general es impresionante. Qué bien escrita. Puro naturalismo: una familia con un cajón lleno de traumas, con pensamientos tan realistas que resultan intrusivos, en una Irlanda rural que fascina y aterra al mismo tiempo. Leer este libro es una experiencia.
Nunca me dejará de fascinar la habilidad de escritoras como O'Riordan de plasmar la mente humana; muchas veces, es como leerte a ti mismo.
Nunca me dejará de fascinar la habilidad de escritoras como O'Riordan de plasmar la mente humana; muchas veces, es como leerte a ti mismo.
October 4, 2013
Another op shop find, picked almost randomly on the title and because it was Irish. I plodded through this, and nearly abandoned it a couple of times. (It nearly got left at the checkout in Woolies on a particularly slow day when I was reading as I waited for the woman in front to return to the line after her third trip for something "urgent" she "just had to have, omg, I'm SO sorry... you don't mind do you?", and then I accidentally-on-purpose left it in a coffee shop but the waitress ran after me to give it back). So I finished it.
Brian and Julia's 5 year old son is killed in an accident, and their marriage falls apart, mainly because they never really related in the first place. Julia takes herself off to Ireland to stay with Brian's abusive father, and Brian takes to the labba with major depression, and relives his childhood.
I didn't feel anything for this book except irritation that it was the only book I had with me. There's a detached quality to the writing, that I suspect is deliberate, but it had the effect of pushing me out of the story. I didn't care about Brian and Julia. I didn't care that bad things were happening to them, and that's not a great mindset in a reader. The pace was slow, and the writing a bit too self-consciously literary and filled with superfluous details.
If you like maudlin musings from self-absorbed unlikeable characters, set against the old abusive-church-going-father, down-trodden-mother-with-too-many-kids, plot set in Ireland, maybe give this a go, but otherwise, meh.
Brian and Julia's 5 year old son is killed in an accident, and their marriage falls apart, mainly because they never really related in the first place. Julia takes herself off to Ireland to stay with Brian's abusive father, and Brian takes to the labba with major depression, and relives his childhood.
I didn't feel anything for this book except irritation that it was the only book I had with me. There's a detached quality to the writing, that I suspect is deliberate, but it had the effect of pushing me out of the story. I didn't care about Brian and Julia. I didn't care that bad things were happening to them, and that's not a great mindset in a reader. The pace was slow, and the writing a bit too self-consciously literary and filled with superfluous details.
If you like maudlin musings from self-absorbed unlikeable characters, set against the old abusive-church-going-father, down-trodden-mother-with-too-many-kids, plot set in Ireland, maybe give this a go, but otherwise, meh.
June 6, 2020
A complex and dark novel with childhood abuse at its heart. This is my first Kate O’Riordan experience, and I really enjoyed the unusual way she has of looking at life and relationships, and her distinctive turn of phrase. A heart-wrenching and maddening story of the way childhood trauma shapes the adult, and how personality traits play into the mix. The past and present flow back and forth, like time and tide, and take the reader on a journey through the inner workings and outward behaviours of the central characters. Plenty of metaphors in there about facing our demons - I am very glad I persisted with this one.
August 7, 2024
J’ai eu beaucoup de mal à entrer dans l’histoire. J’ai trouvé la première moitié de ce roman laborieuse en raison des personnages. Ils sont chiants… enfin, c’est surtout leur relation qui est pénible.
Une fois que l’histoire et le contexte ont été bien en place, ma lecture est devenue plus intéressante. Je suis parvenue à m’attacher un peu aux personnages, à certains plus que d’autres. On navigue entre présent et passé et ça m’a vraiment plu.
Malgré un début difficile, j’ai bien aimé cette lecture. L’ambiance est entêtante et je pense que j’aurais du mal à me la sortir de la tête.
https://psylook.kimengumi.fr/2024/08/...
Une fois que l’histoire et le contexte ont été bien en place, ma lecture est devenue plus intéressante. Je suis parvenue à m’attacher un peu aux personnages, à certains plus que d’autres. On navigue entre présent et passé et ça m’a vraiment plu.
Malgré un début difficile, j’ai bien aimé cette lecture. L’ambiance est entêtante et je pense que j’aurais du mal à me la sortir de la tête.
https://psylook.kimengumi.fr/2024/08/...
March 28, 2022
Another book deposited into our street library, and now that I've finished it I've realised it's signed by the author. I knew nothing about this book - the back is just a bunch of glowing reviews with no blurb. I guess it's intentional because Goodreads also doesn't have a blurb. It's about a couple dealing with trauma and grief. It's well written and delves into the couple's own respective childhoods. I didn't enjoy it though, so a respectable 3 stars from me.
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February 27, 2024J'ai mis un peu de temps � m'accrocher aux personnages, ce qui est plut�t mieux vu l'immense tristesse de l'histoire. L'�criture est assez brute, parfois crue et d'autrefois tr�s factuelle et d�tach�e, malgr� la quantit� d'�motions d�crites et ressenties au fil de l'ouvrage. Les aller-retour dans le pass� permettent de prendre de la hauteur et de constater � quel point les relations parents-enfants ont �volu� durant ces 30 derni�res ann�es.
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May 20, 2023i would be lying if i said this did not tire me at times, but overall the plot moves along at a good pace and i love the character work and the prose, as well as how it handled its themes, so i would definitely recommend it
January 26, 2020
3.5 stars
April 13, 2020
Things I'd highlight: writing style, Edward and Anne (minor characters), the many ways grief is portrayed throughout the story.
June 23, 2021
Bleak
I’d forgotten joe bleak this is
Powerful writing about grief.
I’d forgotten joe bleak this is
Powerful writing about grief.
November 10, 2023
Speechless. I'm a ruin 😭
January 23, 2025
ambiance…
February 18, 2025
Una imagen particular de Irlanda, dividida entre el duelo de unos padres peculiares. Secretos sin contar, una historia interminada, suspense…
April 20, 2025
Great book ! Kate O'Riordan being so describe with her writing of this Story! Was gripping and hard to put down until finished!
March 20, 2012
An excellent, insightful book. Although Brian and Julia bicker frequently, their marriage could be described as fairly normal. Then their son is killed, and staying together becomes impossible. We follow their respective journeys and are forced to acknowledge that we are all shaped to a greater or lesser extent by our parents’ love or by their lack of affection for us. I found neither Julia nor Brian particularly likeable initially, but, by the end of the book, I cared deeply for both of them. All Kate O’Riordan’s characters are three-dimensional and superbly developed. This is a book I need to own.
February 28, 2011
I am looking forward to reading this book since I work with children and adults with speech and language disorders. The brief synopsis of this book sounds quite appealing and I look forward to reading this book.
July 28, 2011
I really did enjoy it. Takes you on a journey, this one. So sad, horrifying, at times gripping, but leaves you feeling wistful. It's a good book, and I'll definitely be reading something else from this author at some point in the future.
January 28, 2008
I think that 2 and a half stars would be more my vote for this one. Story kept me intrigued as more was revealed about the family history but it just wasn't powerful enough for me in the end.
July 16, 2010
Débuts assez difficiles mais l'histoire prend de l'intensité au fur et à mesure.
June 19, 2012
I bought this immediately after I read Involved. But I stopped halfway as it did not maintain my interest as her previous book did. But I won't give up on this author as she writes very well.
December 29, 2015
Beautifully written
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews