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Girl in the Moonlight
The author of Indiscretion returns with a scorching tale of love, passion, and obsession, about one man’s all-consuming desire for a beautiful, bewitching, and beguiling woman.
Since childhood, Wylie Rose has been drawn to the charming, close-knit Bonet siblings. But none affected him more than the enchanting Cesca, a girl blessed with incandescent beauty and a wild, irrepressible spirit.
Growing up, Wylie’s friendship with her brother, Aurelio, a budding painter of singular talent, brings him near Cesca’s circle. A young woman confident in her charms, Cesca is amused by Wylie’s youthful sensuality and trusting innocence. Toying with his devotion, she draws him closer to her fire—ultimately ruining him for any other woman.
Spanning several decades, moving through the worlds of high society, finance, and art, and peopled with poignant characters, Girl in the Moonlight takes us on a whirlwind tour, from the wooded cottages of old East Hampton to the dining rooms of Upper East Side Manhattan to the bohemian art studios of Paris and Barcelona. As he vividly brings to life Wylie and Cesca’s tempestuous, heart-wrenching affair, Charles Dubow probes the devastating depths of human passion and the nature of true love.
Since childhood, Wylie Rose has been drawn to the charming, close-knit Bonet siblings. But none affected him more than the enchanting Cesca, a girl blessed with incandescent beauty and a wild, irrepressible spirit.
Growing up, Wylie’s friendship with her brother, Aurelio, a budding painter of singular talent, brings him near Cesca’s circle. A young woman confident in her charms, Cesca is amused by Wylie’s youthful sensuality and trusting innocence. Toying with his devotion, she draws him closer to her fire—ultimately ruining him for any other woman.
Spanning several decades, moving through the worlds of high society, finance, and art, and peopled with poignant characters, Girl in the Moonlight takes us on a whirlwind tour, from the wooded cottages of old East Hampton to the dining rooms of Upper East Side Manhattan to the bohemian art studios of Paris and Barcelona. As he vividly brings to life Wylie and Cesca’s tempestuous, heart-wrenching affair, Charles Dubow probes the devastating depths of human passion and the nature of true love.
352 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 2015
57 people are currently reading
1388 people want to read
About the author
Charles Dubow
4 books102 followersCharles Dubow was born in New York City and lived on the Upper East Side for the first thirteen years of his life. As a child, he attended the Collegiate School, a private boy’s school on the Upper West Side. Weekends and summers were spent in his family house on Georgica Pond in East Hampton, Long Island, which served as the inspiration for Indiscretion.
After boarding school, he went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Ct., and graduated from New York University. Following his sophomore year at Wesleyan he took a year off and went to work on a sheep ranch in New Zealand for six months. When he returned to the U.S. he studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan. Originally he had wanted to be a painter but was disillusioned with the art world and instead turned to fiction. However, after writing several unpublished novels in his twenties, he went into the magazine business, eventually becoming one of the founding editors of Forbes.com and later an editor at Businessweek.com.
In 2007 a health scare prompted him to try to write another book. The general plotline of Indiscretion had been knocking around in his head for years, but in order to write it he had to wake up before dawn every day, working also on weekends and holidays over the course of three years.
Dubow met his wife Melinda in 1991 in New York City. They married in 1996 and today they live in the city with their two children, William and Isabella, and chocolate Labrador Luke. This is his first book.
After boarding school, he went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Ct., and graduated from New York University. Following his sophomore year at Wesleyan he took a year off and went to work on a sheep ranch in New Zealand for six months. When he returned to the U.S. he studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan. Originally he had wanted to be a painter but was disillusioned with the art world and instead turned to fiction. However, after writing several unpublished novels in his twenties, he went into the magazine business, eventually becoming one of the founding editors of Forbes.com and later an editor at Businessweek.com.
In 2007 a health scare prompted him to try to write another book. The general plotline of Indiscretion had been knocking around in his head for years, but in order to write it he had to wake up before dawn every day, working also on weekends and holidays over the course of three years.
Dubow met his wife Melinda in 1991 in New York City. They married in 1996 and today they live in the city with their two children, William and Isabella, and chocolate Labrador Luke. This is his first book.
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October 18, 2023
That afternoon was my first inkling that there was more to the world than it appeared. Like the glimpse of a secret garden through a crack in the door, I discovered something I hadn’t known was missing. Where colors were brighter, tastes stronger, feelings deeper. And once I recognized it, I wanted it, missed it—and was unsure I would ever find my way back to it. It was a land of Cockaigne, the hidden kingdom.Girl in the Moonlight (originally, and better titled Naked in the Moonlight) is the second novel by Charles Dubow, author of the wonderful, steamy 2013 novel, Indiscretion. In …Moonlight, he brings us back to the Hamptons that was the setting for much of the earlier book. Wylie Rose is closing down a summer house where he’d spent much of his youth, and remembering. No madeleines required. But an evocative painting brings back to him, and us, the story of a lifetime of passion, obsession, and love.
Charles Dubow
How young is too young to meet The One? Wylie was only 10 when he first met Francesca, at 12, the oldest of the four Bonet sibs. A hidden kingdom of attraction opens its doors to him. He falls hard for her, literally. Wylie forms a close friendship with Aurelio Bonet, Cesca’s younger brother, and through this bond, Cesca will pop into and out of Wylie’s life for the duration of his Odyssey. The driving force to the story is the will-they-or-won’t-they-wind-up-together question as they sail through their lives.
Of course, even as a young thing, Cesca is special. In adolescence she begins to take on the characteristics of a siren and sings for all the ships to hear as an adult. Wylie may have known at some level that he should have plugged up his ears (and covered his eyes, for that matter) but he would spend most of his life tied to the mast, enduring the song. Will he be drawn in to his own destruction?
Ulysses and the Sirens - by John William Waterhouse - from the National Gallery in Melbourne
There are certainly gross similarities in form with Dubow’s earlier work. We revisit the Hamptons, and the company of the very well-to-do. The author is of this set and writes what he knows. There is an almost supernaturally attractive female, and a smitten male. (Indiscretion actually had two smitten males, the secondary one having a bit more in common with Wylie than the primary) Trouble soon follows, with a trail of emotional collateral damage. But, lest one suspect that Dubow has shoved off into the water to net the same fish, there are significant differences. In the earlier book, a successful, well-known middle-aged, married man is drawn from (leaps from) his life by an admiring young thing. Here, the two know each other from childhood, growing together and apart over their lives. The time span of the core story (not backstory) is far greater in Moonlight, decades instead of a few years. Indiscretion had much to do with discontent with one’s life, and insecurity about one’s place in it. There is some of that here but Wylie and Cesca are not struggling with the detritus of generations. They seem perfectly content to employ their advantages in pursuit of their movable dreams, trying this and then that in hopes of plotting a steady course. Wylie, for example, opts to pursue a course of study, so enrolls in Harvard for his advanced-degree training, as if it were the equivalent of stopping off at the corner store to buy a lottery ticket. While both novels have a love story at their core, among the one-percent, so do a billion other books. There is a geographical sweep in Moonlight that extends far wider than that in Indiscretion, with stops in Spain, Paris, London and even some connections to Tokyo and Africa, in addition to the usual Hamptons/NYC setting. Indiscretion and Moonlight are indeed very different tales.
There are several elements in Moonlight that stand out. First there is the tension of wondering if the two will ever get together. That sort of thing may be standard fare for stories of this kind, but how that is executed is significant. I found it was quite well done here. Plenty stands in the way of the two getting together (has to be, of course, or there wouldn’t be a story to tell) not least Cesca’s ability to attract men. Second, there is a feeling of melancholy, which may summon your own regrets to mind.
What if I had chosen differently? Would I be here at this moment? There are the dreams our parents have for us, and then there is the life that we create for ourselves. It is impossible to know. The secret, they say, is not to regret—but that, I have found, is impossible. The most one can hope for is to forget. Memory, though, is a poor servant; it bursts in on you when you least expect it.And there is the ever-present element of hope. It is not a misdirect, there really is a chance they might get together. But I will not tell if they do or don’t. Of course if hope is a thing with feathers, is that a good thing? Would it be better if hope were a thing with scales?
Ulysses and the Sirens - by H.J. Draper - from Wikipedia
I have spent as much time with the one percent as I have with the Illuminati, so I did not feel much connection based on socioeconomic commonalities. On the other hand, I have had my share of emotional disappointments, false steps and traumas, so on a feeling level I found that it was quite possible to connect. Wylie is a very relatable character, a decent guy trying to find himself. Effective writing takes you past surface differences to core emotional experience.
Can she hold him off forever? Doe she really care for him or is Cesca only toying with Wylie, luring him to his own destruction? Can he endure long enough? Should he? What about having a real life and not one based on a myth? At what point does one cross over from being dependable to being a doormat? When do you just throw up your hands and sail back out to sea? And what might happen if you did?
Dubow has an enviable ability to describe places, imbuing them with life, with history. He can paint a scene beautifully, which is not surprising given that he once planned to be a painter. He can create living characters. Wylie Rose is the evidence. None of the other characters is as fully realized as Wylie, but they are still well done. Aurelio was also very appealing, but we do not see enough of him. Cesca’s path may seem scattered, but Dubow’s explanation for her zig-zag route is believable. I found the other characters much less well realized, but not everyone has to get center stage. They are filled in enough to contribute to the story. The author also has a wondrous gift for communicating the ambivalence we all experience, in looking back, at roads not taken.
Girl in the Moonlight will keep you turning pages, maybe not so quickly as Indiscretion did, but it is a solid read. It will pull you in and hold you, without, thankfully, dashing you on the rocks.
Review first posted – 5/8/15
Publication date – 5/12/15
This review has also been posted at Cootsreviews.com
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s Twitter and FB pages
A piece Dubow wrote for Newsweek Magazine on Stuttering
About five minutes of the audio book
My review of Indiscretion
May 15, 2015
They say that an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters would, if given infinite time, eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Girl in the Moonlight, on the other hand, would probably take the average monkey just under two hours.
The plot: Man falls desperately/hopelessly in love with an impossibly sexy woman. I know you're already thinking it's been done before, and Dubow brings all the freshness of a weeks-old laundry hamper full of soiled jock straps to the subject.
But why try to achieve in my own words what actual quotes from this book would demonstrate so much better?
They ate like hunters, their insides hollow from the exertion of love and sport. p. 134
She had an irresistible face, a rock against which ships would be dashed, drowning all who came too close, and a figure made for sin. p. 23
Like the memory of a cathedral, it is possible to remember a woman but it is easy to forget how overwhelming the reality can be. p. 254
Kitty had many friends in London. A Persian woman who was married to a Cambridge don and was the London editor for a well-known American literary journal. Several art dealers. The director of the Royal Ballet. The second wife of a duke. The head of a large advertising firm who had once been her lover. A Rothschild. Even a member of the Royal Family whom she had met in Mustique. p. 124
My friend Nelson, who was very handsome, the grandson of a bishop, ran into a girl he knew, a relative of the poet T.S. Eliot whose name was Eliot. We made plans to meet up with her and her friends in a bar later that night near St. Mark’s, but they never showed up. 151
They feast on each other’s bodies. … Every moment was ripe with carnality. p. 134
But even howlers like these can't palliate the tedium of slogging through 300+ pages of cliches, name-dropping, and endless summaries of shallow, stereotyped characters that never come alive. The narrative sensibility combines a preadolescent boy's conception of sex and women with a tween girl's idea of glamour. It's what you would expect to be conceived from the unprotected sex of Gwyneth Paltrow and a nauseatingly bad Hemingway impersonator. I can't imagine what the author had to do to get this nadir of Western literature printed on innocent trees, but he does seem to know a LOT about being well-connected in New York. Except how to write about it without making me vomit.
The plot: Man falls desperately/hopelessly in love with an impossibly sexy woman. I know you're already thinking it's been done before, and Dubow brings all the freshness of a weeks-old laundry hamper full of soiled jock straps to the subject.
But why try to achieve in my own words what actual quotes from this book would demonstrate so much better?
They ate like hunters, their insides hollow from the exertion of love and sport. p. 134
She had an irresistible face, a rock against which ships would be dashed, drowning all who came too close, and a figure made for sin. p. 23
Like the memory of a cathedral, it is possible to remember a woman but it is easy to forget how overwhelming the reality can be. p. 254
Kitty had many friends in London. A Persian woman who was married to a Cambridge don and was the London editor for a well-known American literary journal. Several art dealers. The director of the Royal Ballet. The second wife of a duke. The head of a large advertising firm who had once been her lover. A Rothschild. Even a member of the Royal Family whom she had met in Mustique. p. 124
My friend Nelson, who was very handsome, the grandson of a bishop, ran into a girl he knew, a relative of the poet T.S. Eliot whose name was Eliot. We made plans to meet up with her and her friends in a bar later that night near St. Mark’s, but they never showed up. 151
They feast on each other’s bodies. … Every moment was ripe with carnality. p. 134
But even howlers like these can't palliate the tedium of slogging through 300+ pages of cliches, name-dropping, and endless summaries of shallow, stereotyped characters that never come alive. The narrative sensibility combines a preadolescent boy's conception of sex and women with a tween girl's idea of glamour. It's what you would expect to be conceived from the unprotected sex of Gwyneth Paltrow and a nauseatingly bad Hemingway impersonator. I can't imagine what the author had to do to get this nadir of Western literature printed on innocent trees, but he does seem to know a LOT about being well-connected in New York. Except how to write about it without making me vomit.
January 30, 2019
Wiley Rose is ten years old, an only child who has led a sheltered life. Then, like a bolt from the blue, on an outing to one of his father’s business partner's homes, he meets the Bonet children. They number four in total and run like a pack, wild and free. Cesca Bonet, the eldest, is only a few years older than Wiley and it’s love at first sight for him. The Bonets have inherited the exotic looks of their ne'er-do-well artist father and are free to live any life they choose, thanks to their mother’s money.
Wiley keeps in contact with the family through the years while he waits for any chance to be with Cesca, hoping she’ll notice him. In their teens, his wish comes true, but he should have been careful with those wishes. They date one another for a few weeks, and his heart is all in as he believes hers to be. Then one day she's gone, off to Paris without a word of goodbye.
This pattern of Cesca fliting in, making him believe she will love him, and then destroying his happiness on her way out the door while he waits for her to come back continues through to their late thirties, and halfway through the book, I was so ready to give him a slap.
The problem here is that I just couldn’t form any connection with the characters. The story is a classic obsessive/destructive love story, and it left me flat. The writing is fine, and the storyline flowed well from beginning to end. Unfortunately, Girl in the Moonlight did not shine brightly for me.
Wiley keeps in contact with the family through the years while he waits for any chance to be with Cesca, hoping she’ll notice him. In their teens, his wish comes true, but he should have been careful with those wishes. They date one another for a few weeks, and his heart is all in as he believes hers to be. Then one day she's gone, off to Paris without a word of goodbye.
This pattern of Cesca fliting in, making him believe she will love him, and then destroying his happiness on her way out the door while he waits for her to come back continues through to their late thirties, and halfway through the book, I was so ready to give him a slap.
The problem here is that I just couldn’t form any connection with the characters. The story is a classic obsessive/destructive love story, and it left me flat. The writing is fine, and the storyline flowed well from beginning to end. Unfortunately, Girl in the Moonlight did not shine brightly for me.
May 18, 2015
This appears to be trying to combine Fitzgerald (setting and characters) with Hemingway (short sentences and uncomplicated vocabulary - at least until its painfully overwrought final chapters), and while many a decent writer would suffer in comparison with such heavyweights, this falls so far short as to make you wonder why he was bothering at all. The story's timeline spans several decades but the writer doesn't have the skill to handle this kind of canvas so there are endless pages of boring summarising which I found myself skimming as I searched for some live action or drama in the plot.
I enjoyed Dubow's first novel but this one seemed like he was just phoning it in, and I am now wondering whether I imagined the merit in the previous book. Every single person, place and thing was described (did we need to know that the nephew of some minor character who was never more than a passing reference played lacrosse?) but in the most bland, banal language. I thought I would scream if I read one more reference to 'pretty girls'. Settings included Paris and Tokyo, but we are given the kind of superficial descriptions that a quick google search might produce, with no sense at all of the character and vibrancy of those cities.
The entire plot (was it really a plot? I am not sure) was about the main character Wylie's obsession with a woman named Cesca, but we are simply told repeatedly that he can't resist her without ever feeling the heat of their passion or the depth of his compulsion. I was left cold by the whole relationship. And Cesca's final transformation from good time girl into saint at the end is staggeringly unbelievable.
The book is narrated in the first person, yet we have huge sections about events at which the narrator was not present and no steer as to how he is meant know about the things he is recounting to us, which rendered it yet more unconvincing.
A novel needs something - intriguing characters, a compelling plot, clever ideas, arresting language, and preferably all of those and more - but there's just nothing much here. A bit like Douglas Kennedy on a very bad day, although it has pretensions to be something more. Two stars not one simply because I did get to the end of it, although I seriously considered giving up several times.
I enjoyed Dubow's first novel but this one seemed like he was just phoning it in, and I am now wondering whether I imagined the merit in the previous book. Every single person, place and thing was described (did we need to know that the nephew of some minor character who was never more than a passing reference played lacrosse?) but in the most bland, banal language. I thought I would scream if I read one more reference to 'pretty girls'. Settings included Paris and Tokyo, but we are given the kind of superficial descriptions that a quick google search might produce, with no sense at all of the character and vibrancy of those cities.
The entire plot (was it really a plot? I am not sure) was about the main character Wylie's obsession with a woman named Cesca, but we are simply told repeatedly that he can't resist her without ever feeling the heat of their passion or the depth of his compulsion. I was left cold by the whole relationship. And Cesca's final transformation from good time girl into saint at the end is staggeringly unbelievable.
The book is narrated in the first person, yet we have huge sections about events at which the narrator was not present and no steer as to how he is meant know about the things he is recounting to us, which rendered it yet more unconvincing.
A novel needs something - intriguing characters, a compelling plot, clever ideas, arresting language, and preferably all of those and more - but there's just nothing much here. A bit like Douglas Kennedy on a very bad day, although it has pretensions to be something more. Two stars not one simply because I did get to the end of it, although I seriously considered giving up several times.
June 29, 2015
I'd really like to figure out where I found out about this book, and then throttle the person responsible. I have a sneaky suspicion it was either Goodreads or Overdrive, neither of whom are throttle-able. Shame.
First, the good: I read it in about a day, so it's a quick read. One could even suggest it as a beach read, if it were any good.
Well, that's about it for the good.
This book is not exactly awful; I have, unfortunately, read worse. But it felt as though Dubow was trying to channel F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby to some degree, but this was no Gatsby. It also felt as though Dubow wanted to talk about all the famous people he knew and all the famous artists and all the famous wines and all the ritzy places in New York and the Hamptons, things that we mere mortals have never heard of, so it became a sort of laundry list of name-dropping throughout the novel.
A novel must have either a rather likeable protagonist, or it must be very well written (for example, Gone Girl has no likeable characters, but it's so well written that it totally messes with your mind). Unfortunately, in this book we have neither. The writing is extremely elementary, with sentence fragments littering the first half of the book, and there is quite a lot of over-description ("I did this, then I did that, then I did this other thing," none of which moves the plot forward any). Not only that, but I rather wanted to punch Wylie (given his mother's maiden name as a first name, because the Wylies are a V. Important Family in Virginia. I mean, really!) in the face multiple times. Anyone can see that Cesca is using him, casting him in the role of the lovesick puppy, asking him to forgo everyone besides her but not willing to give of herself at all.
And the end? Oh, please. For one thing, turning the tables onto him and saying that he should have been more assertive towards her? I doubt that would have worked because honestly, all Cesca cared about was getting what *she* wanted. If he had been more assertive, she would have ended up leaving him, as she did every other man in her life.
Her transformation from a selfish, gorgeous, spoiled rich woman to a Mother Teresa figure, nursing the sick in Spain and in Africa, staggered belief. I'm all for people changing for the better and leaving behind selfishness and self-centeredness, but Dubow had Cesca going from one extreme to another. It just didn't ring true in the least.
I wish I could recommend this, but I really can't.
First, the good: I read it in about a day, so it's a quick read. One could even suggest it as a beach read, if it were any good.
Well, that's about it for the good.
This book is not exactly awful; I have, unfortunately, read worse. But it felt as though Dubow was trying to channel F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby to some degree, but this was no Gatsby. It also felt as though Dubow wanted to talk about all the famous people he knew and all the famous artists and all the famous wines and all the ritzy places in New York and the Hamptons, things that we mere mortals have never heard of, so it became a sort of laundry list of name-dropping throughout the novel.
A novel must have either a rather likeable protagonist, or it must be very well written (for example, Gone Girl has no likeable characters, but it's so well written that it totally messes with your mind). Unfortunately, in this book we have neither. The writing is extremely elementary, with sentence fragments littering the first half of the book, and there is quite a lot of over-description ("I did this, then I did that, then I did this other thing," none of which moves the plot forward any). Not only that, but I rather wanted to punch Wylie (given his mother's maiden name as a first name, because the Wylies are a V. Important Family in Virginia. I mean, really!) in the face multiple times. Anyone can see that Cesca is using him, casting him in the role of the lovesick puppy, asking him to forgo everyone besides her but not willing to give of herself at all.
And the end? Oh, please. For one thing, turning the tables onto him and saying that he should have been more assertive towards her? I doubt that would have worked because honestly, all Cesca cared about was getting what *she* wanted. If he had been more assertive, she would have ended up leaving him, as she did every other man in her life.
Her transformation from a selfish, gorgeous, spoiled rich woman to a Mother Teresa figure, nursing the sick in Spain and in Africa, staggered belief. I'm all for people changing for the better and leaving behind selfishness and self-centeredness, but Dubow had Cesca going from one extreme to another. It just didn't ring true in the least.
I wish I could recommend this, but I really can't.
June 29, 2015
I am so disappointed in the reviews of this book. It seemed the book was intended to have a flawed protagonist. Yes it was aggravating at times but that was its intent. The characters had to grow. This was a very good plot and very well written. I loved Indiscretion and I truly enjoyed this book.
October 19, 2015
I was not prepared for how beautifully this story was written. Dubow's command of the language is simply elegant. Reminds me in theme and tone of Irwin Shaw, A very fine read and a good story.
March 20, 2019
Me enamoré de la narrativa de Charles Dubow hace años, cuando leí «Indiscreción», una novela que es casi un homenaje a Gatsby y su atmósfera que se ha convertido en una de mis favoritas de todos los tiempos. Hacía años que le tenía puesto el ojo a su segunda novela, «Girl in the Moonlight», esperando que alguien la comprara y tradujera, pero... no ha habido suerte :( (especialmente extraño teniendo en cuenta que la novela está llena de referencias a España).
Me lancé a leerla en inglés después de encontrarla por menos de cinco euros en tapa dura (esa oferta ya no está disponible, debía de ser temporal y tuve suerte). Y ha sido una decisión maravillosa, porque todo lo bueno de «Indiscreción» (pluma impecable, ambientación en la clase alta de Nueva Inglaterra que te teletransporta, personajes con gran profundidad y un narrador perfecto) sigue ahí; y además se añade la historia de un amor algo obsesivo que dura décadas entre Wylie y Cesca. Un amor desbordado por momentos, muy pasional, bastante tóxico y con momentos muy feos. No es una novela para enamorarse de la historia; es para ser testigo y admirar la forma en la que está escrita. Y el final es... simplemente perfecto.
Me lancé a leerla en inglés después de encontrarla por menos de cinco euros en tapa dura (esa oferta ya no está disponible, debía de ser temporal y tuve suerte). Y ha sido una decisión maravillosa, porque todo lo bueno de «Indiscreción» (pluma impecable, ambientación en la clase alta de Nueva Inglaterra que te teletransporta, personajes con gran profundidad y un narrador perfecto) sigue ahí; y además se añade la historia de un amor algo obsesivo que dura décadas entre Wylie y Cesca. Un amor desbordado por momentos, muy pasional, bastante tóxico y con momentos muy feos. No es una novela para enamorarse de la historia; es para ser testigo y admirar la forma en la que está escrita. Y el final es... simplemente perfecto.
August 23, 2016
Not many books are able to leave the reader with such powerful emotions as the novel “Girl In The Moonlight” by Charles Dubow. The feeling is almost even painful at times, and it is complex, just as much as the characters in the story are, as the story urges one to contemplate what has just been read months and months after, maybe without even realizing it. This is the mark of a great book. Moreover, a great piece of literature.
Charles Dubow gives readers access to an unquestionably elusive and exclusive world of prestige and glamour, with all its idiosyncrasies, etiquettes, and privileges. Dubow portrays families that have a lot of money, and there is nothing sugarcoated about their lives; there is nothing that makes them any “richer” than the next man. The book is a pleasure to read because it presents a gateway into a social stratum by which only the few are a part. The book also allows the reader to take note of the best works of art by reminding us of such people as Rainer Maria Rilke and Giorgio Vasari. Some may find it heartwarming to find familiar works or names mentioned within the text.
The basic plot is as follows: Wylie Rose, as a young all-American boy, meets the exotic Catalonian Francesca Bonet and falls madly in love with her (or is it lust or obsession?). His life changes forever, as she becomes a major focal point throughout his life, seemingly dictating his every desire from youth to adulthood. Cesca, as Francesca comes to be known, is extremely beautiful and has an undeniable power over men. She is untamable and wild, somewhat directionless and without any actual goals. Aurelio, Cesca’s brother, a painter, befriends Wylie and the two become extremely close and share a love for art, both admiring and creating it. These three lives intertwine for some time, are separated for whatever reason then come back together over the years while life-changing events happen along the way. There are jobs, deaths, parties… and each time they meet, as Wylie thinks he can move on from his strong impulse to have Cecsa, he simply cannot. Her gorgeousness, her smell of “jasmine and roses” - are just too intoxicating.
What’s fascinating about this story is this: is there not that one person in everyone’s life that we simply cannot forget? Someone who perhaps you’ve only met once, but made such a huge impact on you (something said, maybe a small gesture) that it was unforgettable? Perhaps someone who was so unbelievably beautiful that you know that you could simply never forget their face? Or someone from your past or in your life or maybe someone who has departed whose memories you’ve shared will never leave you? Who is *your* Cesca?
“Girl In The Moonlight” seems to be specifically about a certain question, and Dubow seems to elucidate it here:
“On the scale between love and lust, there are many stops. It is nearly impossible to define love, in English at least, because its definition, not to mention its place within our culture, is so broad. Unlike the Eskimo’s famous fifty words for snow, in English the word love means everything from how a person may feel about chocolate cake to the devotion a couple may feel after many years of marriage. Then there is maternal love, sexual love, patriotic love, aesthetic love, and much, much more besides. When John Lennon sang ‘All you need is love,’ he was playing it safe. Love can mean just about anything. It is a word of infinite nuance, but for that very reason also has a stunning inadequacy. The ancient Greeks had four words for love: eros, for physical love; agape, for spiritual love; philia, for social love, and storge, for familial love. Even that doesn’t seem like enough though. Lust, however, is love’s younger sibling. It is uncomplicated, straightforward. It relies on only one thing; egotistical desire. Lusting after something means wanting to possess it whether or not it wants to be possessed. Certainly, it is possible to desire an inanimate object, such as a car or a painting, but mostly lust is physical. The hunger one human feels for another. As with all desire, there are gradations of intensity. There are the thousand small lusts we feel every day. A man may spot a pretty girl sitting by herself at a bar, and, for a moment, he lusts after her… these lusts are easily forgotten. There are also grander lusts. Lusts that upend civilizations, destroy marriages and lives… invariably lust that is fulfilled seems to end badly. After all, there is a reason it is considered a sin.” – Chapter 15
The question is, of course, answered by the end. Many chapters in this saga develop Wylie Rose and Cesca Bonet as characters and it shouldn’t be shocking to find them extremely relatable. Layers and layers of their personality and the complications of their actions and decisions leave the conclusion/s within the story multi-faceted. There is nothing predictable about the plot and this will leave readers appreciative. Surely, all who read this book may have varying opinions about it by the the time they reach the epilogue. Perhaps silent reflection is its solemn prayer rather than an attempt to reach out for one central meaning. “Girl In The Moonlight” must be valued for its narrative depth, for it is definitely a book to return to.
Charles Dubow gives readers access to an unquestionably elusive and exclusive world of prestige and glamour, with all its idiosyncrasies, etiquettes, and privileges. Dubow portrays families that have a lot of money, and there is nothing sugarcoated about their lives; there is nothing that makes them any “richer” than the next man. The book is a pleasure to read because it presents a gateway into a social stratum by which only the few are a part. The book also allows the reader to take note of the best works of art by reminding us of such people as Rainer Maria Rilke and Giorgio Vasari. Some may find it heartwarming to find familiar works or names mentioned within the text.
The basic plot is as follows: Wylie Rose, as a young all-American boy, meets the exotic Catalonian Francesca Bonet and falls madly in love with her (or is it lust or obsession?). His life changes forever, as she becomes a major focal point throughout his life, seemingly dictating his every desire from youth to adulthood. Cesca, as Francesca comes to be known, is extremely beautiful and has an undeniable power over men. She is untamable and wild, somewhat directionless and without any actual goals. Aurelio, Cesca’s brother, a painter, befriends Wylie and the two become extremely close and share a love for art, both admiring and creating it. These three lives intertwine for some time, are separated for whatever reason then come back together over the years while life-changing events happen along the way. There are jobs, deaths, parties… and each time they meet, as Wylie thinks he can move on from his strong impulse to have Cecsa, he simply cannot. Her gorgeousness, her smell of “jasmine and roses” - are just too intoxicating.
What’s fascinating about this story is this: is there not that one person in everyone’s life that we simply cannot forget? Someone who perhaps you’ve only met once, but made such a huge impact on you (something said, maybe a small gesture) that it was unforgettable? Perhaps someone who was so unbelievably beautiful that you know that you could simply never forget their face? Or someone from your past or in your life or maybe someone who has departed whose memories you’ve shared will never leave you? Who is *your* Cesca?
“Girl In The Moonlight” seems to be specifically about a certain question, and Dubow seems to elucidate it here:
“On the scale between love and lust, there are many stops. It is nearly impossible to define love, in English at least, because its definition, not to mention its place within our culture, is so broad. Unlike the Eskimo’s famous fifty words for snow, in English the word love means everything from how a person may feel about chocolate cake to the devotion a couple may feel after many years of marriage. Then there is maternal love, sexual love, patriotic love, aesthetic love, and much, much more besides. When John Lennon sang ‘All you need is love,’ he was playing it safe. Love can mean just about anything. It is a word of infinite nuance, but for that very reason also has a stunning inadequacy. The ancient Greeks had four words for love: eros, for physical love; agape, for spiritual love; philia, for social love, and storge, for familial love. Even that doesn’t seem like enough though. Lust, however, is love’s younger sibling. It is uncomplicated, straightforward. It relies on only one thing; egotistical desire. Lusting after something means wanting to possess it whether or not it wants to be possessed. Certainly, it is possible to desire an inanimate object, such as a car or a painting, but mostly lust is physical. The hunger one human feels for another. As with all desire, there are gradations of intensity. There are the thousand small lusts we feel every day. A man may spot a pretty girl sitting by herself at a bar, and, for a moment, he lusts after her… these lusts are easily forgotten. There are also grander lusts. Lusts that upend civilizations, destroy marriages and lives… invariably lust that is fulfilled seems to end badly. After all, there is a reason it is considered a sin.” – Chapter 15
The question is, of course, answered by the end. Many chapters in this saga develop Wylie Rose and Cesca Bonet as characters and it shouldn’t be shocking to find them extremely relatable. Layers and layers of their personality and the complications of their actions and decisions leave the conclusion/s within the story multi-faceted. There is nothing predictable about the plot and this will leave readers appreciative. Surely, all who read this book may have varying opinions about it by the the time they reach the epilogue. Perhaps silent reflection is its solemn prayer rather than an attempt to reach out for one central meaning. “Girl In The Moonlight” must be valued for its narrative depth, for it is definitely a book to return to.
Read
June 19, 2015Overwritten and overwrought.
February 8, 2015
3.5 stars - OK, so I have never repeated a review for a different book, but when I read my review for Dubow's earlier book, INDISCRETION, I realized I felt about the same way about GIRL IN THE MOONLIGHT. So with no apologies I offer you these comments, fully realizing it is close to word for the word the same review of INDISCRETION. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
"This was compelling and it read quickly but I found I had little sympathy for the two main characters, plus it seemed a little melodramatic at times. However, it did keep my me from getting my much needed beauty rest as I had to find out the fate of the two lovers."
I will add that I felt the plot of a man's obsession with a beautiful, willful, and sometime unattainable woman has been done many times, this was fairly well done although it seemed that everyone was pretty spoiled and a little on the judgmental side. There were a few times when Wylie would comment about a woman saying she was "plain" or "puffy" or "plump" and every time the woman was annoying, had no personality, or was on the mean-spirited side. Of course, all of the women he was associated with were beautiful, slim, tall, engaging, etc. Sometimes I wanted to remind Wylie that in the first part of the story he was no prize.
"This was compelling and it read quickly but I found I had little sympathy for the two main characters, plus it seemed a little melodramatic at times. However, it did keep my me from getting my much needed beauty rest as I had to find out the fate of the two lovers."
I will add that I felt the plot of a man's obsession with a beautiful, willful, and sometime unattainable woman has been done many times, this was fairly well done although it seemed that everyone was pretty spoiled and a little on the judgmental side. There were a few times when Wylie would comment about a woman saying she was "plain" or "puffy" or "plump" and every time the woman was annoying, had no personality, or was on the mean-spirited side. Of course, all of the women he was associated with were beautiful, slim, tall, engaging, etc. Sometimes I wanted to remind Wylie that in the first part of the story he was no prize.
May 28, 2015
Charles Dubow is a good writer who develops interesting characters. However, I found the book becoming more tedious as I read. I dont feel that the obsession Wylie has for Cesca could take over his life for years and years. The constant harping on his lust for her ruined the book for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2018
I loved this book so much. I never wanted to put it down. I think there’s a part of every girl that wants to be like Cesca. Beautiful, powerful and wanted by every man. The love story stretches over a life span and there was never a dull moment. I will def be reading this book again.
March 19, 2015
Disclosure: I received this book for free through the Goodreads giveaway program.
I got this in the mail 3/17 and finished reading it on 3/19.
It kept me interested and I didn't set it down to "come back to later" like I do with some other books.
I wanted to see if there would be a happy ending to this tale of on again/off again romance between the two main characters, and if not, would Wylie ever be able to recover from his lifelong addiction to Cesca?
This book is well written, at times I found myself going back to re-read a particular line or quote that I particularly liked.
This also made me think: about undeveloped talent, about the career choices we make, about who we choose to spend our lives with, and which people are deserving of our attention.
I enjoyed reading about these characters and their international lifestyles, and I also particularly liked the descriptions of Aurelio's paintings and his work developing his skill as a painter.
To sum it up, I think this is an absorbing read by a talented writer.
I got this in the mail 3/17 and finished reading it on 3/19.
It kept me interested and I didn't set it down to "come back to later" like I do with some other books.
I wanted to see if there would be a happy ending to this tale of on again/off again romance between the two main characters, and if not, would Wylie ever be able to recover from his lifelong addiction to Cesca?
This book is well written, at times I found myself going back to re-read a particular line or quote that I particularly liked.
This also made me think: about undeveloped talent, about the career choices we make, about who we choose to spend our lives with, and which people are deserving of our attention.
I enjoyed reading about these characters and their international lifestyles, and I also particularly liked the descriptions of Aurelio's paintings and his work developing his skill as a painter.
To sum it up, I think this is an absorbing read by a talented writer.
June 5, 2015
This was listed as a summer "must read". Perhaps that made me expect more from it. The book was fine. It told a fine story that went on over time. Unfortunately at times, I felt it was just a bit too detailed, and I never truly connected with any of the characters as I usually do. I am an avid reader and am usually drawn into the book, often feeling as if I am living the life of those within - not this time. Cesca was not really relatable in that she seemed to be a spoiled rich girl even though they try to tell us constantly that she really isn't. Wylie's decision can be somewhat annoying and his thoughts repetitive. Perhaps I didn't appreciate the obsession part of this book because I just wanted him to fully move on. What they described as love is not at all what I've experienced it to be. It should definitely not hurt that much.
March 7, 2018
So, I’m on the side of positive reviews of this book. I found the characters to be complex - at times I liked, pitied, and rooted for them to get their lives together. Other times I wanted to strangle them. Cesca is certainly manipulative and mostly unlikeable but she’s also very pitiable - and most likely has some type of psychological diagnosis (Bipolar?). Wiley infuriated me with his decisions and unwavering obsession but I rooted for him to make the right decisions and celebrated when he did.
The writing was descriptive and engaging. The characters well developed and able to evoke a number of emotions from the reader. Overall I felt the book was well-written and I enjoyed reading it.
The writing was descriptive and engaging. The characters well developed and able to evoke a number of emotions from the reader. Overall I felt the book was well-written and I enjoyed reading it.
April 30, 2016
Dubow writes impressively and "Girl in the Moonlight" brings to life the privileged world of South Hampton, and a beautiful, artistic family who live hedonistic livestyles. The story itself is somewhat frustrating in that the protagonist narrator, Wylie, is hopelessly in love with femme fatale, Cesca, despite her cruel treatment over years of love and repeated rejection. It's the repetition that wore on me, not necessarily the rejection. Overall, I enjoyed the story - but not as much as his first book. Recommend as a beach read.
May 6, 2015
I got through the first quarter of this novel before putting it down.
Dubow’s 2013 novel, Indiscretion, was strangely addictive (and a great summer read!), but I was disappointed with the first quarter of this one. There was lots of repetition about young love and the lifestyle of a wealthy family. But, the writing wasn’t hitting my social commentary buttons that can make reading about the wealthy interesting.
Dubow’s 2013 novel, Indiscretion, was strangely addictive (and a great summer read!), but I was disappointed with the first quarter of this one. There was lots of repetition about young love and the lifestyle of a wealthy family. But, the writing wasn’t hitting my social commentary buttons that can make reading about the wealthy interesting.
July 31, 2015
Some reviewers have said this is in the style of The Great Gatsby, and I would have to agree. This novel covers the story of 4 siblings, from the perspective of a close family friend. it's a tale of love, choices, regrets, and maybe the fact that we all keep secrets and have more to us than we reveal to anybody else.
November 22, 2015
Like clichés? Read it.
July 31, 2015
ATROCIOUS. Do not waste your time or money on this poor excuse for a novel.
October 19, 2015
It hit me, and it hit me hard. Obsessive love is an addiction, and battling it can consume your entire life. The author nailed it.
August 6, 2022
largely problematic
June 6, 2015
I have somehow been caught up in books of the mystery genre, so "Girl In The Moonlight" was indeed a change for me. As a bookseller who reads in order to recommend, stay current, many books do come my way. And I will admit that when this book first came between my palms, I was not particularly thrilled.
Wow! That sentiment swiftly changed as I became enthralled. And this by page ten.
Now, I see many reviews mention a correlation to Fitzgerald in the voice of the narrator. Yes, I felt that as well. Frankly thought that as a good thing in that people have "The Great Gatsby" in their mental files, and obviously liked the way Nick Carraway told his tale. For me this correlation was a positive element. Perhaps more should emulate this.
It seems rare these days to see a man write of passion so well. Smiles...this too makes me hopeful, as men tend to read books by male authors (statistic, not my personal observation), I would very much like a male perspective on this novel.
Having just finished "Girl On A Train" which had flawed characters-none of whom I wanted to know, or cared about beyond the covers, and "All The Light We Cannot See"-whose characters I liked, but felt the story was not resolved well (or, to my satisfaction), I was especially enthralled with Wylie and Cesca. Frankly, it irritates me that this book is not on the bestsellers lists.
Charles Dubow has the ability to write characters in three dimensions. Their history. Their place in their world. Their inner, secret selves. He does so with phrases that made me pause- simple descriptions that made me read them out loud, think 'damn, that's good. Wish I had said that.'
As I did this while riding a bus, well-my sudden outbursts did gain me respect as a possibly crazy person. And I can live with that...
In a world where "Fifty Shades Of Grey" is thought sexy, this book actually is.
Wow! That sentiment swiftly changed as I became enthralled. And this by page ten.
Now, I see many reviews mention a correlation to Fitzgerald in the voice of the narrator. Yes, I felt that as well. Frankly thought that as a good thing in that people have "The Great Gatsby" in their mental files, and obviously liked the way Nick Carraway told his tale. For me this correlation was a positive element. Perhaps more should emulate this.
It seems rare these days to see a man write of passion so well. Smiles...this too makes me hopeful, as men tend to read books by male authors (statistic, not my personal observation), I would very much like a male perspective on this novel.
Having just finished "Girl On A Train" which had flawed characters-none of whom I wanted to know, or cared about beyond the covers, and "All The Light We Cannot See"-whose characters I liked, but felt the story was not resolved well (or, to my satisfaction), I was especially enthralled with Wylie and Cesca. Frankly, it irritates me that this book is not on the bestsellers lists.
Charles Dubow has the ability to write characters in three dimensions. Their history. Their place in their world. Their inner, secret selves. He does so with phrases that made me pause- simple descriptions that made me read them out loud, think 'damn, that's good. Wish I had said that.'
As I did this while riding a bus, well-my sudden outbursts did gain me respect as a possibly crazy person. And I can live with that...
In a world where "Fifty Shades Of Grey" is thought sexy, this book actually is.
February 15, 2017
I struggled with this one. The characters were incredibly unlikable and I couldn't have cared less about them by the time the book ended. It tells the story of a man who's been lusting after a woman since he was a child and describes how his feelings toward her have affected his relationships and molded his actions. It's filled with wealthy, attractive, and successful people and the name dropping and romanticized locations became tiresome. I also found some of the word choices he used in figures of speech, such as similes, were odd and off-putting at times. This is not a book I would necessarily recommend to others.
September 5, 2020
I liked the writing, the story-line not so much. He gave it a shot.
June 24, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this book a lot more than I actually thought I would. At first I thought the story was fine and it did move slowly but as I kept reading it kind of felt and read like a poem or a piece of artwork that Cesca's brother was painting from his head and putting onto canvas that was slowly being revealed.
Cesca actually had me feeling sorry for her. She was so lost. In fact, she came off younger than Wylie, even though she was the older one. Yet, at the same time her wisdom did teach Wylie good life lessons. If not for Cesca, he may not have realized just what he was looking for in a true relationship. This is a book worth checking out.
Cesca actually had me feeling sorry for her. She was so lost. In fact, she came off younger than Wylie, even though she was the older one. Yet, at the same time her wisdom did teach Wylie good life lessons. If not for Cesca, he may not have realized just what he was looking for in a true relationship. This is a book worth checking out.
July 27, 2016
You Can't Put It Down, But You'll Hate Yourself For It
If you're looking for a mindless beach read, this could be the book for you. Let yourself get swept away to the Hamptons, London, Paris, Barcelona. Take a peak into how the other half lives. There are sunset beaches and glittering soirées. Lots of cocktails, food and sex. Sometimes, that's all you need from a book. What I needed was to control my urge to slap these people silly. "Wake up! You're an idiot!" "Back off! You're a bitch!" At the end of the day, I think Danielle Steele does it better. Does that tell you anything?
If you're looking for a mindless beach read, this could be the book for you. Let yourself get swept away to the Hamptons, London, Paris, Barcelona. Take a peak into how the other half lives. There are sunset beaches and glittering soirées. Lots of cocktails, food and sex. Sometimes, that's all you need from a book. What I needed was to control my urge to slap these people silly. "Wake up! You're an idiot!" "Back off! You're a bitch!" At the end of the day, I think Danielle Steele does it better. Does that tell you anything?
April 19, 2015
Interesting story about a young man Wiley who is seduced and enchanted over the years by Cesca, a beautiful but fickle and manipulative woman. An engrossing read though I thought that Cesca became a stereotype despite the author's best efforts. She was never really all that she was supposed to be - her dialogue, her letters, her life and interests did not show she was as intelligent as she was described. Nor did the novel show that she and Wiley were such compatible soul friends as implied. But a good read overall.
September 7, 2020
Read this two years ago but remembered how much I hated it and had to come back and leave a review. The characters are incredibly flat. The women are achingly one-dimensional, and their defining characteristic is “sexy.” This book, with all its unappealing overwriting, sounds like it was written by a teenage boy/aspiring writer who idolizes the Fitzgerald/Hemingway set but who would at best be on the fringes of any kind of 1930s literary society.
I’ve read a lot of bad books in my life and this is definitely up there. Not worth your time.
I’ve read a lot of bad books in my life and this is definitely up there. Not worth your time.
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