Isabelle of the Moon and Stars

by S.A. Jones

Isabelle is stuck in a dead-end job, trying desperately to keep it together while struggling with 'The Black Place' that plagues her mind.

Genres: Australia

271 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2014

About the author

S. A. Jones is the author of three published novels: Red Dress Walking, Isabelle of the Moon and Stars and The Fortress. The Fortress was described by Better Reading as "one of the decade's best books".

Reviews

[Monique Mulligan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning exploration of the dark places within us, Isabelle of the Moon & Stars caught me by surprise; the beautiful prose reeled me in and let me go hours later, satisfied and thoughtful. Author S.A. Jones says she “wanted to write about the ‘everyday heroism’ of living with a mental illness” rather than “representing the mentally ill as idiosyncratic but endearing and largely ‘curable’ by love”. I’d say she succeeded, hands down.

A book for those who have experienced mental illness, or know someone who is, Isabelle of the Moon & Stars made me smile, cry, empathise, shake my head, nod my head, and think. The Perth setting only added to sense of familiarity I felt. I loved this book and recommend you curl up with it for a few hours. Just looking over it to write this review makes me want to re-read it.

Full review: http://writenotereviews.com/2014/11/2...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say? I’d finished reading The House in Smyrna (review and Book Giveaway coming on Monday Feb 2 when the publisher’s embargo is lifted) so I took Isabelle of the Moon and Stars off the TBR at 11.00PM to make a start on it at bedtime – and didn’t turn out the light until I’d finished the book at 3.30AM. Yes, it is that good.

Books written to an agenda are rarely successful IMO, but this one works. The publisher’s blurb tells me that the author S.A. Jones wrote out of dissatisfaction with the way that mental illness is portrayed in contemporary culture. Works like Silver Lining Playbook and The Rosie Project suggest mental illness is a quirky idiosyncrasy and that its vicissitudes are conquerable by love.

Well, as you can see from the concluding thoughts in my review, I had my doubts about the viability of the relationship in The Rosie Project too, and one might wonder about the one depicted in Toni Jordan’s Addition for the same reason. But there can be a cruel world of difference between a minor obsessive disorder or high-functioning Asperger’s Syndrome and other much more debilitating mental health conditions and the important thing for everyone to get right is to treat each person as an individual, and to avoid stereotyping.

I know a genuinely good, kind and loving man who tried for some years to live with a bipolar partner and was wracked with guilt when he finally admitted to himself that he couldn’t continue with it. What I liked about Isabelle of the Moon and Stars is that it doesn’t depict mental illness as merely an exasperating quirk. It shows not just the depth of suffering that comes with a capricious and devastating disability for the person with mental illness, but also the unhappiness that it inflicts on the man who loves her while he tries to negotiate the relationship. At the same time the novel also shows that Isabelle’s condition is only part of her, and it doesn’t define her.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2015/01/31/is...

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book, set in current day Perth and Prague. I fell in love with the beautifully crafted characters. Isabelle's struggle with depression and her vulnerability are explored in a heart rending, vivid and sometimes humorous way. Highly recommended!

[Marlish · Rating 4 out of 5]

In — “the Arts”— people with mental illness tend to be depicted as being either: peculiar, funny, grotesque, strange or even downright dangerous. Mental Illness has earned a bad reputation thanks, in small part, to “the Arts.” Is it any wonder then that anyone with a mental illness keeps it to themselves like the protagonist — Isabelle of the Moon and Stars —does? S.A. Jones, the author of this fine novel, has gone to great lengths to portray mental illness as it really is. And it is neither funny, grotesque, strange or dangerous to other people
Nor is it the Whole of someone, it’s a Part of them. It is however for Isabelle, debilitating and scary. But certainly nothing to be ashamed of or defined by. Fictionalizing Mental Illness is extremely hard — it doesn’t conform to a textbook narrative, maybe that’s why it’s easier to fall into the trap of misrepresenting it — yet here in Isabelle of the Moon and Stars, S.A. Jones, has been hugely successful as the story, told in beautiful prose, rings true and doesn’t compromise or degrade Isabelle’s mental health issues in any way. A great read.

[Kaarin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading Isabelle as an accompaniment to my Sunday morning coffee, thinking a few chapters would be a lovely way to ease into the manic day I had ahead. What I found was that I couldn't bear to put it down for long and that my days schedule was quickly replanned to fit in with the reading breaks I took.

The heartwrenching tale of Isabelle as she navigates her way through, around and back from The Black Place, was written by Jones to be so raw and true that I found myself weeping for Isabelle at many points in the book. Weeping in sympathy for the decisions she makes with Jack, in order to prove she can still feel anything at all, and weeping for the battle she faces everyday. Jones has captured and portrayed the aftermath of heartbreak, mental illness and the myriad of relationships, work and life with honesty, convinction and without the cliche so often present in these themes.

This book is a wonderful offering from Jones and lifts the standards of Australian literature. I would thoroughly recommend this book to all readers of fiction.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story set in Perth's summer and contrasted later in the book with winter in Prague. It tells of a young woman's struggle with depression and panic attacks through a broken romance a close friend and an abortive office liaison. Some great descriptions and some probably insightful glimpses into mental illness. Overall very readabale

[Susie Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Highly recommend you add it to your holiday reading pile. Unfortunately I started reading this the Saturday morning before Xmas - the Xmas shipping had to wait. I spent the rest of the day hiding from my family so I could finish it. Un-put-down able!

[Jane]

Immensely readable, I could've easily got through it in a day if I hadn't been forced to do things like work. Passes the 'oh sh&t, is that my station?' test of being utterly absorbed while on a packed train. Isabelle is a regular suburban young woman struggling to make her life, love, career work while fighting a sometimes debilitating mental illness. Jones' descriptions of panic attacks are spot on (for me) and I too have wondered if they come from some evil, otherworldly place; I could understand why Isabelle felt that way. Isabelle is not entirely - and sometimes not at all - likeable, and I like that. But she always feels real. It's a good reminder that depression and anxiety are all around is, in people we know and love.

[Muriel Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jones misses it in her effort to honestly portray a young woman struggling with depression and anxiety. I didn't get the impression that the truth was being told. The characters and their relationships to one another are underdeveloped and uninteresting. The dialogue is terrible. The writing is disappointing. The story is predictable and poorly told. The best friend/love interest is conveniently attractive. The office fling is conveniently a boring guy with a below average member size. The ex is conveniently a jerk. And bits of wisdom are dished out by... wait for it... an old person.
Skip this one, you aren't missing anything.

[Sukhmani Khorana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was joy to read on multiple levels. The main characters are three-dimensional, the settings of Perth and Prague are evocatively brought to life, and the plot is reasonably fast-paced without becoming a tearjerker. This isn't just a good summer read, but it is also a heart-warming tale of contemporary Australia without having the sort of grand narrative quality of say a Christos Tsiolkas mega-novel.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic book with simply gorgeous prose that flowed from the first paragraph to the last. Jones does a magnificent job of exploring the theme of depression, and the pain and trauma that people with mood disorders experience, whilst weaving in moments of humour, love, exploration, courage and vulnerability. Highly recommended reading.

For my full review see: https://sonjaporter07.wordpress.com/2...

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Perth (Western Australia) and Prague, this is a beautiful story of loves and coming to terms with oneself which will keep you reading and reading. You won't want to miss a word. Make sure you don't have any pressing business (home or work) to do before you start.

Four and a half stars.

[Jocelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay but felt the character's "mad" moments were overdone and not reflective of the reality of depression and anxiety crises

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not get into this book. Too depressing about her Black Place, etc. Did not think the writing was particularly good either.