Crying for the Moon

by Mary Walsh

“A page-turner with an indelible heroine.” —Ann-Marie MacDonald

Canadian actor, comedian and social activist Mary Walsh explodes onto the literary scene with this unforgettable story of a young woman coming of age in late 1960s Newfoundland

Raised on tough love in St. John’s, Maureen is the second-youngest daughter of a bitter and angry mother and a beaten-down father who tells the best stories (but only when he’s drunk). If life at home is difficult, then school is torture, with the nuns watching every move she makes. But Maureen wants a bigger life. She wants to go to sexy, exciting Montreal and be part of Expo 67, even if it means faking her way into the school choir.

Finally achieving her goal of reaching Montreal, Maureen escapes the vigilant eye of Sister Imobilis and sneaks away, and over the course of a few hours, one humiliating encounter with a young Leonard Cohen and a series of breathtakingly bad decisions change the course of her life forever.

A riotous and heart-rending journey from St. John’s to Montreal and back, Mary Walsh’s dazzling debut novel is darkly hilarious but also paints a very real portrait of the challenges of being young and female and poor in 1960s Newfoundland. Crying for the Moon explores the many ways in which one day can reverberate through a lifetime.



 

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Canadian Literature, Book Club, Mystery Thriller, Novels

323 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 18, 2017

Reviews

[Ammar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This debut by the Canadian comedian and actress Mary Walsh. I think it's not a funny book, it does have elements of Mary Walsh's comedy but it is not a funny story.

Maureen Brennan; a downtown girl living on Princess street with her mom , The Sarge, her alcoholic father, her brother and retarded sister.

She goes to the Montreal 67 Expo and her true story starts... a story of love, drugs, abusive relationship...

Then DAFT the local drugs by's show up and change the life of teenagers in the Downtown area. Maureen gets tangled with them and one things leads another.

I wasn't a fan of the last 20% of the book... Maureen had so many choices and many decisions and with her personality and blabberness it was so hard to focus on the character and her internal monologue.

I wish the ending went according to the first idea that Maureen had in mind and it would have been a proper mystery with all the good bits.

Overall, very good debut and hope it does well for Mary.

[Krista · Rating 2 out of 5]

She read out from a book, “Still a child, she cries for the moon, but the moon, it seems, won't have her.” That's how she'd spent her life, she said: uselessly crying for the moon.

In various interviews, Mary Walsh explains that as a lifelong devourer of books, she had always dreamed of writing a novel herself. So when her other projects slowed down recently, the icon of Canadian comedy decided to turn a several hundred page treatment – interestingly, it was her private backstory for Warrior Princess, Marg Delahunty – into a full-length novel. Walsh is talented and accomplished at so many things, but she's not really a novelist. The plot of Crying for the Moon is both dull and trite, and the writing is just not...good. Plenty of shocking things happen to unrelatable characters – overlaid with a hackneyed whodunnit – and it simply doesn't hold together as an enjoyable, professional, piece of writing. An example of the amateurish:

That first Sunday and almost every Sunday after, Bo took Maureen out to his parents', out to Paradise, for dinner. Not real Paradise – they weren't dead, just living up in Conception Bay South, in the town of Paradise, which was not the least bit paradisal.

An example of the frequent and meandering telling-not-showing spiels:

She was drowning in misery, choking with unhappiness. She was only eighteen – what was wrong with her? Why didn't she leave Bo? She was no good – that had been proven to her finally and irrevocably. She was just no use; totally use-less, “a total waste of skin”, as the Sarge used to call her when she was little. She didn't like to think about that sort of stuff, because she didn't want to emotionally cash in on that whole “my mother was so mean to me blah blah blah” thing. She had no time for those dreary sob sisters. She was getting on with her life, not sobbing and complaining all the time about what her mom did to her. She was moving forward – well, when she wasn't staying in bed twenty-four hours a day, or picking herself up off the bottom of the staircase, or too beat up to do much of anything.

And there are so many weird writing choices: I appreciate trying to capture that great Newfie dialect, but there is no pronunciation difference that I can parse between “sure” and “shure” (no difference, certainly, that would warrant the distraction); there's nothing clever or ironic in having a criminal outfit refer to themselves as DAFT; and there's one character who, studying the great mid-century noir novels and films, talks in a nonsensically Chandleresque pastiche:

I don't know what you're so hinky about. You're putting the Chinese angle on me, and all I'm doing is trying to come into my own joint. No need to throw another ing-bing.

Even so, Walsh captures some nice bits about coming of age in the St John's of the late Sixties. She and my mother are about the same age, and I'd imagine that if my Charlottetown-born mother wrote a novel, it would also dwell on taking swipes at the hard-edged nuns who schooled her; at the hypocrisies and stranglehold of the local parish. (And as I have many relatives who sprinkle their dialogue with “jumpins”, I'm sure that would make it in, too.) Some nice colour doesn't redeem the whole, however; this feels like a vanity project that no one had the moxie to nix.

[Harold Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about a falling down life! Maureen Brennan is hard as nails.

[Wisewebwoman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I desperately wanted to like this but had to drop it. I could not engage with the main character and the narrator's voice ground me down.

The first rape scene of a teenager was appallingly dismissed. Yes, she was an innocent, but that naive? Again it's the unsympathetic writing.

I was suspending disbelief far too often to make this novel work for me and humour, as teased out in the various blurbs for the book, was regrettably absent.

Could not finish.

[HarperCollins Canada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alright Savvy Readers, we have a new novel that will literally have you gasping, laughing, crying, you name it. And it’s Canadian. How about that?

Read our full review here.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's July 1967 and Maureen is a teenager living in St. John's, Newfoundland. Expo '67 was held in Montreal and in the July of that year, Maureen manages to weasel her way onto the local choir because they were heading to Montreal to perform. In Montreal, she and her friend, Carleen, are able to escape the nuns and party. Carleen decides to stay in Montreal with a sleazebag she'd just met and Maureen heads back to Newfoundland. Once home, she discovers she is pregnant, a situation her dominating mother (aka Sarge) takes care of.

Shortly thereafter Maureen is living with Bo. Bo is abusive and is always viciously beating her up, whether they are sober or drunk. He is eventually found dead and the police, knowing Bo and Maureen's history, look at her as the suspect.

I had high hopes when I started this book but it just kept getting more and more dreary and boring as it went on. The writing could have been tighter so therefore the story shorter. I felt there was a lot of information, details and rambling that wasn't needed. I gave up when I got about three-quarters of the way in and skimmed to the end. As a head's up, there is swearing, adult activity and violence. I'm originally from Nova Scotia so it was fun to read the lingo that I haven't heard in years.

I didn't find any of the characters likable. I couldn't find any sympathy for Maureen and the predicaments she had gotten herself into. Growing up, her home life wasn't the best but she didn't do anything to better herself and rise above it when she got to be an adult. She continued to wallow in it and let her upbringing beat her down. I found it ridiculous that Maureen, who wasn't overly bright or motivated, would put herself in danger trying to find out who was responsible for Bo's death. Her parents were awful and it was sad and unnecessary that a "retarded" older sister who her mother abused was part of the story.

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2017/11...

[Grace Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Oh, lots of times your life’s tough and nasty and dirty but still all right for all that. Your Nan used to say, shure it’s always all right in the end, and if it’s not all right, then it’s not the end yet.”

Something about this book I really really really liked. It was definitely written in a way that captivated me.

[☯Lilbookworm☮ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has had so many twists and turns that I didn't expect. I lover the Maureen character, she's a spitfire. I wish there was more to ending, I want to what happened after the book ended. A very, very good book.

[Rod Raglin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crying for the Moon - a dreary, tawdry series of events lacking in motivation  
 
Maureen comes from a working class family in St John's, Newfoundland. She's a senior in a Catholic parochial high school.
 
Even though she can't sing she fakes her way into the school choir so she can travel as part of the group to Montreal and perform at Expo '67, the world's fair taking place there in 1967.
 
As soon as she arrives, her and a girlfriend go AWOL and hit the Montreal nightlife.
 
 
Before you can say " G'wan with cha" she gets drunk and wakes up in a strange hotel room having lost her virginity as well as her girlfriend.
Evidently not big deal.
 
She goes back to the hotel, don't know that she ever performs at Expo, but the next night is out looking for her girlfriend in the same bars and has sex with another, more or less anonymous guy all the while not enjoying it one bit, which makes this reader wonder why she does it?
 
Not wanting to hang around with someone she hardly knows she ends up at yet another bar, gets dead drunk and has sex with an "old man".
 
Back home and back at Catholic school in St. John's she throws up on a nun's habit and is announced pregnant and kicked out of school.
 
Her mother, "the Sarge" tells her she isn't going to sit around so she gets a part time job in a discount store where all the other employees hate her.
 
There's more, but none of it has any motivation, there's little character development - it is just one grim situation after another.
 
Why would a "good" girl attending a Catholic school, suddenly go on a sex and drinking binge just because she's away from home?
 
I never found out because I abandoned Crying for the Moon after three chapters. Blame it on a really unsympathetic character and an inability to suspend disbelief.
 
This is a good example of a "celebrity book". The publisher knows the author's fame in other endeavours, in this case author Mary Walsh being somewhat of an comic icon in Canada, will sell enough books to make a profit.
 
Maybe stick to comedy, Mary, or was this book supposed to be a joke and I just didn't get it?

[Kathleen Nightingale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book for the simplicity of the story line. Mary Walsh has done a fine job of writing Crying for the Moon. The story was engaging from the first page and I remained interested till the last page. Although set in Newfoundland Canada this story line has and continues to have the same angst as teenagers the world over move from mid-teens to turning twenty. The emotions and situations which the protagonist Maureen feels are relateable to every and all teenagers at some point. Walsh was able to put many colloquies into her story line which often brought a smile to my face as I was told the exact same thing in my coming of age years.

My only criticism was from another Canadian author who previewed the book and was "howling from the first page to the last page". Mary is often known for her sense of humour. Yes she is very funny but her book is much more serious. To bad this author didn't bother to take the time to read the book before providing her quote.

[Bookbabble · Rating 5 out of 5]

This debut novel by Mary Walsh was something I had a really hard time putting down. I have to admit though, I am very confused by the blurb on the back of the novel..."brilliantly funny?" I had a hard time finding the "funny" moments in the book. And honestly, I am totally okay with that.

This is a very real, heart-wrenching story of a young Canadian woman who has to deal with the Ghosts of the choices she made in her youth & I would highly recommend it.

[Claudette · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disappointment. I heard Mary Walsh interviewed on Shelagh Rogers, so I knew this wasn't a funny book, but it's way too grim! Not only is it humourless, but the characters are just blah. You would think a book with nuns in the 60s would have SOME funny stuff in it, but nope. Grim, grim, grim. Couldn't get through it.

Amazing Grace, by Lesley Crewe, is a much better East Coast Canada book. Read that one instead.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was so disappointed in this book. Had been excited that it was by Mary Walsh and that it was set in St. John's in the late 60's early 70's.

There was no sense of time or place. Could have been anytime, anywhere. There were no redeeming characters and no one was having a particularly good life. too bleak violent and depressing for me. Not the Nfld I knew and grew up in.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sure what to think about young Newfoundland girl Maureen at first. She seemed to be on a collision course with life that started at Expo 67 in Montreal.

Her inner voice wooed me. Full of negativity and spouting despicable charges first hurled by her hateful mother, I remember the teenage self-doubt and desperate need to be part of the life that everyone else seems to be leading.

Maureen's outer voice causes problems. She is one of those people who always seem to say the wrong thing. And, often under the influence of alcohol, she mostly makes bad decisions. It seems like she wants to live up to Sarge's opinion.

When Maureen's abusive boyfriend is found dead in the trunk of his car, things really heat up. Did she kill him?

A rollicking ride ensues full of both horror and hilarity.

I hope Mary Walsh continues the story because I'm dying to know how Maureen makes out on her return to Montreal.

[Jakky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tough read. At times, I wasn’t sure whether I was meant to laugh or cry. Known for her tongue-in-cheek comedy, the author contrasts the bleak, raw desperation of this Newfoundland story with characters’ witty, sarcastic retorts (typical of citizens of certain parts of Canada’s eastern maritime provinces). I wanted to reach into the novel and slap Maureen silly, but she had already done that to herself often enough that the effect would have been lost on her. She would have seen the intervention as just one more way she deserved to be punished. I started out really disliking this book but it grew on me the further into it I read. It sure isn’t a cookie-cutter book.

[Natalie Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This was a tough read. Gritty, with few likable characters. Reading other reviews I see a lot of people didn't make it in more than a few chapters. That was nearly me, but it's Mary Walsh. I had to keep going, and I am glad I did. Sometimes life is gritty. Sometimes people aren't likable. But they still have important, interesting, tragic stories.

[Karan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+
I enjoyed the read. Late 60s/early 70s period piece - in St. John's NFLD but rural tone. Brutal domestic violence presented in a matter-of-face-way, preceding 'who done it' romp.

Read as recommended by one in reading group, for next gathering. Low expectations exceeded.

[Judy B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never been a big fan of her comedy but thought I’d give the book a try. Would give it 31/2. Cant imagine that kind of upbringing but I know that there are far too many parents like that. Her angst was heartbreaking.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 star rating:
I wouldn't pick this book for myself, and I did not, but that being said it wasn't that bad. The story was intriguing enough to keep me reading and for that it gets this rating.

[Cheryl Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gritty story that keeps you wondering if a happy ending is possible. You will have to find that out for yourself!

[Artyom Yakovlev · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picking this up at 1.99$, I didn’t get my hopes up — I’m not a huge fan of detective stories but I believed a book about a woman’s adventures in the 1970s’ Canada would be interesting to read from a cultural perspective. Unfortunately, my lukewarm expectations proved to be too daring. How wrong was I in my assumptions - and how disappointed I am now, having struggled with a 200-page book for more than a week.
This novel has neither cultural identity nor personality to relate to. All characters are unlike able and one can feel that Mary Walsh despises them. This makes the book almost impossible to read, as all the action has no ground or motivation other than pointless aggression. The storyline is illogical, with some unnecessary extras and plot twists.
Maureen, the central character, is supposed to be the center of the reader’s attention but fails to provoke any emotional response. The internal monologue, used to give some depth to Maureen’s personality, does not provide more understanding of her real identity or show her gradual development as she is getting more mature and experienced. Although the time span is considerable, and Maureen goes through several life-changing moments — relationships, break-ups, even the birth of her child, the book fails as a coming-of-age story because we can witness no impact of these important stages on Maureen’s character.
It also doesn’t work well as an anti-drug statement, or advocacy of the rights of women, or a critique of domestic violence and abusive relationships. There are several reasons for this: firstly, Maureen is an extremely unattractive character who is largely the one to take the blame for the mess she ends up in as she feels content with all the horrible things other people, both men and women, do to her; secondly, as a character, she lacks any psychological boldness. She is abused, affiliated with a criminal group, indirectly involved in acts of smuggling drugs but, as a reader, you don’t feel any sympathy or compassion for her and you don’t even consider her unfortunate. Whatever happens, you just don’t care. She is so badly written that you can’t imagine her train of thought. I’m disappointed that all promising aspects of the book’s subject matter lead to a dead-end.
References to the era are scarce, and the information about Canada is limited. Frankly, this novel lacks any particular temporal or cultural references and can be put within the context of any country or time without affecting the main storyline. To make matters worse, the language is simple, clumsy and afflicted with abundant and unnecessary use of profanities. Strong language is never a problem when used moderately and appropriately — but in the case of ‘Crying for the Moon’ it is very annoying and downright tasteless.

[Penny (Literary Hoarders)]

DNF I made it to page 32. If you are a reader needing Trigger Warnings, Mary Walsh's debut is not for you. I don't normally have trouble, but me thinks Ms. Walsh laid it on rather thickly. Page after page after page of violent physical abuse, sexual assault, rape, predatory pedophiles, drugs, abuse, and on and on it went. I couldn't do it any longer beyond those 32 pages. Where is the light? It was too much, almost as though Walsh was working too hard to try to destroy and upset her readers.

Honestly, I had bad dreams involving my daughter last night - the kind where I actually had to wake myself up and shake out the dream from my head. Crazy right?!

So, I woke up this morning knowing that I would be returning this one to the library. I'm not sure if I'll pick it up at a later time to see if it has any kind of the "funny" (as it is blurbed) or light in the tunnel. I have books to read for review, I need to turn my attention to those first.

Bummer - I was really looking forward to this one. Just can't do that kind of story right now. I just finished Himself which has violence/murder of women in the prologue (much like Crying for the Moon), The Substitute, which although disturbing, not to the level of Crying for the Moon - so I need something else right now.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has to be said. This is an awful book. I was expecting much more from Mary Walsh who is a Canadian comedian and somewhat of an icon in the country. Her first novel. It's the story of Maureen Brennan, a Catholic teenager from the wrong part of St. John's NL in the 1960s. Maureen begins the book by faking her way into a school choir trip to Montreal during Expo 67 where she unwisely manages to slip out of the clutches of the supervising nuns and comes home pregnant. It's all downhill from this point as Maureen abuses alcohol indiscriminately and constantly. When her cheating, abusive boyfriend Bo is killed, she's unsure about whether she killed him or not. The plot (or sloppy plotting) becomes very messy at this point and whether this is now a murder mystery or not cannot be determined. The ending just happens like a shot in the dark with no preamble. About the only thing that is interesting about this book is Walsh's command of both the local vernacular and the local profanity. The language is just plain loud and never modulates or quietens down, and basically it's difficult to even like Maureen who both thinks and talks at screech level...all the time.

[Laura-Lynne Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you think this book is going to be funny due to the author being a comedienne you are not getting a funny book here. This is the story of the misadventures of one Maureen Brennan with a great cast of characters to go along on the ride. The end left Maureen in a much better position with the future laid out before her & lots of opportunity to change her life for the better. For a first novel I thought this was a great book & I'm glad it came across my path.

[Martha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I appreciate the care Mary Walsh put into this novel, and it all seemed real -- the setting, the dialect, the characters, Maureen's thoughts. It just wasn't enjoyable to read. Maureen is a sad, hapless sort of person who stumbles from misfortune to misfortune. Doesn't mean it's a bad novel, just means I didn't really care for it.

[Wendy Hearder-moan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have to give credit to Mary Walsh for fulfilling her dream of writing a book, but would it have done so well if written by "Mary Doe"? It paints a grim picture of life in Newfoundland, or at least in that particular milieu. Three stars instead of 2.5, only because of the clever dialogue, which captures the cadence of some Irish/Newfoundland voices.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, no!
Sorry love Mary Walsh, television and one woman play but did not enjoy book.
Maybe, I was expecting something light hearted.
Sorry, Mary.

[Terri Durling · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Mary Walsh a lot. She's funny, witty and, bonus, a Newfoundlander. One would think these are ingredients for a good novel. Walsh has a talent for writing no question but I think her true calling lies in creating (she created "This Hour has 22 Minutes") and acting; she's done many roles in both comedies and dramas. This story could well be that of anyone born at the wrong time in the wrong place and there are probably many who can relate to it in terms of being downtrodden and bullied much of their lives. I did wonder if this might have been from Mary's own personal life. In Maureen's case, it's the 1960s on Princess Street, St. John's, Newfoundland with a mother named Sarge. The name speaks for itself as her mother is a tyrant who makes her family's life miserable. Maureen pays the price for that misery by growing up lacking confidence and respect for herself because she was belittled constantly throughout her life. Trying to escape, she gets pregnant and pays the ultimate price of losing her baby because Sarge thinks it best. This book reminded me a little of of "Life with Billy", a true story of a Nova Scotian abused woman, Jane Hurshman, who ends of killing her abuser, her husband, Billy. It was made into a movie produced & filmed in Canada and won several awards. The stories are similar except Hurshmans story, written by Brian Vallee, was true crime drama at its best whereas Walsh uses humour or tries to in order to tell her story. I suppose it's a black comedy along the lines of The Cohen brothers, famous movie, Fargo but Walsh scarcely made me laugh, let alone cry. Walsh tries to make Maureen into a likeable character, using Newfie language to make it more real but it didn't really succeed for me. There were a few good parts but much of the story goes off the bandwagon too much for me to truly enjoy the book. I also think it generally makes it seem like Newfoundlanders are a bunch of uneducated, alcoholic, drug dealing degenerates who abuse anyone in their path. This was true of most of the characters in Fargo, but at least the pregnant police officer was actually very smart and, interestingly, that story was also based or a true crime and is truly black comedy at its best. Some of the smartest, kindest and funniest people I know or have heard about are Newfoundlanders who have hearts of gold and Mary Walsh is among them so I'm sure it was not her intent to make them look this bad. Perhaps if it were made into a movie like Fargo it could redeem itself but I somehow doubt it. I related to the parts about the nuns as I was brought up as a good Catholic girl & attended grades 5 & 6 in a convent taught by nuns. Most of them were pretty scary.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the very dreary story of young Maureen growing up in St. John's, Newfoundland, in the 1960's in a poor and very dysfunctional family. A really depressing story to read - nothing good ever happens and Maureen makes one stupid choice after another.
There is absolutely no love shown between Maureen's parents and their children. The mother is called Sarge and when Sarge gets angry, which is every day, Sarge throws Maureen down the stairs.
Maureen has a baby at the age of 15. Sarge takes care of making the baby disappear immediately. Then Maureen lives with Bo, who abuses her every day, beats her senseless and drags her around by the hair. He ends up dead and Maureen is desperately trying to dissuade the police and Bo's friends that she didn't kill him, but she wonders if she did.
A really pathetic story.

[Tiguidou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Things I liked:
1) The plot has great potential. The underbelly of St. John's was, and still is, raw and exciting.
2) When the dialect worked, it worked wonderfully, especially coming out of the Sarge.

Things I wasn't fussy about:
1) A lot was rushed in the early chapters. Too many major events too quickly.
2) The writing didn't work for me in general. There was a lot of telling and not enough description. I couldn't hear the characters' voices (mostly I heard Mary Walsh's voice) or imagine how they looked.
3) I found a lot of the dialect to be misplaced/misused.
4) George. I didn't like George and I didn't like how the George storyline ended.

Overall, an exciting story with a great but underdeveloped setting and great but underdeveloped characters.