The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Sarah Addison Allen has a way with words: it's as though she paints with words - she evokes, she provokes thought, she draws you in, she makes you yearn to taste, to live in the books she has created. A few examples of her lyrical voice: "Men of thoughtless actions are always surprised by consequences." (page 12)
"Crystalline swirls of sugar and flour still lingered in the air like kite tails. And then there was the smell--the smell of hope, the kind of smell that brought people home." (page 40)
"If she'd been a color, she would have been bright green. If she'd been a scent, she would have been new paper." (page 93)
"The words were strung in the air like garland." (page 133).
And she leaves you with a truth so profound, you'll wish you show more could buy billboards everywhere to proclaim it: "It took me a long time to realize this: We get to choose what defines us." (page 114)

My only negatives about this book were that the main character never grieved over her mother and the story was too short. But I think all of her stories are too short - she writes such a good story you want to linger, savor, and wallow for a long time in her world.

I recommend this as well as Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. show less

Once again, Sarah Addison Allen shines brighter than the Mullaby lights. The Girl Who Chased the Moon beautifully blends the mystical and the ordinary. This story of an orphaned teenager sent to live with the grandfather she has never met in the ugly shadow of her mother. Emily Benedict must reconcile her memories of the mother she knew as selfless with the contradictory image the people of Mullaby embrace. Upon her arrival in Mullaby Emily is befriended by a local baker, who was a classmate - but far from a friend - of her mother and the only son of the most powerful and mysterious family in Mullaby.

Forbidden romance, a town secret, and a dash of magic are the perfect recipe for this light read.

Welcome to Mullaby, NC, "where giants exist, wallpaper changes on its own and lights skip across yards at midnight." Her mother dead, 17 year old Emily Benedict has nowhere else to go but to the home of her grandfather, a man she never knew existed until now. Her new home takes some getting used to, far above and beyond the adjustments would have to make after finding themselves for all intents and purposes orphaned. Mix in the mingled fear and resentment with which she is treated, a legacy left behind by her mother, and it's a recipe for disaster. Only Emily's neighbor, Julie Winterson, seems to make any sense, but she has her own secrets she wishes to keep hidden until she can escape in six months once her self-induced exile has been show more concluded.

This was a magical tale, perfectly blending mystery and romance with just a hint of magic. I enjoyed watching Emily unravel her mother's secretive past and thrilled as Julie bloomed from a closed and angry woman into once who allowed herself to experience love and the happiness that accompanied it. But it was Allen's descriptive powers that really made this story. The Mullaby lights, the mood wallpaper, the way the senses came visibly alive were wonderful touches that really draw the reader into the world of Mullaby. There was more than enough reality to not overpower one with the magical realism that flows throughout the novel, and just enough magic to make the reader wish to climb inside the book to stay.

I have not had the pleasure to read anything by Sarah Addison Allen before, so I quite enjoyed this book, despite seeing numerous reviews citing that it was not as good as her first two novels. However, I can see if this a very strong formula from which Allen does not veer that it could get repetitive, leaving one with the sense that all her books are the same story, given a minor makeover. I'll be on the lookout for more of her books, but I'm not going to rush into them so that I can enjoy each for what it is. show less

Absolutely enchanting. Part chick lit, part fairy tale, wholly unexpected, I enjoyed every line and finished in a day (and a work day, at that). There were some random details that made no sense - what was the purpose of the wallpaper? - and the ending was slightly too twee for my taste, but Sarah Addison Allen has a magical way with words. I love how she describes an argument as bing like 'words strung in the air like a garland', and the way one character remembers his late wife as the colour green and the scent of new paper. Poetical and nonsensical, maybe, but I love such vivid and thoughtful imagery.

The story is deceptively simple, with an odd supernatural twist thrown in, but like Emily, I felt I had to find out all the answers. show more After the death of her mother, a young girl goes to stay with her grandfather in the mystical town of Mullaby, North Carolina. Like every small community, everybody knows everybody else's business in Mullaby, and the murky secrets of the past instantly link Emily to her next door neighbour, Julia, and draw her with magnetic force to Win Coffey, the enigmatic young son of Mullaby's wealthiest family.

I felt a personal connection with Emily's circumstances - bar the wallpaper - and her frustration at fighting a conspiracy of silence, which is perhaps what initially captured my imagination, but I also loved the lyrical narrative and drooled over the mouthwatering cakes that Julia bakes (I think I must have Sawyer's 'sweet sense' also!)

Delicious. show less

I’m a newbie to Sarah Addison Allen’s work, but for the most part, her books strike me as prose that depicts ordinary life with a twist of the fantastical and a generally happy ending – perfect for a quick “in between” read. I’ve discovered that chick lit fills an interesting void in the literary community that I hadn’t realized existed, the “in-betweener.”

Reading and discovering a new favorite book (NFB) is emotionally overwhelming and when you finish said NFB, it’s hard to pick up anything new because you’re not sure it will live up to the awesomeness that you just experienced with your NFB. One needs a palate cleanser – something that you know won’t live up to the ridiculously high standard set by the NFB, show more but still has a solid plot and decent characters. Enter the “in between” chick lit novel that lets you come down easy from the NFB high and back into the real world before you dive into the quest for the next NFB.

That being said, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, is a solid read with an intriguing plot and characters and is downright adorable in the most realistic way possible. The characters are flawed and the setting is ordinary in the best possible way. It’s hard to describe fully, but Sarah Addison Allen seems to have perfected the art of making the ordinary extraordinary – of telling a story that could be anyone’s story but has magnificent details that make it unique. The ability to transform our “ordinary daily life” into something spectacular in a natural way is an incredibly difficult thing to do. Interesting things happen to regular people (who may not be altogether “normal”) and Sarah Addison Allen crafts her stories around those moments, the ones that seem straightforward, but moments when our decisions shape our lives for years to come. And that’s how the ordinary becomes magnificently, extraordinarily ordinary and relatable. show less

This was a sweet, sweet book. I was immediately hooked into the story line and the characters were all quirky and mysterious. It was a nice light break from usual fare. However I was ultimately disappointed with the ending. I expected more after such lovely build. And yet somehow it was also good for me to read a book where the ending is perhaps not some gigantic, powerful, Hollywood climax. Sweet, simple fluff that made me want to bake!

After her mother dies, Emily Benedict moves to Mullaby, NC to live with her grandfather and hopes to find answers to some questions, like “Why did her mother leave and vow not to return?” and “Why didn’t she ever talk about her life in Mullaby?” When Emily meets her grandfather, a reclusive, real-life giant (he’s eight feet tall) and moves in with him, she finds more mysteries, like the wallpaper in her room that changes with her mood and the mysterious Mullaby Lights that appear in the woods behind the house on moonlit nights.

Although the description of the book sounds like it’s leans toward the gothic, it’s really the complete opposite. Allen has created a wonderful fairy tale, complete with two love stories, a gentle show more giant, and a hero whose weakness is cake. I loved this book for it’s whimsy and gentleness, as well as for the growth of the characters. Sarah Addison Allen is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. show less