The Hunger Moon

By Suzanne Matson

Book Overview

Renata, a waitress, has left her boyfriend Bryan without telling him he is about to become a father. She drives cross-country to begin a new life in Boston with her baby son, Charlie, hoping to stay free of emotional entanglements and the associations of a painful childhood. Eleanor, a seventy-eight-year-old widow, finds herself gradually stripping away the layers of complication in her life until she is living in virtually a plain white room. June, a young dance student, is dangerously obsessed with thinness to mask her loneliness.

The three women, from very different social backgrounds and age, meet by chance and their lives become unexpectedly linked. An emergency involving baby Charlie and the unannounced appearance of Bryan culminates in a dramatic and satisfying conclusion.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393040992
• ISBN13: 9780393040999
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

three female protagonists confront loneliness, family loss

Of all the curses afflicting us, loneliness and lack of family are two of the most painful. They cause us to examine the nature of our selves, to catalogue our strengths and reflect on what could have been. Suzanne Matson's compassionate and true debut novel, "The Hunger Moon," explores the impact of isolation and family loss through the intertwined lives of three female protagonists. Despite their differences in class, age and experience, the three women discover meaning, vision and strength through their growing interdependence. This connectedness gives "The Hunger Moon" both its poignancy and urgency.Renata is the most complicated of the three characters. A seemingly nondescript single mother of an endearing infant son, Renata has chosen to hit the road, leaving her child's father ignorant of his fatherhood. Renata discovers that her freeom is illusory; instead of liberating her, her eventual choice of Boston as her home finds her rootless, unmoored not only from her west-coast heritage, but without the comforting safety net of caring friends. While struggling with the practical aspects of economic survival and motherhood, Renata must also come to grips with the impact of her decision to remove her son Charlie from his unknown father, Bryan. In turn, she must question herself as to her convoluted, ill-defined feelings about love, commitment and marriage. As she grapples with the moral dilemma her life choices has engendered, Renata slowly develops a relationship with the newly reclusive Eleanor, a successful jurist whose recent widow status has resulted in her literally stripping away the veneer of her past family life. Now living in a starkly barren apartment, Eleanor finds a delighted surprise in bonding with her freshly-discovered neighbor Renata.Joining this mix is the conflicted June. Bulimic and ravaged by constant academic and artistic disappointments (she is a flop as a student and troubled by her lack of success as a dancer), June receives no solace from her parents -- a distant, indifferent father and a mother reeling from the pressures of compelled personal reinvention. June satisfies her hunger for connection through caretaking and babysitting, two services which reintroduce her to her own humanity.It is the elemental reawakening -- to possibility, to hope, to humanity -- which invests "The Hunger Moon" with such dignity. Matson's sensitive exploration of the nature of family ties, the difficult choices women face in offering themselves to others in love and the impact of personal responsibility in times of emotional duress gives her writing an urgeny and an elegance rare in debut novels. The author interweaves her characters' lives with the same skill as she develops their distinct personalities."The Hunger Moon" satisfies as story and as fable. Eleanor, June and Renata develop qualities which sustain and broaden; their personal stories become illustrative of what we can become once we shed the restrictive walls

Strong Characters, Story Needs Some Umph

I loved the characters in the book. They were endearingly imperfect and easy to relate too. I loved the relationships between these three women and how they loved one another without completely understanding each other. The premise of the story is fine but I am not always crazy about some of the author's choices for outcome, especially in the story's climax whic almost ruined the whole book for me. I found it a little unrealistic that a woman who barely spent a moment alone from her baby would act with such neglect or that any compassionate woman would leave a baby in the hands of an elderly woman who's mind is failing. I also found the ending to be a bit rushed.

Oh how I miss my FRIENDS already!

What a wonderfully written story of three women that are woven together. Matson is a gifted author who makes us feel her characters emotion. I laughed, cried and wanted more at the end. I feel that they are among my own circle of friends and I will miss them greatly. A easy to read yet still makes you think. A perfect summer book!

Wonderful mingling of 3 women's lives

I enjoyed the way the author let the readers enter the lives of these 3 strong women, how their lives intersected, and how a family was created. I particularly liked the way the author didn't title each chapter with a number, but used the names of the characters instead. I started the book and couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read the author's next book!

Intriguing account of three lives

This book is a great vote of confidence for women. No matter what age you are, every woman has problems. Matson's book encompasses the lives of three women and how they handle the turns in which their lives are taking. If your life is in a point of transition, this book would be a great boost. The work is motivational, inspirational, and emotional. Matson will make you reflect on your own relationships that you may or may not have in your life. The characters are real, and they touch you as if they were living right next door. Read the book, meet the characters, and appreciate life!