The Slow Moon

by Elizabeth Cox

Book Overview

On an early spring night in 1991, Sophie and Crow, flushed with anticipation, slip away from a rowdy high school party and sneak off into the woods. Tonight, for the first time, they will make love. An hour later, Sophie lies unconscious, covered with blood, and Crow is crashing through the underbrush, hurling himself into the river to escape the police. . . .

What was meant to be an idyllic, intimate evening has turned into a nightmare. Despite...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081297770X
• ISBN13: 9780812977707
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 309 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Beautifully written

Though it becomes somewhat obvious who the perpetrators are fairly early on, it's still a great read with beautiful writing. First book I've read by this author and I was pleased.

The Slow Moon Is Great!

This is a great book! I thought it was quite obvious what was going to happen in the book. I did enjoy it though

The Aftermath of Rape

Elizabeth Cox is a writer with potential, able to utilize the beauty and mystery of words and language. This is a novel about what happens in the after- math of rape in a small town. The victim does not remember what happened and the rest of the town tries to forget by not attending to any clues or suspicions. I look forward to Elizabeth Cox's next novel.

A wonderful book!

This is the story of lost innocence, of that fine line between 'before' and 'after' that one can never cross back over again. On the surface, this is a story of rape, accusation, and confession, but is much more than that. It takes us beyond the scope of the character's lives and leads us to explore our own. Elizabeth Cox writes with the magic of a Alice Hoffman, the air, the moon all coming alive as participants in the magic of an eventual healing. One would expect from the subject matter that this would be a depressing book, but it is a hopeful book; hopeful that we can rise above the worst in our lives and soar again. I couldn't put the book down and would recommend it most highly. I'm grateful to have discovered such a fine writer.

Masterful!

Elizabeth Cox writes with eloquence, beauty, and a deeply soulful sense of the emotional traffic of people's inner lives. There is a story in this book...and it holds up well as a structure for our seeing into the personal experience of the characters as individuals as well as the life of the small community in which they live. A thoughtful tale...beautifully written...a worthy read from a gifted writer.

A well-written novel about innocence lost

The Slow Moon is the story of what happens when the small town of South Pittsburg, TN is thrown into turmoil when an act of unspeakable brutality is committed against one of its children. Crow Davenport, 16, and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Sophie Chabot, sneak away from a party to make love when Crow remembers that he forgot his condoms in his car. He leaves Sophie to retrieve them, and in his absence Sophie is raped and assaulted. When he hears police sirens upon returning to the scene, Crow's first instinct is to flee, which he does. The aftermath of Crow's decision and the harsh reality of what happened to Sophie cause life in South Pittsburg to virtually halt. There is a sea filled with accusations and doubts that flows through the heart of the locals. Some cannot believe that Crow, a priveleged child whose father is one of the most wealthy men in the town, would be capable of assaulting anyone; while others grasp on their need to blame someone and choose Crow as the scapegoat. Though Crow and Sophie are clearly at the forefront of the story, Cox also takes care with her descriptions of the other residents of South Pittsburg so the reader truly understands how invested they are in what happened. The Slow Moon is more than just a story about a girl who was raped and her boyfriend's efforts to acquit himself of the crime, but a beautifully woven tale about trust and mistrust, doubts and accusations, and the struggle to put back together something that may be irreparably shattered. I picked up this book because my favorite author, Elizabeth Berg, once said that she would buy anything Elizabeth Cox ever wrote. I am now in agreement. This story was beautifully written and told with such poignance and grace that it's hard to find fault with any part of it. I read it in about four hours and if you pick it up, prepare to read it in one sitting. It's that good.

"You are what I wanted, exactly what I wanted"

The centerpiece of Elizabeth Cox's cautionary novel The Slow Moon is a childhood friendship that ends in betrayal and treachery. With spring just beginning, the beautiful copper-coloured moon hovers over South Pittsburgh, Tennessee as two young teenagers, Crow Davenport and his girlfriend Sophie leave a party and walk into the woods toward the river to be alone. Fuelled by adolescent lust, the two begin to undress, eager to explore each other's bodies. Realizing that he is without condoms, Crow returns to his car, leaving Sophie waiting expectantly by the riverbank. However, upon his return, he discovers that Sophie has been brutally raped and she is now semi-conscious and covered in blood. As the sounds of police sirens are heard, Crow panics, frightened he will be blamed, he races off, leaving his beloved Sophie to her fate. But it's all too late, as Sophie remembers nothing of the evening, or her attackers, except that she was with Crow that night. With his wallet discovered at the scene of the crime, and blood found on his leg, the evidence is automatically damning. This privileged boy from one of South Pittsburgh's wealthiest families is placed on trial for rape. In the light of day, Crow continues to maintain his innocence and is supported by Helen, his religious mother and Carl his reserved, detached stepfather. Helen's heart struggles against the idea that Crow might be guilty of something terrible, whilst Crow tries to imagine Sophie and why he felt the need to lie, he remembered kissing her, but over the days she becomes almost "faceless as he remembered." As consensus amongst the community begins to build that Crow may indeed be innocent, the police begin looking at the possibility more than one person did that this. Findings at the crime scene indicate the evidence of sperm from multiple attackers. Certain boys are questioned, with the feeling that everyone knows more than they are saying and it is determined there were other boys who attended the party that night who were drunk and stoned. Bobbie, the handsome son of Judge Aurelia Bailey and Crow's childhood best friend was one of the boys at the party. Lately Aurelia has noticed that Bobby has grown secretive and sullen. Could Bobby have raped Sophie? He certainly had a terrible crush on her, after first noticing her when Sophie and her mother Rita moved to South Pittsburgh from Montana with thoughts of new beginnings and of hope. And what about the enigmatic Tom Canady? A member of Crow and Bobbie's rock band, Tom has developed a crush on Crow's younger brother Johnny, their furtive sexual experimentations taking place over a period of months, the frustration of keeping their affair a secret growing into a steady anger at each other. Over the last few years, Tom has realized who and what he was, creating for himself the burdensome role of an imposter. Cox conjures up an intricate mix of damaged people, all shouldering their respective secrets and burdens, and having to