Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful mingling of 3 women's lives
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Writing, Poor Story Line
Review: I like Suzanne Matson's style of writing...but i thought that the story line left something to be desired. I do hope she writes more though. If you are considering buying this book...I think its worth it...it's pretty touching...But it wont be one of your all time favorites.
Rating: 
Summary: Strong Characters, Story Needs Some Umph
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Strong Characters, Story Needs Some Umph
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: I wished this book was longer.
Review: I read this book in one day because I couldn't put it down. I wanted to know more. I thought the author wrapped up the book too quickly in the end. I enjoyed the way she entwined the three women through life circumstance.
Rating:
Summary: Poor characters, stuck in this book
Review: It's true-- what this book has going for it is the compassionately drawn characters and the reasonable quality of the writing. It's certainly not the story. Having a baby exactly the age of the baby in the story, being in that stage of life myself, I read _The Hunger Moon_ eagerly and with great interest. That is why I found the ending so inexplicable-- I felt like the author really wanted to write about these characters, this maiden/mother/crone concept of womanhood, but didn't know what to do with the story when it was time to wrap it up. I found it a bit amusing when the last 20 pages or so of the book turned out to be an interview with the writer. It seemed a little presumptuous and out of place to assume the reader was so wowed by the novel that a built-in interview was warranted. The thoughts are there-- the unique nature of women's friendships, the binding ties of motherhood, how these things are an antidote to the anomie and isolation of life without a partner. It is also the best written account I have ever read of the profound closeness of the nursing relationship between a mother and baby. But the author didn't know quite how to express these things into a truly compelling and well-written story. I very much look forward to her future work, when she's had a bit more time to practice.
Rating:
Summary: Believeable characterizations, enjoyable read
Review: Not a book that you will want to read again, but an enjoyable few hours.
Rating:
Summary: three female protagonists confront loneliness, family loss
Review: 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 which shut us off not only from others, but from our true inner selves.
Rating:
Summary: three female protagonists confront loneliness, family loss
Review: 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 which shut us off not only from others, but from our true inner selves.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing account of three lives
Review: 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!
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