Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Thomas Christopher Greene's third novel is an impressive and compelling page-turner. One of Greene's several strengths is his conveyance of setting. Envious Moon offers a change of scenery in this regard, as he has moved the setting from the mountains of Vermont, which featured so prominently and convincingly in his first two works, to the coast of Rhode Island for Envious Moon. Greene demonstrates a similar adeptness with the new setting, which is instantly believable and quickly draws the reader into the emotionally challenging world of the two main characters.
Another of Greene's great strengths is the skill with which he creates emotional tension between his characters, and in this he exceeds his previous achievements. Without wanting to give away too many details, I found most impressive Greene's handling of the characters' range of emotional states, from innocence to lustful romance, and onward towards much darker and challenging truths. This emotional journey is at the root of the success of Envious Moon, and indeed is what makes Greene's most recent effort such an impressive page-turner.
Greene has taken a few plot elements from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, as one might guess from his title. However, the author rightfully feels no obligation to follow closely that famous plot; rather the uses certain plot elements as seeds to send the story in quite unexpected directions. Again, I don't mean to be too vague here, but also don't want to give away essential details of the work. Suffice it to say that, in part, as I considered the connections with Shakespeare's famous work (and I mean as a compliment the fact that I have spent a good deal of time contemplating this novel) it occurred to me that this is a very modern and American take on that love story. Green's work is one that deals with the challenging emotional realities of two complex characters; however, on a larger scale the author addresses in a very immediate and challenging way the often disturbing questions of identity and self-determination, resonant themes which place this fine novel as a very contemporary and distinctly American work of fiction.
Greene's Envious Moon is a thoughtful, sometimes disturbing, always compelling read. Highly recommended.
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