Mountains of the Moon

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A woman in her thirties is released from prison, with a new name and not much else. She begins to make a fresh start but the present is soon invaded by fragments from her past.

Unsettling, hallucinatory and without precedent, Mountains of the Moon is the tragic account of a broken life, but, against all expectation, it amounts to something utterly beautiful.

Joint winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Kay's first novel follows the tragic life of Lulu, a character whose name changes with the circumstances of her existence. The story begins with Lulu's release from prison after a decade of internment. Despite her history, Lulu approaches one dire situation after the next with a trusting, almost guileless outlook. Those who can empathize with Kay's damaged character will applaud her journey to the Mountains of the Moon in central Africa and her lifelong battle to rise above her past. The reader should be aware that Kay's narrative often shifts without warning between past and present, creating a storyline that can be difficult to follow. VERDICT This is a challenging novel. The flashbacks and staccato sentence structure contribute to a chaotic tone. However, the book will appeal to readers drawn to unconventional works.-Catherine Tingelstad, Pitt Community Coll. Lib., Greenville, NC (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

There's no denying that a lot goes down in I.J. Kay's debut, much of it out of chronological order and narrated in a motley pidgin of London Cockney, regressive baby talk, and pop-song lyrics by an untrustworthy ex-con variously known as Kim, Beverly, Jackie, Dawn, and Catherine. That these ingredients make for a compulsively readable novel instead of a complete mess is almost entirely courtesy of the idiosyncratic heroine, whose real name is Louise Adler. Louise grows up in a nightmarishly abusive household, spends her teenage years in and out of institutions, and winds up working at a casino while fraternizing with a cast of shady characters like "the velvit gentleman," doomed rich boy Quentin, and the desire-object Louise calls "the Oak Tree." We know early on where it will all lead: to the spectacular, botched crime Louise confesses to and her subsequent journey to Africa in search of the moon -mountains of her childhood imagination-and where her life will depend on the skills she has picked up as a longtime survivor. But it's the inimitable voice that Kay has worked out that makes Louise's journey unforgettable, checkered with personal touches and a timbre of defiantly playful happiness that belies the deep sadness of her circumstances and the hard-boiled content of her flight from disaster to freedom. The novel's impressive air of feminist noir and hard-knock psychological realism are merely molehills that the unusual (and personal) prose promotes to the scale of mountains. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Like Stieg Larsson's audacious heroine, Lisbeth Salander, Kay's Louise Alder possesses an uncanny resourcefulness and spot-on survival instincts. Those are what sustain her as a child, enduring unimaginable abuse, physical and emotional, at the hands of her narcissistic mother and violent stepfather; as a preteen, trying to rise above a traumatic stint in a group home; as a teenager, seeking refuge in the abandoned wing of a mental hospital; and in her early twenties, facing betrayal by a group of so-called friends. When she is released after a 10-year stint in prison, she is left with nothing but her memories. And yet, for all the misery she has experienced, she remains open-hearted, able to cherish random acts of kindness, whether it's a free meal or the gift of a beautiful coat, and to remake herself once again when she takes a life-changing trip to Africa. This is a remarkable novel on many levels, not only for its charismatic lead but also for debut novelist Kay's complex plot, which repeatedly cuts back and forth in time, and multifaceted prose, which ranges from the fractured syntax of Louise's childhood to the cinematic language of her African sojourn. A searing, soulful affirmation of the human spirit.--Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Cruel parenting, violence and rootlessness fail to sap a young woman's spirit of survival in a striking debut. Imagination can blossom in the grimmest environment is one lesson of Kay's appealing, often painful first novel, which captures the creative language and irrepressible spirit of Lulu King, an English child whose horribly abusive, neglectful home life deprives her of education, money, freedom and family. In spite of all this, Lulu has a full fantasy life in which she's a Masai Mara warrior living in a treehouse above the African grasslands. Lulu's perilous childhood is intercut with the story of Louise/Catherine/Beverley/Kim, the woman with many names who, after 10 years in prison, is trying to rebuild her life. The cataclysmic events that bridge these two existences emerge slowly as Kay dodges back and forth in time and style, sometimes phonetic, sometimes poetic, challenging the reader to keep up. Lulu grows up on the run, scavenging, meeting kind or thoughtless folk, working a range of jobs in various towns, living in substandard housing, sometimes suicidal. But a sudden windfall frees her to achieve her dream of visiting Africa, where she will find more threats but also friends and a kind of release. A wild, sometimes disorienting but impressively crafted novel.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.