Looking Back - The Pull of the Moon

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg
Fiction
1996 Random House
Finished on October 6, 1997
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Dear Martin, I'm sorry the note I left you was so abrupt. I just wanted you to know I was safe...I won't be back for a while. I'm on a trip. I needed all of a sudden to go, without saying where, because I don't know where. I know this is not like me. I know that. But please believe me, I am safe and I am not crazy. I felt as though if I didn't do this I wouldn't be safe and I would be crazy...And can you believe this? I love you. - Nan.

Sometimes you have to leave your life behind for a while to see it and really live freshly again. In this luminous, exquisitely written novel, a woman follows the pull of the moon to find her way home. Sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest, The Pull of the Moon is a novel about the journey of one woman - and about the issues of the heart that transforms the lives of all women.

My Original Notes (1997):

She did it again! I LOVE this book and author. I fell right into the cadence of this novel, not wanting to put it down, yet not wanting it to end. This is always the case with Berg's books. I know I'll reread all of her books someday. I enjoyed this one so much and would love for Rod to read it also. I'd love to hear his opinions on it. I loved the way Nan met strangers in strange, distant towns. As a result, I think she met herself.

My Current Thoughts:

I don't think I ever got around to reading this a second time, but it looks like it only took me two days to finish, so maybe I'll throw it in the RV for our next camping trip and give it another read. I can't imagine Rod wanting to read it, so I'm curious to see why I thought he might!

Berg wrote a collection of short stories (Ordinary Life), which includes a follow-up letter from Martin to Nan. I enjoyed the entire book, but was especially pleased to read the letter from Martin's point-of-view. 

A favorite passage:

Oh just wait. It takes a lot of time, that's all...You'll have come to a certain kind of appreciation that moves beyond all the definitions of love you've ever had. A certain richness happens only later in life. I guess it's a kind of mellowing.