Afterthoughts: The Moon in Deep Winter by Lee Polevoi

In a nutshell: An accomplished debut novel from a talented author. If you like your novels pacy, dramatic and tense, then The Moon in Deep Winter is probably just the book for you.

When I was given the opportunity to review this debut novel from Lee Polevoi I jumped at the chance. With a pitch that promised a glimpse into the world of a ‘homicidal dysfunctional family’, a family whose twitchiness, desperation and unpredictability was akin to the shady characters of the criminal ‘underworld’, I’d be mad to have turned the offer down wouldn’t I? So after receiving the book a few weeks ago, I finally got around to reading it, and following are my afterthoughts on Lee Polevoi’s The Moon in Deep Winter.

The first thing that came into my head when I read the synopsis for this novel was “Wow! What a recipe for disaster!”, and a ‘recipe for a disaster’ it certainly is. But what does the ‘recipe’ for The Moon in Deep Winter actually consist of? Well, thrown together into one big melting pot is that ‘homicidal dysfunctional family’; six members in all, each possessing unique idiosyncrasies:

First there’s Parker, the chief protagonist, the returning ‘prodigal’ son who having spent five years away dabbling in shady affairs, has returned to the homestead, not so much to visit his family (although that’s certainly a motivating factor directed towards a couple of family members), but to escape the backlash of his latest failed endeavour. Next is Burke, former State Department operative and patriarch of the family. He’s Parker’s stepfather. He’s mean, oppressive and bullish, and he makes it clear from the explosive outset that he resents any notion of Parker’s return to the family home. Then comes Eugenia, Burke’s mother. Old, senile and bearing a particular grudge for Burke’s choice in wives, Eugenia lives with the family and ‘enjoys’ their care and protection, albeit grudgingly. Next up is Walt, Parker’s geeky brother. ‘Geeky’ because he’s obsessed with anything mechanical, which he demonstrates magnificently through his continuing quest to build an aircraft engine in his bedroom. He also resents Parker’s return to the family fold, for reasons that become clear as the story progresses. The fifth family member is Mother – the glue that holds the Sullivan/Sloane family together (or at least tries to), although in her case the glue is about 40% proof. Her alcoholism isn’t her fault though. Continually suffering at the hands of her oppressive husband, and ever-demanding suspicious mother-in-law, the bottle seems to be the only real way (in addition to a secret revelation later in the book), to temporarily escape the madness. Last but definitely not least is Rita, half-sister to Parker. Rita is perhaps the least insane of them all, although even she has one major skeleton lurking in her wardrobe.

To the aforementioned melting pot is also added the plot for The Moon in Deep Winter, which mainly consists of a generous portion of paranoia, lashings of homicidal intent, and a light seasoning of incestuous undertone. All is then left to simmer until boiling point is reached, and viola! The recipe for the perfect bookish dinner, it would seem, is ready to be served. The question is whether The Moon in Deep Winter measures up to being a literary ‘delight’, one that readers will be happy to fill their proverbial plate with, or if it’s a novel that promises much but delivers little, instead ending up being largely unappetising, bland and unappealing; a ‘dish’ in a proverbial sense that’s destined only to end up in the ‘slop bowl’ of the novel’s sole canine character, the aged and perpetually hungry Labrador, Ajax?

Well I’m happy to declare that Polevoi has produced an incredible first novel in The Moon in Deep Winter, and it’s one, when continuing to use a culinary analogy, that seasoned readers will hungrily lap up. The reader will delight in a plot that’s edgy and fast-moving, in characters that are well-rounded and interesting, and in a prose from Polevoi that’s a real treat to consume. Polevoi writes well, really well and his ability to tell a good story is clearly shown in this novel. From the explosive start, where Parker gets an unexpected ‘welcome home’ gift, to the equally (almost) unexpected climax, The Moon in Deep Winter doesn’t let up in intensity, and without wishing to give away too much of the novel, you can take it as read that the story will keep you turning the pages until the end.

I’m a huge fan of scenes that are vividly and convincingly brought to life in novels, and the real triumph of The Moon in Deep Winter for me, comes from Polevoi’s sublime skill in scene description. As an example, the winter forests that surround the family homestead are perhaps the most intrinsically important scene element in this novel, mainly because they offer a means of temporary escape from domestic discord for some of the characters. In other words the woods around the area feature heavily and Polevoi does such a good job at describing them (and the scenes within them), that one can not only see them vividly in the mind’s eye, one can feel the sharp bite of the winter chill in one’s lungs, and hear the distinct crunch and crack of snow and twig underfoot. I’m not kidding, I had to go and slip on a warm jersey while reading this novel, and I’d like to think that this was more to do with Polevoi’s eloquent descriptive prose, rather than any heating problem I may have in my home.

So what about criticisms? Well I have a couple but they’re only small. Firstly the novel was not as humourous as I’d expected. Before reading, I read the synopsis for The Moon in Deep Winter and skimmed a number of reviews. The official blurb proclaims that the novel “combines the dark comedy of the Coen brothers with the dark lyricism of Denis Johnson”, and so many of the reviewers were praising the novel for it’s humourous (albeit dark) qualities. On the book cover and official website Gerald Shapiro and Michael Pritchett call the novel ‘darkly funny’ and ‘extremely funny’ respectively, and others, the source of which I can’t recall offhand, were remarking on the novel’s particularly humourous side. Well, I’m sorry but I didn’t get it! There were a few glimpses of humour coming courtesy of the senile mumblings of Eugenia, and through the equally senile actions of the old Lab Ajax (my favourite character incidentally )), but I just didn’t get a whole lot of humour from the book.

My other criticism is actually a slight contradiction. I noted ‘fast-moving’ as one of the novel’s qualities earlier on, and it remains so. However, sometimes I felt The Moon in Deep Winter was moving too fast for its own good. On occasion too many things seem to be happening all at once, or too quickly with the story switching around from place to place, with digressions in the narrative; things were sometimes getting a little confusing. Everything becomes clear when one slows down, backtracks and re-reads, but the breaks in flow, as I experienced them, were something that gave me mild irritation.

Ultimately though these minor criticisms are negligible and I would consider The Moon in Deep Winter to be a ‘must read’. Polevoi has produced a novel that is of a standard so rarely seen in a debut work, and for that reason alone it’s worth picking up. The old adage says ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, but with a thousand words Polevoi could paint a good number of vivid and memorable pictures, such is his talent for scene description and story-telling. Go read it now but remember to have that warm jersey with you when you do. )

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