The Big Girls

Starred review from March 19, 2007
In spare yet hypnotic prose, Moore (One Last Look
) examines the bond between a young psychiatrist and a mentally ill patient in her devastating sixth novel, set at an upstate New York federal women's prison. Sloatsburg Correctional Institution, a former sanitarium on the west bank of the Hudson, is dangerous, understaffed, underfinanced and overwhelmingly grim. The place epitomizes what's wrong with our nation's prison system and stands as a warning about our growing mental health crisis. Moore deftly shifts perspective among her principal characters—Dr. Louise Forrest, Sloatsburg's psychiatry chief; Helen Nash, a suicidal inmate who's been convicted of killing her children; Capt. Henry "Ike" Bradshaw, a corrections officer who's in love with Louise; and Angie Mills, a Hollywood actress (and Louise's ex-husband's girlfriend), whom Helen believes is her long-lost sister—as the action hurtles to an oddly satisfying resolution. Reading this heartbreaker is like watching a train wreck while dialing for help on your cellphone. You can't turn away. 75,000 printing; author tour.

Starred review from April 15, 2007
Moore ("In the Cut") returns to fiction with a disturbing tale that's sure to inspire heated book-group discussions nationwide. Four narrators, each connected in some way to the Sloatsburg women's prison, take turns explaining their circumstances and exploring their options as they struggle to make sense of their actions. The most compelling of these narrators are Helen, who has murdered her children (supposedly at God's request), and Louise, the therapist who attempts to treat her while also trying to acclimate to prison culture. Readers who enjoy complex, intertwined plots will relish the slow, tense untangling of relationships as Moore reveals how the characters' lives connect. Those who enjoy fiction about contemporary issues will be drawn to Moore's ruthless illumination of the fears and concerns permeating the lives of even "the beautiful people." The novel's structure is initially confusing, but as readers begin to grasp the larger picture, they will appreciate the subtle ways in which Moore suggests that womeneven those to whom one may not normally be sympatheticare more like their sisters than they care to admit. Highly recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/07.]Leigh Anne Vrabel, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh

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