Reviews for Nearer the moon

The average rating for Nearer the moon based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-05-18 00:00:00 Ryan Barhorst Years ago, I admired the expurgated diaries for the oblique and mysterious tone and the poetic description, though even then, I felt the language was frequently overblown. It was also possible to perceive Nin as an adventurous independent woman, since she had deleted the role of her husband from the diaries. Nearer the Moon is the second (though in actuality the fourth of the unexpurgated versions published after Nin’s death) of these that I’ve read, the first being “Henry and June.’ What comes through indelibly in this issue are the elements of deceit and narcissism. It’s not infidelity per se that I take umbrage with, as people are human and follow their desires, but how in her affairs Nin takes such delight in intrigue and the dramas that she compulsively confides to the diary, often bewailing the lies that encircle her. But they are her lies, as she acknowledges, and though she presents herself as a giving person, enabling Henry and Gonzalo’s existence, paying their rent, buying food, et al; nevertheless it is her husband Hugh the banker who underwrites it all, though he’s blind to where the money is going. It’s hard to believe that Hugh is unaware of Anais’ double or triple lives, but then she is a talented deceiver. On the plus side, Nin has a powerful intelligence and her emotional comprehension can be nothing short of outstanding. Perhaps all the navel gazing sharpened her insights. Additionally, though she was aware of the discordant political climate in Europe in the late ‘30’s , she seems insulated from it, espousing little interest in anything other than literature, art and the tangles of her personal life. While I like, in a sense, her intrepid spirit, the diary overall leaves me seeing her more as a succubus than a liberated woman. Rereading in 2018. While I sometimes intentionally reread a book, this isn’t one I would have chosen. However, I soon realized it seemed familiar and I checked my previous assessment and stand by it. A somewhat mediocre read that doesn’t measure up to Nin’s earlier diaries. This edition revolves around the triangle of Hugo, Henry and Gonzalo. One wonders at Anais’ energy in keeping all these balls in the air. Yet, she is also able to focus on her own work, besides the diaries the rather mystical novels. I found this statement to be quite revealing in terms of criticizing others’ work. She was replying to a letter from Lawrence Durrell about one of her manuscripts that he intended to publish. “The changes I made already are all I can do. The rest is you, not me, and therefore you ought really to let me take my chance, let me pay for my weaknesses, defects. You cannot write my book for me. If I am as bad as all that, if I need rewriting, then, you should not publish me see? Beyond a certain amount of correcting, which I have done, there are the innate defects which no one can fix.”

Review # 2 was written on 2019-05-03 00:00:00 John Morris I could not get through this one. I tried after reading Delta of Venus (which I enjoyed) to read some of her diaries (which there are many) and I thought as time went on I would enjoy them a bit more (as I got older) but alas it's just the same nonsense. I love the use of Unexpurgated vs. Uncensored, it does make it feel a little more like an open look into her life but then again, she has always been wide open.