Customer Reviews

Two Moons: A novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Two Moons will satisfy those who like a good plot and those who crave strong characterization. As usual, Mallon's novel (set in post-Civil War Washington, D.C.) is meticulously researched. Protagonist Cynthia May will win your sympathy from the first chapter. I even found the astronomy intersting, and I received a C in the subject in college.

This is a beatifully written work, set in an interesting period - Washington D.C. several years after the Civil War. I found the four main characters well-developed and quite interesting, particularly given the period. I also found the historic details fascinating, which describe living conditions, economics, science, politics, and the roles of men and women circa 1880 in the United States.

The book isn't always a page-turner, but it has several exciting scenes. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read with plenty of seemingly well-researched detail and a fascinating setting.

This is a wonderful, charming little book. It's a romance with a small "r". It's not the great American novel and thank God it doesn't even try for that. The last thing we need more of is the bloated over-weight fudge we keep getting from Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer.

The characters are well-drawn and believable, unlike several of the characters in Mallon's previous novel, "Dewey Defeats Truman". You will care about them and you will understand why they do what they do. As always, Mallon's ability to evoke a time and place is unmatched. His aim is dead on. I'm no expert in Washington, D.C. in any century, but the depiction of the capital in 1877 worked for me and I didn't find any major anachronisms. The astronomical and astrological themes are skillfully woven into the story and provide a good deal of interest. Finally, anyone who truly has been in love will find that the story of Cynthia May and Hugh Allison will strike a resounding chord in your heart.

I had read all the rave reviews about Mallon's book before reading it which may have been a mistake because ultimately I was disappointed. Gore Vidal's historical ficiton is much more gripping. I really enjoyed certain passages of this book, but after a while, it seemed hoakey. I think he's a strong writer, but overall I found the book uneven and overrated.

This is a rare kind of book. It combines a meticulous sense of historical reality with science and high romance between unlikely characters. It makes me want to seek out and read all of Mallon's work, and to keep and reread (soon!) this one.

This is a story that's going to stay with me for awhile. Mallon writes a wonderful story of four lives that come together mixing happiness and despair. Like "Henry and Clara" there is a sense of sadness (ill-fated-ness?) throughout the book that reminds one to enjoy every opportunity for happiness. As someone who works in Washington I also really enjoyed reading more about the city and what it was like in 1877. I think I'll have to take another walk down to Foggy Bottom very soon to look for the ghosts of Cynthia and Hugh.

1877, the year of the electrifying discovery of Phobos and Deimos, the two satellites of Mars, by Professor Asaph Hall in the United States Naval Observatory, is also a year of many political changes in Washington. It is also an exciting year for Cynthia May, the main character in Thomas Mallon's historical novel "Two Moons".

The novel starts when Cynthia, an impoverished Civil War widow in her early thirties, applies for a job as a "computer" at the Observatory. Being extraordinarily gifted in calculating abilities, Cynthia secures the job... And falls in love with an attractive young scientist who conducts the examination. The young man's name is Hugh Allison, and despite his Harvard education, this promising researcher is grossly under-achieving, switching projects and generally unable to produce satisfactory results of his work, obsessed by his dream project... When he reveals his secret to Cynthia, she is determined to help him achieve his dream, and to do so, resolves to submit to the attentions of the womanizing, macho, middle-aged Republican senator from New York, Roscoe Conkling. Connected in the unlikely triangle, these protagonists are united by their attraction to stars - Conkling's weakness, astrology, leads him to the first meeting with Cynthia...

This novel captivated me with its simple, but engrossing storyline. It is, in fact, a romance with solid historical background, delivered in a classic, even conservative style, but it possesses a certain old-fashioned charm. For me, the setting in the Observatory and the details from the scientific environment only added to the book's quality. I learned a lot about the Naval Observatory, the pivotal years of its existence, when the relocation from the malarial neighborhood of Foggy Bottom and the transition to the civil management, were being decided. The descriptions of political events at the start of Hayes's presidency were also very educational for me (I crave every bit of American history right now). The parade of excellently rendered fictional (Cynthia, Hugh and hilarious Irish astrologer, Mary Costello) and real (Conkling, Hall, Newcombe and other scientists at the Observatory) characters, is a great asset of this novel as is single, independent woman as a central character, bringing all other together.

I have not heard of Thomas Mallon before but I will definitely look for his other novels now.

This captivating novel not only immerses you in the politics and astronomical issues of the 1870's, but features characters that have dimension enough to make you care deeply about some and understand what makes the others tick. I'd rate as highly as "The Voyage of the Narwhal."

Although the subjects dealt with here are fascinating -- D.C. in the late 19th century, malaria in Foggy Bottom, the discovery of moons around Mars -- the novel just isn't all that involving. The strongest, most interesting character is Roscoe Conkling, the New York senator and king of the Republican Custom House machine. The made-up ones -- a widow with a flair for numbers and a self-destructive, Harvard-educated astronomer -- don't propel you through the plot. Lots of great period detail, and the ultimate tragedy of the tale will give you pause.

Mallon is both skilled and humane, and those who love a good book with a sense of place and time and an era past will enjoy this book.