Tragedy of the Moth

by Suzanne Mondoux

Felicity Moss is a once-thriving movie star with a tragic past. Having helped her terminally ill teenage son with his suicide, she is haunted by both her conscience and the condemning media. She faces her struggle alone, until her world begins to heal when she meets the noble and forgiving Alfred Manning.

But Alfred feels threatened by an old friend, Samuel, whose silver-tonged charm hides his own dark secrets-secrets that he shares with an intriguing woman who is oceans away. But how long can one keep others from discovering private sins?

Felicity's manager courts her with a return to the big screen, her drama students write a short film that hits a nerve, and the final curtain rises on the summer's final performance.

Romantic, mysterious, and deeply poetic, "Tragedy of the Moth" folds plays, screenplays, supernatural folklore, and stream-of-consciousness narratives into a fascinating exploration of the riddle of life and death that ebbs and flows like the changing tide into a stunning finale.

164 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2015

About the author

The author’s unique style of storytelling lies in its real-world themes and historical fiction. She captures your attention from the very first page with her storytelling skills, through dialogues that are just fantastic, and her unique exploration of characters. She creates powerful pieces of fiction by merging real-life adventures with fantasy, history, myths and legends. She shows a deft handling of plots. Character development is also handled with mastery. She draws us in close by crafting relatable characters. Characterized as a non-formula fiction writer, her fantastical journeys and characters are etched in the minds of readers because of the descriptive and detailed narration that make them so vivid. Her wonderful pieces of fiction make you look forward to seeing where she will take you next.

Reviews

[Mark Saha · Rating 5 out of 5]

TAKING CHANCES

Suzanne Mondoux is not afraid to take chances, and I give the book 5 stars because her risks largely worked. I understood her characters quite well, and was so intrigued that I promptly read it again.

The story is set in a village near Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island, which is apparently something of a film and arts community. Felicity Moss, the main character, is a successful film actress who became caught in scandal when her eighteen year old son Luc was diagnosed with kidney cancer. The disease was so painful that she caved to his wishes and assisted in his suicide. Her trial for murder was a tabloid scandal that lingers despite an acquittal. She has withdrawn to her estate with her lover Alfred, refuses to accept film roles, and teaches a filmmaking class to local students.

Samuel, Afred’s closest friend since childhood, has come to visit them and now threatens to remain as a permanent house guest. Though independently wealthy, he is without family and appears to have adopted Alfred. Samuel seems impossibly perfect yet is believable and unpretentious. Though handsome and attractive to women, he is not vain; in fact he treats them well and frustrates them only because he cannot commit. The village is coming to adore him. Alfred is furious that Samuel does not leave, because he fears it is only a matter of time before Felicity succumbs to his charms.

Jack, Felicity’s manager, is trying to persuade her to accept a film offer. Jack’s daughter, Rose, is shooting a documentary in Africa and he worries because she is caught up in the recent Ebola outbreak there.

Felicity wants Eliot, a neighboring film director, to shoot a short film written by her students. Eliot is gay and married to a transvestite actress whom he believes is having an affair with someone on a film she is shooting. He also believes the dead talk to him, and occasionally performs a ritual that allows troubled souls of the deceased to “cross over” and resume their lives elsewhere. He will do this casually -- on one occasion merely so he can get a good night’s sleep in a haunted Bed and Breakfast.

The reality of such spirits appears to be accepted common knowledge in the community, but Mondaux like any good author leaves the reader to make of it what he will.

* *

Now the stylistic innovations…

The novel’s spine is a third person/present tense prose depiction of life in this sleepy coastal region.

But when Francis, Felicity’s cousin, asks her opinion of a short play he has written, the author abruptly exits third person to insert the play. This allows the reader to judge it for himself, and also to pass judgment on Felicity and Francis as they discuss its merits.

Again, when Felicity gives Eliot the short film written by her students, Mondoux shows us the screenplay. This time we even suffer through a couple of interruptions – action in third person present – before he finishes it. Ultimately Eliot feels “it needs some work” while Felicity says “it’s better than a lot of the crap you shoot”; the reader is allowed his own opinion.

Rose, Jack’s daughter in Africa, was friends with Felicity’s deceased son Luc, and brings everyone up to date when a long letter arrives from Africa. We again depart third person for a first person correspondence in a type face that simulates a letter printed by hand.

There is also poetry inserted upon occasion.

Finally, as the story approaches its conclusion, Mondoux abandons third person entirely and finishes the novel in screenplay format.

I was a little amazed that the above stylistic experiments do not, as one would expect, disrupt the forward momentum of the third person spine story. In fact I found them welcome breaks in the narrative; personal and insightful shards that challenge the reader while ultimately helping him unravel some puzzles or at least make of them what he will.

I did not sense anything pretentious -- the author is not “showing off” -- the variations in style come across as almost whimsical. The book reads like pieces of a puzzle drifting toward one another from various directions until it occurs to the reader that he knows these people quite intimately.

I recommend it to anyone not hopelessly addicted to formula fiction.

[Shai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from the Goodreads giveaway.

What i like about this book is how the characters' lives are intertwined with each other. some of them has experienced some tragic or not so good things in their lives but they were trying to cope up or trying to forget the past. probably the most interesting character and story for me is about Rose. she also managed to enlightened Samuel to try to move on from that particular situation in their lives that he still kept inside of him even after several years has past.

i also enjoyed reading those manuscripts and short poems such as the Letter to My Son and the poem scrribled on the whiteboard on the fridge.

i just want to share that last night a moth entered my room and we, one of our dogs and I, were trying to make it go away. i just finished reading this book when we saw it. that moth flies and touch the tip of my ear. we were not sure where it went after that and we are also not sure what it actually means. we thought it could be a sort of warning to be extra careful from now on. so we did start doing several things today such a lighting incense, spreading salt inside and outside the house, praying to God for protection.

I also thought that maybe the author was trying to send a message through that moth to write a review about her book as soon as possible. :-)

[Please Pass the Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragedy of the Moth by Suzanne Mondoux is the story of a sleepy Canadian village, where Felicity Moss has retreated from a life once spent in front of the camera; her fall from grace as wildly spectacular as the act that preceded it was bitterly heartbreaking. Self exile eventually brings love and some semblance of routine as she shares a home with Alfred and teaches filmmaking. The cycle of normalcy is, however, shattered when a series of events begin to shake things up: a seemingly irresistible friend of Alfred's arrives, Felicity is pressured to return to film by her manager, and a film director is convinced his partner is cheating on him.

Tragedy of the Moth is one of those books that you will either love instantly or toss aside in confusion. I was in the former camp, immediately drawn to Suzanne Mondoux's quirky writing style and the fluctuating composition of the book. Her prose are lyrical in the face of the character chaos that they wonderfully surround ("She looks down at the trees protruding as though in suspension, fighting gravity. Could one be in suspension, denying gravity its chance to motion toward the ground, crushing the body?"). My favorite character was definitely Eliot, who feels equally at home communing with the dead as he does filming a scene. The main character is definitely Felicity, but there's no denying that the supporting cast is fantastic. I'd recommend this book to those who love creative fiction that pushes boundaries in a story that runs a reader through the full gamut of emotion.

Review written for Readers' Favorite.

[Tacha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book from the Goodreads giveaways.

I like this book. It's not something I would usually read, but it was still very good. For me it was very easy to read and it didn't take long to finish the book. However it was not at all what I expected it to be. Reading the short summary on the back of the book, I thought the story would be all about Felicity, Alfred and Samuel. That was not the case. Although this wasn't really a problem for me, I do think the summary was misleading and I think it would be better to rewrite it. I did like how the story came together in the end. I would most certainly recommend it to my friends.

[Dana Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won Tragedy of the Moth by Suzanne Mondoux in a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for my opinion. First off this book is a bit hard to get in to. But once you do, it will all come together in the end. I'm not sure I would recommend it or not except to say that it is an easy and quick read, not being very long. Thank you for the opportunity to this book.

[Jackie Rogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not get into this book. Starts with a mother assisting her terminally ill son in suicide. Continues with numerous folks with theatrical associations and just could not grab any interest for me. Hate to do negative reviews but am being honest.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book from goodreads. I enjoyed this story the characters and plot were very interesting. I wish it had been a bit longer and the characters more developed. I wanted to know more about the characters.

[Faye Ridpath · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free from Goodreads Giveaways.

I had to force myself to finish it.

I really don't feel the characters were developed enough for me to really care about them, tragic as their stories were.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I have ever got from First reads. It's entertaining and really interesting the script scenes were incredible. Mondoux is one to watch