Review: Where the Moon Isn't

Title: Where the Moon Isn't
Author: Nathan Filer
Publisher: St. Martin's Press/Macmillan
Pub Date: November 5, 2013
Genre: Adult (Crossover)

Rec. Age Level: 16+
More by author: n/a

 

   

Where the Moon Isn't begins with the recounting of a childhood memory by the 19-year old narrator Matthew. This memory, which may seem, to the reader, odd at best and unimportant at worst, has stayed with Matthew his entire life as a defining moment that set in motion a choice that ended in the death of his older brother, Simon. Now, Matthew is telling his story - and his brother's story - as he attempts to bring his brother back. Matthew is convinced he's found a way to do this: by going off the meds that keep his schizophrenia - and his brother - at bay. As Matthew tells his story, the reader struggles to unravel the truth from Matthew's story, which one can never take completely at face value, as it meanders through past and present, sometimes linear, sometimes repetitively, but always with a steady, persistent goal: finding Simon.

I cannot stress how much important I think this novel is. It deals with a myriad of topics, most notably mental illness, in a raw, honest way that readers won't soon forget. I was incredibly moved by Where the Moon Isn't... not just by Matthew and Simon's story, but by the stories of even the secondary characters. I can't talk about this book without my heart breaking and my eyes filling with tears because it's obvious that Filer has first hand experience with the issues he writes about in this book. My mother has spent most of her life working with for Community Mental Health of Michigan, so throughout my life I had the pleasure of meeting some of the most absolutely wonderful people who are saddled with mental and physical deficiencies. Filer gives these individuals a voice with Where the Moon Isn't. This book is a compelling mystery with engaging psychological elements, but, because of the author's heart and deft hand, it is also so much more.

While Where the Moon Isn't is technically adult fiction, it has definite crossover appeal. The main character, Matthew, is only nineteen and much of the novel focuses on his childhood.

Notable Quotes:

"I'll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name's Simon. I think you're going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that."

“I decided each name on each spine was the person who the book had been written for, rather than who had written it. I decided everyone in the world had a book with their name on, and if I searched hard enough I'd eventually find mine.”

"But there are different versions of truth. If we meet each other in the street, glance away and look back, we might look the same, feel the same, think the same, but the subatomic particles, the smallest parts of us that make every other part, will have rushed away, been replaced at impossible speeds. We will be completely different people. Everything changes all the time.

Truth changes.
Here are three truths.”

"What happened next is less clear in my mind because it has merged into so many other memories, been played out in so many other ways that I can't separate the real from the imagined, or even be sure there is a difference. So I don't know exactly when she started to cry, or if she was crying already. And I don't know if she hesitated before throwing the last handful of dirt. But I do know by the time the doll was covered, and the earth patted down, she was bent over, clutching the yellow coat to her chest, and weeping.

When you're a nine-year-old boy, it's no easy thing to comfort a girl. Especially if you don't know her, or even what the matter is.

I gave it my best shot."

 Check out the Youtube video inspired by Where the Moon Isn't:
 

Review: The F-It List by Julie Halpern

With her signature heart and humor, Julie Halpern explores a strained friendship strengthened by one girl’s battle with cancer.

Alex’s father recently died in a car accident. And on the night of his funeral, her best friend Becca slept with Alex’s boyfriend. So things aren’t great. Alex steps away from her friendship with Becca and focuses on her family.

But when Alex finally decides to forgive Becca, she finds out something that will change her world again--Becca has cancer.

So what do you do when your best friend has cancer? You help her shave her head. And then you take her bucket list and try to fulfill it on her behalf. Because if that’s all you can do to help your ailing friend--you do it.

___________________________________

Julie Halpern brings something new to the "YA cancer lit" subgenre with The F-It List... simply put, I love this book.

Most YA cancer novels feature either a teen who has cancer or who has a parent with cancer, but this is the first time I've seen that the main character is the best friend of someone with cancer. The fact that Alex is the best friend, not the patient, adds an entirely new perspective to the mix. When you consider the fact that Alex has recently lost her father (to a car accident), her boyfriend (after he slept with her best friend, Becca), and her life is now a complete and utter mess, then throw in Becca having cancer, you know that Halpern is going to steer readers towards some pretty heavy topics.. What you might not expect is that there will be plenty of laughter, plenty of hope, and even more living within the pages of The F-It List.

One of the defining elements of The F-It List was Alex and Becca's relationship. It isn't every day you come across best friends like these two. Sure, they've done some pretty horrible things to one another, but, honestly, what best friends don't find themselves in those situations? Becca, in a moment of misguided weakness, sleeps with Alex's boyfriend... the day of Alex's father's funeral. In response, Alex refuses to speak to or see Becca for the entire summer following the funeral and betrayal. But, the first day of the new school year, Alex goes in search of Becca... because they're best friends and people make mistakes sometimes and deserve to be forgiven. Best friends are sometimes selfish and sometimes entirely self-sacrificing: Alex and Becca have been both, they understand and accept one another, and they're stronger because of it.

For a cancer book, The F-It List, is surprisingly funny. It's easy to expect quirky and/or touching when it comes to "cancer lit," but I can't remember the last time I literally laughed aloud; there is usually a lot more crying than laughing happening. Alex and Becca, however, keep living, with the help of the f-it list, and never give into the cancer that threatens Becca's future. It's clear from the start, when Becca flashes her neighbor to fulfill a goal on the f-it list and decides to shave her head to beat the chemotherapy to taking the hair she's so proud of, that she isn't the type to go down without a fight.

In the midst of Becca's struggle, Alex has other things vying for her attention. Like the father she's recently lost, her mother and two brothers who feels broken without her father, and a mysterious and distracting boy, who should be the least of her worries with all the death and drama currently surrounding her days, but who somehow keeps inserting himself into the forefront of her mind.

I truly appreciated that Halpern never made Alex's issues seem less than Becca's. Instead, the two girls were a united front. They were each fighting battles, sometimes together and sometimes separate, but neither was more or less important. 

I highly recommend Julie Halpern's The F-It List. It deals with difficult topics in a very real, alive sort of way. There are tears, but there is also laughter and real, genuine happiness because Alex and Becca refuse to stop living, no matter what life throws their way.

Feiwel & Friends, November 2013, Hardcover, ISBN:  9781250025654, 256 pgs.

Review: Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

As a boy, William Bellman commits one small, cruel act: killing a bird with his slingshot. Little does he know the unforeseen and terrible consequences of the deed, which is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to be a man blessed by fortune—until tragedy strikes and the stranger in black comes. Then he starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, William enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business.

And Bellman & Black is born.

___________________________________

Deftly written with gorgeous language and phrasing, Diane Setterfield's newest novel, Bellman & Black, is sure to resonate with readers. Subtitled A Ghost Story, the novel fulfills the role in an unexpected manner: it isn't a specter or monster that haunts the main character Bellman and the reader, it's everyday actions, intentional and otherwise.

Bellman & Black tells the tale of William Bellman, a man blessed with good health, good fortune, and happiness. No one would dispute that Bellman works hard what he has. Smart, attractive, and successful, Bellman leads a charmed life. But what is his happiness worth? Because, as Bellman comes to realize, all actions have a consequences and time always comes at a price.

Bellman's story is interspersed with information and anecdotes about the rook, which plays both a literal and symbolic role in Bellman's life. These short chapters are beautifully written and are sometimes factual, sometimes anecdotal. The rook itself becomes a central character in the novel, who, if not mentioned for a period time, becomes, curiously, almost missed.

It's hard to describe the premise of Bellman & Black. What struck me most after completing the novel was how little actual action was contained in its pages compared to the amount of thought and contemplation spurred by the story. This may come as a surprise to some who see the subtitle A Ghost Story and expect the typical scary story. To be clear, Bellman & Black is most definitely a ghost story - and I would say it is, in many ways, much scarier than any paranormal story might be. Bellman's story forces readers to consider the price of their own lives... To consider the happiness and fortune they've been blessed with in their lives and how much payment might be owned to the figurative man in black that haunts Bellman's every conscious - and often unconscious - thought.

I haven't read Setterfield's first, and immensely popular novel, The Thirteenth Tale, but, after Bellman & Black, I feel I need to. Setterfield is a powerful storyteller who leads readers with a light hand to thoughts and feelings that, even if we might now acknowledge them often, have a steady weight that influences our lives and choices. Bellman & Black is not to be missed.

Atria/Emily Bestler Books, November 2013,Hardcover, ISBN:9781476711959, 336 pgs.