Length: 248 pages
Release Date: Spring 2004
Publisher: Little, Brown
Blurb
“Luna; appropriate, wouldn’t you say? A girl who can only be seen by moonlight?”
I muttered, “You’re such a freak show.”
She murmured “I know, but you love me, don’t you?”
Yeah, I loved her; she was my brother…
Review
This book seemed to take me forever to read; there was nothing even wrong with it but every page seemed to take an hour to pass by; so long it took me five days to complete a two hundred page book. Besides a slight feeling of the book dragging on, I enjoyed Luna thoroughly; with a stunning narrative and a unique view on transsexuals, Luna pulled me in and refused to let go with Peters’ beautiful prose maintaining a high level of interest throughout the novel.
Tackling the sensitive topic of transgender is a hard thing to do, but Peters does it with such ease and style one cannot stop themselves from being impressed. Told not from the transsexual’s, Liam/Luna’s, point of view, we receive this story through the eyes of a bystander, Luna’s sister Regan. Regan was a great character, her sense of identity lost to the demands of her sister as she remains his one confidante. Her reactions was believable, her character well wrought and yearning to break free and take centre stage. Regan was extremely strong through the book, taking adversity on a chin that has faced so much; she was really inspiring, so understanding to her sister’s problems.
Liam/Luna herself is the main focus of the novel, her battle with Gender Identity Disorder, penned through a neatly woven sequence of present prose and revealing flashbacks, making for a tight back story and a plot that can move nowhere but forward at a steady pace, was awe-inspiring. Luna’s agony oozes from the page as she continues to play role for those around her whilst she wishes to be the girl she knows she is, though often she comes across as tactless and demanding toward Regan when it comes to Regan’s own needs. Nevertheless, the strength of Luna’s character is equal to that of Regan’s as we see Luna blossom and fight those who aim to oppress her.
However, the secondary character in this book remain heavy obstacles to Luna’s progression, characters to direct so much hate at so often. In particular, I loathed Jack and Patrice O’Neill; Regan and Luna’s macho-man father and pill-popping mother. Jack was a pig; petulant and spiteful he forever took out his failures on his children whilst refusing to understand the needs of his wife and children whilst I hated Patrice with a passion; a career-obsessed cow who abandoned her role as homemaker to begin a ‘meaningful life’ but abandoned her love for her family at the same time. These characters provided me with no end of fury whenever they came into scene, but their hated personas provided more than a few twists as the story reaches its final hurdles.
When it came to the denouement of Luna, I was left both happy and sad. As I closed the final page, so many obstacles had been removed but so many more remained in wait for Luna and Regan. The ending was beautifully written and not what I expected at all, with just enough sobrieties to stop readers feeling this was completely a happy ending. There was no cursive script reading ‘The End’ only the harshness and prejudice of everyday life left to think about.
Overall, Luna was a great read, filled with passion and raw emotion that made Luna’s battle seem all the more real. It was a book that made me think, about others and about how I treat those around me, how people feel inside. A plot that fired on all cylinders, Luna is one of a kind, examining the prejudice aimed at those that differ from the status quo. Peter’s novel is one that will stay with me for quite some time, the buzz of this book still not wearing off hours later; brilliant.
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