Response to Luna

           It was refreshing to read Luna.  It was refreshing because it has been some time since I read a book that left me asking all sorts of questions.  While reading Julie Ann Peters’ novel, I wondered about the characters, the author’s perspective, what I already know, and most importantly, what I don’t.  This book left me considering the perspectives our culture holds about transgender people.

            As I read I first asked, which of these characters were expected and which were unexpected?  In terms of modern society, I wonder…how often are people truly what we expect?  Like many people, I have never met anyone that is struggling with their gender, much less finding ways to “transition”.  Therefore, I only have my pre-conceived notions to guide me and ignorantly have little knowledge about transgender people.  That being said, Luna was a very unexpected character.  I’m not sure what I expected, but I was moved by what I learned about her.  Too often, we see public figures like RuPaul and are left to assume that this is what the definition of transsexual is.  How wrong we are!  As Luna points out RuPaul is nothing but a drag queen and not (to our knowledge) contemplating SRS.  Luna’s fear of being dressed as a girl in public was just one example of what I found refreshingly vulnerable.  Admittedly, my assumptions got the best of me because I assumed that people in this situation are proud and happy.  We hardly see these struggles reflected in society; we only see the success stories.  But now I question, stripped of cameras and publicity, what struggles do these figures tackle in order to become so confident in their own skins?  Regan’s reactions towards her brother were also refreshingly unexpected.  My hope is that people transitioning have a strong, supportive person behind them, and Liam did.  However, Regan’s character was painfully honest.  She constantly did what her brother needed her to do.  By doing so, she pushed her needs and feelings aside in order to help and openly acknowledged that it was as painful for her as it was for him, albeit in a completely different way.  On the flip side, I felt that Luna and Regan’s father was a stereotype of himself.  I mean, come on!  The father of the transgender teen works at Home Depot because he got laid off as an appliance salesman at Sears.  The only way it could’ve been more expected is if he was a construction worker.  While tackling an issue polluted with stereotypes, Julie Ann Peters is guilty of using common ideas about other types of people.  Coming from a home in which my brother struggled because of my father’s male expectations for him, I understood the importance of this totally expected, stereotyped character.  Many men in male-dominated fields find confidence in their masculinity and want to impress that upon their sons.  The dad’s flat character emphasized the judgments impressed upon those that challenge traditional gender roles.  The balance of characters that I both expected and unexpected help to emphasize society’s knowledge about this culture.

            When do facts in a work of fiction fit seamlessly into a novel and when do they become contrived?  As a rule, I despise books that are preachy; I prefer my learning during a piece of fiction to be implicit.  Because of this, Liam’s diatribe about the history of TG’s comes off as artificial.  Close isn’t sufficient in describing the brother and sister’s relationship, and as readers, we can imagine the multitude of conversations they have had about TG’s.  Taking into account the importance of the subject to him, his intelligence, and the honest conversations the two of them have, I found it unbelievable that the Native American’s “two-spirit people” and Joan of Arc had never come up.  I felt that this excerpt’s purpose was to educate the readers.  And while it was quite informational, it didn’t ring true with the characters or the tone of the novel. 

            Critically speaking, how does an author choose when a story begins when there is so much background information needed?  Luna’s story begins mere months before the end of the novel.  Questioning one’s gender is not a matter of just a few months.  Peters weaves a current story with Regan’s memories of Liam’s development; the balance of past and present was sound.  However, the structure Peters used to reimagine the memories was especially poignant.  I had read the first two memories when I realized that my reading flow kept getting interrupted.  Traditional writing breaks a word over two lines with a dash separating two syllables.  As readers, we stop noticing this break because we have never read anything different.  It is different in Luna.  During the memory scenes, and only in the memory scenes, words are broken over lines by syllable but without the prerequisite dash.  For example, instead of a standard “ac-tivities”, we see on page 194 the word is broken as “ac tivities.”  Similarly, on page 39, we see “base ment” and “morti fied” instead of “basement” and “mortified”.  This doesn’t seem like a big deal, is infrequent, and hardly noticeable, but upon reflection the impact is powerful.  The memories are a choppier read than the rest of the novel, just as our own memories are more uneven than our reality.  We stumble over painful memories, just as Regan hesitates over hers. This is a great example of how a small change in structure can impact the truth of the story that is being told.  

            Lastly, I wonder, Regan feels every emotion in a strong way, how can an author successfully describe that severity of feeling?  As an English teacher, I teach about imagery, similes, and hyperbole, but I have never read a novel that has used figurative language as such a powerful and effective tool in description.  Regan observes, “Liam looked so brittle, I thought he’d break” and describes Murielle’s “curly hair [with] springing corkscrews all over her head”.  These comments create instant pictures in the readers’ heads; the pattern of these visualizations is found laced throughout the book.  The visuals readers create are more compelling because of Peters’ use of imagery.  Similarly, when describing the scene created when Luna came dressed as herself to school, Regan states, “that kind of news would have spread like an e-mail virus.”  By comparing gossip to a computer virus we understand that Luna’s story would pass from person to person quickly and inadvertently, and that the damage could be irreversible.  By telling readers that “defeat hung in the air like nuclear waste,” we realize the pain Liam’s parent’s rejection causes is closer to poison than disappointment. Lastly, the hyperbole used in this novel demonstrates the dramatic strength of Regan’s feelings.  “Liam’s face welded shut.”  “I was such a nun.”  “All the mental reminders and memories were jamming up my brain.”  Each of these examples over-emphasizes her feelings and creates an authentic reaction that any teenage girl would have.  Peters’ use of figurative language creates a story of unspeakable pain in a language that readers, especially in her intended audience, can easily relate to and understand.  

          

My favorite books are ones that challenge me to question what I have read and what I think.  Some of the best questions are ones that cannot be answered, but instead beg to be researched and contemplated.  Luna challenges us to think critically about what we already know and to learn more about a culture that is traditionally marginalized in our society.