Luna

I had initial misgivings about Luna, not because of the subject matter, but I was skeptical about Julie Peters’ ability to portray Luna in a three-dimensional light. I was concerned that the gap in adolescent literature that addresses transgender teens and gender identity was going to be filled by a book of clichés and stereotypes. In retrospect, I found Peters’ narrative style as well as Regan and Luna’s characters effective and purposeful. While Luna did occasionally approach stereotypical behavior, I felt that Peters successfully wrote into Liam’s character such a strong desire to be a woman that his earnestness created an overwhelming desire to display a hidden self.

I was also intrigued by Peters’ decision not to narrate it from Liam/Luna’s perspective. I don’t know if by presenting Luna’s transformation through the eyes of her sister Regan makes the book somehow more accessible or acceptable to readers. It is clear that Regan’s family and community aren’t ready for Luna. When they eat at Taco Bell, Regan describes the look on a strangers face when he sees Luna as “Disgust. Loathing”. Their father’s defeat and mother’s retreat also relay a complete lack of acceptance. I think Luna leaves in the end because unfortunately Peters couldn’t realistically portray a high school that would allow for Luna to exist. I can only hope that Luna’s departure towards a new freedom speaks directly to our society’s own inevitable transformation to something much more open to issues of gender and sexuality. It is clear from countless news stories of late that for youth this is literally life or death.

From a critical perspective, Peters creates multiple characters who are split between what they truly want and the way society dictates their lives. A pivotal point in the narrative is when the mother yells, “I’ve had it with you and these kids and my life. It isn’t enough I keep telling you that, but you won’t listen. I’m dying inside. I just want out!” Before she began working outside of being a mother, Regan’s mother felt that familial and social pressures to conform into a domestic caretaker were robbing her of the life she actually wanted. This negation of a “normal” future was jeopardized the moment she rescued Liam from the scissors and Regan is forced to consider whether or not her mother was actively trying to kill her brother. In the end, it is not resolved whether or not the mother is a killer or an innocent, regardless she is a victim of self versus social expectations.

Somewhat ironically, Luna’s struggle to create an identity had a direct, negative correlation on Regan’s ability to live her life. Regan laments, “My brother was a black hole in my universe. He was sucking the life right out of me. It seemed as if I was being pulled into this crater by a force I couldn’t fight.” Though Regan is for the most part an unfailing source of support for her brother, this text reveals the difficulties faced by even those on the periphery. At the end of the book, as she is waving goodbye to her brother, Regan thinks, “Hello Regan”.

Langston Hughes proposes that a dream too long deferred does not dry up, but rather builds pressure until it explodes. This text reinforces this statement through multiple characters forced to contain identities and desires. In this light, Luna represents not only the courage of a teen redefining her gender in the face of a critical society, but the fundamental importance of self-actualization on all levels.