I understand that Peters was trying to display the weight that Liam/Luna’s transformation was doing to Regan, but the ending, which had Luna leaving Regan so Regan could have her life back, did not seem to be a positive affirmation to young transsexuals out there. I believe that Regan’s use of s/he was used well in the beginning of the novel discussing Liam, but towards the end, when she should have been leaning more towards using the feminine as Luna was coming out more frequently than Liam, seemed off-putting. The ending scene where Luna declares she wishes she could be Regan, when she often criticized her, came out of nowhere. Perhaps this relationship was to entice reader’s from outside the queer community to read the book, but it was not realistic in its romanticism, and only used as a catalyst for Regan to eventually work her way to anger at Luna. Regan and Chris’s relationship seemed forced and the ridiculous ways the two characters continued to hurt each other/get hurt in each others presence was over done, ad nauseam.

It was not a terribly original way to transition, but it was a good device to help us see what it was like growing up for both Regan and Luna. The way the novel’s narrative is set up, with present day happenings in regular print, flashbacks in italics, reads like cliché movie intros- you could almost see the blurry lines. They end up sounding disingenuous and unbelievable. Perhaps to make it less susceptible for banning, virtually no profanity is used in this novel which I feel is in direct contradiction to the characters we get to know. I felt the dialogue was often unrealistic, especially as it pertained to the characters.

Though this is an extremely important subject, and one that should be represented in the YA literary canon, I don’t think this was the best that Peters could do. However, I felt this book was primarily nominated for its controversial and unique subject matter: gender identity.

I’m not sure why- maybe just the official sounding capacity of it. When I hear Nation Book Award Finalist, my expectations are often higher than with most awards.

ISBN-978-0316011273.Īnalysis: I’m going to discuss subject matter, dialogue, characterization, narrative style and the perceived message of this title in this analysis.

Luna by julie anne peters