CI 5442: Multicultural Response

Julie Anne Peters’ novel Luna completely blew me away! I was curious to see how she would broach such a controversial topic with both sensitivity and insight and she exceeded my expectations. The book not only allowed readers to see a transgender teenager for who she really was but also to sympathize with the difficulties such a young person would—and do—face. I thought the entire novel was well written and if it helped me to understand the trials of being a transgender individual, then I think it could help others do the same.

I thought Peters’ choice of narrator for Luna was the perfect fit. Regan is the sole confidant for Liam (aka, Luna). She does the best she can to protect her sister and works hard to ensure that she is safe both at home and out in public. The secret creates a very special bond between them. By using Regan as the narrator, Peters is not trying to understand the emotions of someone who feels they were given the wrong body; instead, she is presenting the struggles through the eyes of a caring and understanding relation. Another important aspect in creating this narrator is the ability to illustrate the effects Liam’s transgender beliefs on family and friends in a more explicit way.

Both Liam and Regan have their own struggles in life. Liam is living a lie and Regan is not even really living. Each of them is hiding who they really are and neither of them believes that they are worth much in the world. Liam is Luna’s “Boy role” (6) and Regan has an “invisibility shield” (25) that she employs. Regan notes, “We were both disembodied hollows” (25). The difference between them is that Liam is willing to put Luna out there and Regan is forcibly dragged out into the real world. Fortunately, both of them find someone who is able to coax them forward and help them with the transition from their hidden lives—Teri Lynn and Chris.

Teri Lynn is the inspiration and motivating force for Liam to become Luna permanently to all those around her. The pain this causes Luna and Regan is immense. Luna struggles with ridicule and disgust from those around her while Regan must deal with both the reactions of others and the strain those reactions place on her life as well as her sisters. She has to deal with the embarrassment and uncertainty of how others will treat her because of Luna. I thought it was great to see the excitement and transformation of Luna after finding and communicating with Teri Lynn. It only serves to emphasize the importance of community and belonging; once Luna has someone with whom she can belong, her life opens up and she is confident enough to announce herself to the world.

Chris was perhaps my favorite character in the novel--Luna and Regan were great but Chris was hilarious. He was sincere and charmingly clumsy. I was nervous that he would end up hurting Regan in some way, but I was relieved when he ended up being someone that Regan could trust and turn to. Although she doesn’t feel comfortable with him or talking to him about the tangled circumstances of her life, he teaches her to put down her invisibility shield and branch out. Together they are an awkward mess, but somehow they work things out. The two of them had me laughing out loud throughout the entire book and I could sympathize with their teenage behavior.

The most fascinating part of the story was the tenuous yet indestructible relationship between Luna and Regan. Regan both loves and loathes her brother in a typical teenage angst-filled passion. Regan claims, “It’s always about my brother. My brother was a black hole in my universe. He was sucking the life right out of me” (117). A short time later, she remembers that he saved her from being abducted by a stranger, “Liam’s so needy now, I thought, I’m forgetting all the times I needed him. He’s always been there for me. Always” (128). She feels used and then she feels it is her duty to protect Luna; she can’t bear to be around him and face the humiliation of coming out, and she can’t imagine him leaving her. In the end, both of them want to be accepted for who they are—idealized versions they see in each other. Luna tells Regan, “Don’t you know, you’re the girl I always wanted to be” (246) right before she leaves for Seattle. In doing this—striking out into the real world—Luna is opening up both of their worlds; “All at once the weight of the world dissolved and I felt myself expand, grow. The same way Luna must feel to be free, I realized. She’d freed us both” (248).

The book was entertaining, emotional, heartbreaking, hopeful, and enlightening all at the same time. Peters is able to take a difficult topic and make it accessible for readers. I knew very little about this topic and I have been in a difficult situation with a group of people who weren’t able to empathize with transgender individuals. I think this book is a great way to provide readers with insight into a different personal lifestyle and to help them sympathize with the characters. I also think this book would be a great resource for readers who are transgender themselves—just as Teri Lynn helped Luna be comfortable with who she was, I think this book could help others accept and respond confidently to their own feelings. I loved this book—couldn’t put it down—and I would recommend it to anyone.