This was a beautiful, touching story, told through the letters of a young girl. Luna will quickly find her way into your heart, with her innocence and deep feelings, as she tries to cope with everything life throws at her. Getting to know her, and the people who touched her life through her writing, made for a story that was difficult to put down. This book certainly isn't for everyone, but if you're looking for a wonderful, emotional coming of age story then you'll want to pick this one up. ( )

4.5 My last book of 2020. I finished this last night with a big sigh. What a beautifully written, endearing story. Luna, now 22, looks back at her twelve year old self when he and her mother had moved from Norway to Washington DC. She writes her thoughts, observations in a series of letters to a father she never knew. She is lonely, but also thoughtful, curious and sees things other don't. Realizes, questions and discovers things many, years older never manage. She first observes and then meets a neighbor, an older man, a Vietnam war get, who will come to mean much in her life.

A special book and light will be recurring motifs in this heartwarming novel. It does have a melancholy tone but ends with a poignant and hopeful note. The writing is gorgeous, the prose, the lines a joy to read. A wonderful book to end a very unsettled year.

"And he said that we can all let light enter into us, become us. He said it was a bit like eating sunshine."

"This is all he asks of you, that you live and respond to his grace in the here and now." ( )

Thank you to the author for an advance copy of this book and thank you to Goodreads friend Elyse for telling me about this book and introducing me to the author.

I loved a lot about this book.

The writing is lovely and poetic and at times almost like stream of consciousness of Luna’s thoughts and feelings and did a fabulous job of conveying Luna’s experience.

This book covers a gamut of emotions. At times it is heart wrenching but it’s also heartwarming. There is wonderful humor. There were several times that I laughed out loud and many other times that I smiled. The situation with Luna’s mother and with her father too tore at my heart and the sense of immediacy is so strong since the reader is getting all the impressions directly from Luna.

I enjoy child narrators and 12 year old Luna is a wonderful, perspicacious narrator. She’s a perfect mix of being wise and being innocent. I love her thoughtful, introspective nature and her ability to be discerning. She’s observant of her environment and herself and other people both other kids and especially adults. I appreciate and admire how she greatly cares about having deep, genuine relationships.

Luna reminded me of how I experienced nature as a child. Those parts were lovely. The “air swimming” I remember from my dreams. The trees. The sea. Everything.

Luna is an endearing character.

I love some of the other characters too. Garrick in particular is memorable and now one of my favorite characters in literature. I adore him.

I appreciated how loss was gotten across, for a sensitive child, including at times a rush of feelings and times of numbness, and how those feelings and lack thereof can persist. I thought that was portrayed realistically and in a psychologically sound way.

I liked the inclusion of what I call walking meditation into this story.

Most of what I liked less, the philosophical and spiritual aspects, I suspect most people will like more than I did. I think that most people do consider themselves spiritual in some ways and have beliefs I do not have and those portions did not resonate with me but I think will with most readers. The philosophy I found interesting but I didn’t personally identify with it. The man and his writing were mentioned so often that I made a point of looking up Jacques Lusseyran. He was a fascinating man with an riveting story. I’m not sure I like having him and his beliefs be at the heart of a novel, but I admit it made for a unique and a fascinating way to help tell the story. The novel seemed a tad too philosophy heavy to me though. Also, for me the ending was in some ways too easily wrapped up and in some ways not wrapped up as much as I’d wanted. Overall I guess it was satisfying enough.

I did really like the book. It’s an unusual book and I like books that are a bit different. ( )