Moon Unit Zappa

In the tradition of Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died, Moon Unit Zappa, daughter of musician Frank and his ex-groupie wife Gail, shares her story of parental incompetence and neglect in this heartbreaking memoir.

Moon, as she was usually called, was the sensitive eldest daughter of this ill-matched couple. All she wanted was a loving family, but her fondest wishes did not come true. Mom Gail felt ignored by her avoidant, unfaithful husband and took her verbal aggressions out on her show more four children. The Zappa household was chaotic even by 1960s-1970s Hollywood standards, and Moon was left to essentially parent herself. She grew up to be, in her own words, "a people-pleasing doormat," with bad skin and little sense of self-worth. Even Moon's moment in the spotlight as the voice of the "Valley Girl" in her father's novelty hit of the same name was fraught with humiliation and exploitation.

In the introduction, Moon assures the reader that one of her aims is to "entertain," but there is nothing entertaining about this distressing narrative. Instead, it is a cautionary tale about the long-lasting effects of damaged people producing children they have no idea how to raise.

I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way. show less

So, I'm one of those Gen X girls who remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing the first time they heard "Valley Girl." From that moment on, Moon Unit Zappa was a larger-than-life daughter of a famous rock musician. The fact that I still have never heard a single song Frank Zappa has recorded (other than "Valley Girl") did absolutely nothing to dissuade me from believing her to be the brilliant, fabulous person I always imagined.
When I saw her recent memoir, I knew I would show more have to read it. Born two years before me, we grew up in the same time period, enjoying the same types of music and crushing on the same celebrities.
A-a-a-nd... that's where the similarities end. My goodness!
Moon said that her name is the perfect description of her--reflecting the light shown upon her, with no light of her own. (By the time I was not even halfway through the book, I knew that she most certainly had amazing light within her--though it took her until recent years to see that light within herself.)
Detailing her childhood and the many things about it that made growing up Zappa so very unique, I was so completely impressed with how well she remembers things from way back into her early years. Right off the bat, she mentions that she was gifted a journal every year for Christmas, beginning at age 5. And she was clearly very faithful to writing in that journal, documenting conversations and emotions and wild events (very few mundane moments, from what I could tell). It's obvious to me that her journaling not only built her into the fabulous writer that she is, but it was also very likely the one thing that truly kept her grounded and level-headed amongst the chaos she was living in.
I hope to read more of Moon's work, and I hope that she continues to produce such amazing art. show less

While I was never a fan of Frank Zappa, his genius was evident in his music. I do recommend listening to the audio which is read by Moon Unit Zappa. While it did take me awhile to become vested in this book, once I was able to listen while on a long car trip, it was hard to stop listening! Her parents, Frank and Gail, may have been extremely talented people, but, they certainly were not good parents. A fascinating look back into the 70s and 80s. Recommended!

An unflinching look at growing up in Frank Zappa's chaotic shadow, the memoir is a funny and poignant tale of survival