Keeping the Moon

With her mom away on business in Europe (she’s a diet/fitness guru), self-esteem challenged Colie is sent to stay with her eccentric and ostracized aunt for the summer, where Colie discovers the warm glow of friendship and the joys of a boy who isn’t her “type,” while she attempts to navigate the difficult path of bullies and how to become more comfortable in her own skin.

I liked that while the book addresses that physical changes like weight loss, make-up, a new hair color, etc., can help you feel superficially better about yourself (which is no small thing), at the same time, the book acknowledges that self-worth, the wounds and the healing of those wounds run deeper than appearance. I also thought it was realistic to show show more that there isn’t some one size fits all means of dealing with/conquering the hold bullies have on you, for every person like Isabel who needs to verbally fight back to feel empowered, there’s someone like Aunt Mira, who feels more empowered by turning the other cheek and reveling in her otherness rather than waste energy defending it. I liked that neither stance is presented as stronger or weaker, just what feels right for that individual.

Speaking of Aunt Mira, both she and Colie’s mom have had such interesting life journeys that I found myself wanting to get to know them better, wanting a few more scenes of each with Colie, and really wishing I’d seen their sisterhood and its undoubted complexities in action, but I am an adult reader so that’s probably in part why I was drawn to them where understandably the actual teen audience for this book might not have been, plus obviously it makes sense for a YA novel that’s kind of on the shorter side to keep the focus mostly on the YA characters.

There’s a little bit of romance in this one though the book doesn’t spend a ton of time on it which I found smart since Colie had some work to do on herself and if she’d spent the whole book mooning over a boy I’m not sure that work would have been convincingly accomplished. Colie and her guy shared a sweet chemistry by the end and I enjoyed that he’s a bit different from the stereotypical high school quarterback or bad boy who are so often the go-to love interest in contemporary stories (not that I dislike those, it’s just refreshing to switch things up every now and then).

The friendships in this one were also presented slightly differently. Rather than bond with girls her own age, Colie is taken under the wings of her two co-workers at a diner. Isabel and Morgan, waitresses in their early twenties were both fully fleshed out characters, I felt like I had such a solid understanding of who they are and why they do and say the things they do, the rocky moments and the loving moments between them felt authentic, and that, along with the way they welcome Colie into their fold, provided much of the heart in Keeping The Moon. show less

I really like this book. That said...

I'm a little surprised hearing Sarah Dessen say that in order to have worth and be accepted by society, you need to Be Conventionally Pretty. Colie (who, I swear, every time I saw her name in print, I temporarily misread it as "Colic") begins the summer a bit of an ugly duckling, having deliberately changed her looks to reflect the illness she feels in her spirit. Her black hair dye is unflattering and patchy, some people find her lip ring revolting, and she hasn't got a clue how to put on make up. Her mother is so busy helping the world feel better that she just doesn't get, or even worse completely ignores, her daughter's well-being. If Colie's ever had a friend it hasn't been for long, and she's show more now gotten to that point in school where if you don't have a built-in cadre of girlfriends, you're going to be very alone and awkward, and generally despised by the rest of the world, for the next half dozen years. There are Caroline Daweses and Bea Willamsons everywhere, my dear, and they aren't going to go away. Trust me Colie, I get it, I developed the same social radar you did, but at least you have Morgan and Isabel to get you over the worst speedbumps.

So tall, bony, independent-minded Isabel takes Colie over, fixes her hair, introduces her to Chick Night (complete with green face mask), and gives her the basic lessons she needs. Shoulders back. Smile. It's all in your brain already. Stand up for yourself. You deserve the respect of others and if you respect yourself first the rest of the world will follow suit. This last is probably the hardest for both Colie and I to learn. So used to being dumped on by everyone else, we become convinced that we do not deserve the respect of others, much less of ourselves. Isabel convinces Colie to leave out the lip ring for one night, but at the end of the night Colie quietly slips it back in; I think it is her way of rejecting the shallow world of Caroline Dawes and Bea Williamson. It's her little nod to artistic Mira and Norman, whose eclectic artistic lives she has a few qualms about embracing.

Now to the scene that bothers me most, Colie's first visit to the Last Chance Cafe. This is also her (and our) first introduction to Morgan and Isabel. Morgan is described as a tall bony girl, and Isabel as a curvy blonde. Morgan ends up quitting (apparently she does this two or three times a week) in order to storm out after a group of businessmen who left a crummy tip, but they've "just left" so she comes back in and puts her apron back on. Through Morgan's whole fit, Isabel sits calmly and takes Colie's to-go order. I had to go back to this scene this morning and write descriptions of the characters on a post-it to remind me which character was which in this scene, since I feel like it so mis-pegs these two important characters. I get the impression from the rest of the book that it should be ISABEL storming around and not taking guff from anybody and MORGAN passively sitting there while the storm rages.

Also, I feel like the physical descriptions of Morgan and Isabel should be reversed, with Morgan curvy and Isabel tall and bony. My reasons are twofold: Isabel's explanation for Morgan staying with skeezy Mark all this time is that she's afraid no one else will love her and tell her she's pretty. In my experience, this is a side-effect of being not conventionally pretty. Tall, bony blondes do not usually exhibit this fear; curvaceous women with a history such as the one Isabel and Colie share are usually the ones who cling to bad boyfriends because they're afraid no one else will love them. So that was my first reason. Reason 2 is that when Isabel confronts Caroline Dawes, Caroline shrinks back the way "pretty girls do at girls who are much prettier." If it is generally accepted that Isabel is prettier than Caroline Dawes, who is skinny and dark-haired, then Isabel can not be curvaceous; a skinny, popular girl like Caroline would never recognize Isabel as prettier than herself if she were not of supermodel good-looks: tall, bony, and blonde, which is apparently Morgan's look. It's confusing and it doesn't jive with me. It's a small but surprising lapse on Dessen's part; she's usually so spot-on about teenage social customs and dynamics.

Okay, all of these complaints, and I still gave Keeping the Moon 5 stars?! Yes. I really wish we could give half-stars on this site, but we can't, so I rounded the 4.5 up to 5. My only complaints are the two I just sketched out in the above paragraph. But Dessen really hits the nail on the head, and I wish I had had Keeping the Moon when I was 15. Unfortunately, I didn't. show less

Colie has never fit in. First, it was because she was fat and she and her mom lived a pretty nomadic lifestyle. Later, when her mom became an aerobics guru and Colie lost the weight, a rumour leads to an unfair reputation. So when she's sent off to spend her summer with her eccentric aunt in North Carolina she doesn't have high expectations. But after falling into a job at the Last Chance, a local restaurant, she meets best friends, Isabel and Morgan who help her find the person she actually is.

Dessen excels at the coming of age during summer vacation story. Colie has serious self-esteem issues that only a fifteen year old can, augmented by her experiences of always being the new and fat kid and then the later rumours that come from the show more cruelness of other teenage girls. However, despite these issues, she never comes across as whiny, rather scarred and just desperately trying to survive. In reading the novel, while the plot holds no surprises, you are pulled through by watching Colie's growth as a person. The book shows its age a bit with references to Walkman and the Columbia House CD subscription, but the narrative itself is ageless. My only problem was that the boy Colie develops a crush on is eighteen years old, and the gap between them felt big enough to be a bit creepy to me. Three years in your twenties is nothing, but three years in your teens is huge. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and following Colie as she found herself. show less

There is something intensely readable about Sarah Dessen. This is the third book I've read by her in just over a week, and I still find myself hungry for more. Since her books deal around the concepts of relationships and identity and are aimed at teen girls, her female protagonists are all a little uncomfortable, uncertain in their skin. This makes them extremely easy to identify with and also to empathise with. Any young girl who is feeling a little fat, a little clumsy, a little unlikeable, could learn a bit from her books, and this one in particular. The banter between Isabelle and Morgan is hilarious - they scrap like siblings, but are really best friends, and as older role-models, work well for Nicole, especially the somewhat show more forthright Isabel (warning: some bad language). And the stuff with Norman (Norman Norman, not Cat Norman) was sweet. I also loved the stuff with her somewhat eccentric Aunt. It is good to see a character that is far from perfect, and subjected to the occasional mockery from others, but is able to look beyond that and be comfortable with themselves.

A quick and easy read with some heart-warming moments that I pretty much devoured in one sitting. I can understand why Dessen keeps winning teen awards. I wish I'd had books like this when I was an uncomfortable, confused teen. Then maybe I wouldn't have felt so alone. show less

Colie still sees herself as the fat, friendless, girl who is always relocating and constantly being teased. But, now, her mother is off motivating others to lose the weight her and Colie lost and Colie is forced to stay with her aunt in Colby, a small town in North Carolina. She finds herself faced with an assortment of brave, and slightly odd, people. With the help of her co-workers at her new waitressing job Colie learns to see the beauty in herself and to let go of the past.

I love this book. It's a great summer read. It's quick and has great characters and the scenes and situations grab you. Colie struggles with her image of herself, but it's not irritating. Sometimes characters will have too much self pity, but Colie is more show more subtle. Sarah Dessen can write about serious situations and show how the characters aren't constantly thinking about it, and that the small things shape our lives, too.

Everything is odd. The characters are the oddest. They had strange habits and said strange things and were surrounded by strange objects, and they were kind of random, too. They were the kind of people you'll stare at in wonder. When Norman was first descriped I thought "Really? He's going to be the main guy?", but now I am very fond of Norman. He's so odd, but not as odd as Mira. I have a fondness for her, too. It helps that she makes cards like I do! I knew Isabel would be an interesting character, and she was. Her and Morgan were exactly what Colie needed. They all were. I loved watching Colie grow and I like the person she became.

When I read a book by Sarah Dessen I'll sometimes get to a point where I wonder where a character dissapeared to and on the next page the character is there! She knows exactly when they're needed. Her books are balanced with what is needed to keep the reader happy and with plausible substance. The word "perfect" comes to my mind when I read her books. show less

I'm usually not a fan of Dessen's earlier novels just because the voice seems to be very different from the novels I know and love from her but this story was super cute and touching. Colie's growth as a person and character was slow building but lovely. She transforms into the butterfly she was always hoping to be and I loved how Morgan and Isabel help. Those two girls were a great addition to the story and I loved the drama they added to the story.

Dessen always has a beautiful way of portraying love, especially first love and I felt that Dessen did it once again with the love between Colie and Norman as well as Morgan and the cheating rat bastard.

I just enjoyed the characters and loved how everyone grew. I wish that there was more show more about what happened to Colie when she went back home and how her summer changed her relationship with her mother, for the better, but I guess Dessen wanted to leave those thoughts to us. Either way, I'm so glad I gave this book a chance because it was just what I needed. A quick little escape with some good friends and some romance! show less

Pages: 228
Release Date: May 11th, 2004 (First published September 1st, 1999)
Date Read: 2011, August 30th-31st
Received: Own
Rating: 4/5 stars
Recommended to: 16+

Summary -
Welcome to the life of Colie Sparks - once a fattie, daughter of a world-famous workout instructor, and bored for the summer. She has to stay with her (eccentric) aunt, an aunt who doesn't exactly fit into her small town of Colby, NC. But what Colie finds in Colby is more than she expected, and it may change her life forever.

My thoughts -
This is a book about belonging. It's about Cats and Normans, grilled chicken salads, sympathy cards, and sunglasses. It's about friendships and laughter and growing up. It was full of real life, great happenings in a small town, and rising show more above.

It was surprising to me to discover just how inspiring it was. It had me laughing out loud the entire time, except the times when I was boiling over with anger at the mean girls or holding back tears at the sweet parts. But mostly, I was laughing. It had me from the first page. I began to love it all, including the writing (which was really good), and especially the dialogue. This is all especially surprising to me since I thought I'd never read a Dessen book (or a contemporary fiction). But after reading a few rave reviews from my dear friend Laura @ A Work of Fiction, and found this copy for $1.00, I knew it was about time. What a great way to start!

Character notes -
Every person in this book, from page 1 to page 228, is defined. Perfectly imperfect. I was so pleased by this! Colie, with all her baggage she's holding onto; Norman, with all his funny, hippie ways; Mira, the eccentric relative. Morgan and Isabel, besties who love each other unconditionally despite their hilarious and sometimes hard differences. Bea Williamson, the town gossip, the ruler of all social standings (in her small, pathetic world). There was even Cat Norman (as opposed to Norman Norman), who is by far the most fascinating and hilarious cat I've ever come across.

These characters had me laughing out loud and gaining strange glances fro my family. They made my heart pound, my blood boil, and my eyes grow wide. There was no end to the realness of them all. I related to both Colie (I've never been a skinny girl, and I know what it's like to be "new") and Morgan (my drama is ridiculous sometimes). They all inspired me, though. Even Isabel with her bad attitude and Morgan with her constant quitting. Because who's perfect? Not me, that's for sure, and not these characters. And that's what makes them so incredibly epic.

Story notes -
I wrapped myself in this story as I would in a bright beach towel after a day in the water. It took me about four hours, and by the end I was warm, dry, and basking in sunshine.

It really is a great story. It had the conflict in the beginning, things are hard, Colie doesn't understand, she's hurting, she wants to belong. Then things lighten up; laughs are shared, lessons are learned. But darkness threatens to swallow up the happiness. I loved even those dark scenes, when everything looks grim and depressed. But they help each other, encourage, serve and love, and together the break through the shadow and into the moonlight. Sometimes it takes listening to Gloria Gaynor and dancing like a freak, or sitting for a painter for hours and hours. Sometimes, it just takes a simple word of encouragement. But no matter how it happens - the darkness is brushed aside, life is reborn, and the story goes on. There is no "the end". No, this is only the beginning.

Summing it up -
Encouraging. A lovely read, no matter who you are or where you are, with characters that inspire and a story that rocks and a depth I was not expecting. Put it on your list; you will enjoy it!

For the parents -
Brief strong language (GD, B, and a handful of minor cuss words). A few extremely nondescript kisses. Some references to what highschoolers do to others when they hate them. One girl is called some rude nicknames (Hole in One, Slut, etc.). one stupid man is said to have cheated on his fiancee, married the girl he cheated on, got her pregnant, and was still dating his fiancee! :/ Recommended 16+ show less