The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon: A Novel

On his podcast, Sherman Alexie mentioned Tom Spanbauer's novel to be a good depiction of Native Americans written by a white author. Along with this resounding compliment Spanbauer also manages to present a completely different take on the American West. The importance of relationships, honesty and community in a harsh and racist landscape is profoundly articulated in this novel where the pace circles but never ceases to engage the reader. The voice of Shed, guiding the reader through his world of Excellent, Idaho is distinct, funny and insightful.

You know how people talk about what they'd grab & run with if their home caught on fire? Well, I have a cluster of books that hold enough sentimental value for me that they'd be part of the box of things (along with photo albums & pics) I'd attempt to save. This book is one of them.

It was given to me by a gay High School friend in the 90's who had just discovered he was HIV (he is still alive today, thankfully). Outside of the sheer sentimental value it holds for me, it is one of the best released/written in modern day stories I've ever read. The setting isn't modern day however... This is part of what makes it so rich. The fictionalized plausible historical setting. As the author's website states: 'The Man Who Fell in Love with the show more Moon is an American epic of the old West for our own times...'

This book is magical in the lushly, unique characters, the impossible but semi-true to life setting (Idaho), the 'outside the norms' sexual perimeters, and pulls the reader in so magically that you are heart-broken and smitten half the time you're reading it. I cried a lot while first reading this book. The author poured his heart into it and it was easy to see how he arrived at the title. A title I love equally as much as the book.

His great feat? Tackling the most unlikely of love stories in the most bizarre but tender and fierce of ways. This book stole my heart at times, and luckily, I've never wanted it back since. Thank you Tom! show less

Oh, how I wanted to love this book. I truly did.

Over the years, it’s been highly recommended to me by writers whose work I admire and readers whose taste I trust. It has garnered glowing reviews from the NY Times, Washington Post Book World, Publishers Weekly and New York magazine, among many other well respected publications.

I almost feel badly about just how much I don’t like it.

I’ll start with what’s good. The writing is carefully composed and stylish. The narrative voice is distinctive. And the protagonists are all depicted as fairly fascinating and singular individuals. Plus there’s an element of mystery that kept me mildly absorbed until the end.

Unfortunately however, author Tom Spanbauer falls victim to many of the show more tropes of contemporary gay fiction and film. The book was published in 1991, suggesting that it was probably written in the late 1980’s, during the height of the Reagan presidency which gave rise to gay rage over the influence of the Christian right and the GOP’s steadfast refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of the AIDS crisis. I am all too familiar with the sub-genre of "transgressional" LGBT books/movies, including Greg Araki’s The Living End and James Robert Baker’s Tim and Pete, that depict angry gay men exacting revenge on conservatives, homophobes and haters of all stripes. Despite the fact that Spanbauer’s novel takes a different route, I can see the hallmarks of that same frustration on every page.

Nothing impedes my enjoyment of a story more than when I clearly detect the proselytizing voice of the author. If I’m reading your novel, it’s likely I’m already gay-friendly; I don’t need a sermon. The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon is peppered with all the stereotypical messages that one can find anywhere from Glee to Latter Days to Lady Gaga videos - your family is something you choose, racism and homophobia are bad, free love is good, etc. Nothing wrong with any of these sentiments, it’s just that Spanbauer is way too obvious about it and in short order it becomes pretty tiresome.

He throws in everything (and everyone) but the kitchen sink in an effort to prove his inclusiveness. Every ethnicity, disability and gender preference is represented - a Jewish brothel owner, her lesbian lover, impoverished Native Americans, a traveling troupe of black minstrels (one of whom is a blind eunuch), an incestuous bisexual cowboy, an autistic mute, plus a handful of beleaguered beasts. And, to illustrate their acceptance of one another’s differences, just about everyone beds down with everyone else at some point or another. It all just kind of stretched the bounds of plausibility. Not to mention the bizarre suggestion that sexual energy is all powerful and healing, so the creepy remedy for someone who’s dying of gangrene is to get naked and dry hump them. Only a man could think this stuff up. Honestly.

And don’t even get me started on the villains! All the usual suspects - an overfed, latently homosexual sheriff, corrupt politicians, a big businessman intent on despoiling the environment for personal gain and, of course, judgmental [and presumably, sexually repressed] Mormons. No complexity. Just a bunch of cartoonish Snively Whiplash types.

All in all, I found the book to be overly simplistic, completely lacking in subtlety and downright preachy. show less

This was richly emotional and full of life. It is the life story of a half Native American boy raised by an imperious prostitute, he is looking to understand the world and his place in it. 'Out-There-In-The-Shed' or just 'Shed' grows up a bisexual prostitute (it was fascinating how all the gay sex had to happen out in the shed) interpreting childhood events through a game he calls 'killdeer' in which he compares people's behaviour to the way a bird will pretend to be injured to lure predators from its nest.

It has racism, bisexuality, Indian mythology, love, craziness and Mormons and I'm not sure how I feel about it at all. Glad I went there.

Spanbauer ranks up there with Kesey among my favorite Oregon novelists. Reading this book was an incredible, visceral experience. The language is coarse poetry and themes are magically realistic, erotic, personal and historical.

"A crazy story about crazy people told by a crazy. Should only make you wonder."

Out-In-The-Shed, usually shortened simply to Shed, is just one of the many names held by the narrator of this story. He shares his "human being story" as well as the human being stories of those closest to him: Ida Richilieu, proprietress of the Indian Head Hotel. Alma Hatch, bird-woman and sought-after whore. Dellwood Barker, cowboy and lover. While much of the book is about Shed's search to understand himself, it is also about much more. It is about race and hatred, religion and hypocrisy, sex and sexuality, life and death, family and love.

As a bit of a warning, there is quite a bit of tragedy lurking in this book. Although it was expected (readers are show more told virtually at the beginning that it ends bad), I found myself hoping over and again that it wouldn't. There is plenty of life in this novel, but ultimately it is not a happy one.

I will admit that the writing style, which was very colloquial, took me some time to get used to, and the very very ending didn't really seem to work very well. However, this is one of the best books I've read in a while, even if it's difficult for me to identify exactly what made this so. But, despite its flaws, I really, really enjoyed it.

Experiments in Reading show less

Daring and provocative. Love that about this book. Also slow and uneven in parts.