Shoot
the Moon,
by Billie Letts
When a Beverly Hills veterinarian arrives
in the small town of DeClare, Oklahoma, he has little idea that
his interest in finding his birth mother will lead him on a
trip into the past that will change his life forever. Shoot
the Moon is the engagingly well-told tale of a young man's
quest to find out who he is and what really cut his mother's
life so short.
While Shoot the Moon is not a road trip
book per se, I found it to be a wonderful accompaniment
on a trip I took recently. It's a story of personal odyssey,
and Billie Letts does a great job of taking her readers --
or, in this case, listeners -- on the same circuitous journey
her protagonist must follow to unearth his family secrets.
The characters he meets along the way range from a bullying
redneck sheriff and a femme fatale newscaster to a gay lawyer
and an enterprising woman who owns the local pool hall. All
are interesting, multi-faceted personalities that turn what
might easily have been an ordinary whodunit into a richly
textured novel.
Billie Letts' fine writing, so easy to enjoy
in book form, translates beautifully into a satisfying audio
experience. Lou Diamond Phillips deserves much of the credit
for his excellent narration. He brings each character -- and
there are quite a few -- to life with a distinct and credible
voice. He's able to do this equally effectively for male and
female characters, a talent I found remarkable. His Oklahoma
accents are right on the mark, too.
Shoot the Moon's premise, pacing,
and characters would have been enough for me to give it a
thumb's up, but it also has something I think is much rarer:
a satisfying ending. I often remind myself, when an author
fails to tie things up in a way that leaves me smiling, that
"getting there is all the fun." Shoot the Moon
not only kept my attention on a six-hour journey, it left
me very happy to have arrived.
Megan
10/17/04
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