Moonglow

Moonglow, is the newest novel written by Michael Chabon.  This book takes us on a ficticious  journey that follows Chabon's family story starting with his Grandfather's life as a young man.

Moonglow is written in quite an unusal style.  The narrator writes in the first person and only refers to his grandfather as grandfather, not really naming him until quite far into the book. He refers to his mother also by just her title, mother, and not her name.  It is not until near the end of the book where he talks about an uncle named Sam Chabon, and a family company called, Chabon Scientific So as a reader you keep wondering how biographical this book really is.

The story takes place at the end of his grandfather's life and uses the style of flashbacks and rememberences to fill in the plot.  His grandfather is living out the last days of his life in the author's mother's home.  The author and narrator has come home for a last visit with his grandfather.  As his grandfather reminisces he tells stories about parts of his life he has never revealed before.

In his storytelling he also uncovers secrets about his wife that were never discussed in the family  before.  The narrator's grandmother had been a victim and survivor of the Second World War.  The grandfather had been an American soldier who helped fight at the end of the war and liberate some of the concentration camps in Europe.  The grandfather has always been very interested and involved with the United States space program.  He has built model rockets and watched every space launch.  He talks about the involvement of German scientists who were able to escape Germany after the war and become apart of the US space program.

"I’m disappointed in myself. In my life. All my life, everything I tried, I only got halfway there. You try to take advantage of the time you have. That’s what they tell you to do. But when you’re old, you look back and you see all you did with all that time is waste it. All you have is a story of things you never started or couldn’t finish. Things you fought with all your heart to build that didn’t last or fought with all your heart to get rid of and they’re all still around. I’m ashamed of myself.” These are the words of the narrator's grandfather, as he lies on his death bed talking to his grandson.  He is telling stories of his life and revealing the family secrets that have been kept during his lifetime.

This was an interesting family story.  Maybe writing your family history as fiction is a good way to take a family story give it the ending you the way you would really want it to turn out.  You can listen to the stories you relatives tell and recreate the facts to make it all end positively.