The Moonday Letters

I enjoyed reading The Moonday Letters in the beginning, but ultimately it didn’t come together for me in a satisfying way. My rating dropped the closer I got to the end. For example, I began to get annoyed after several instances when the narrator gave a clear explanation of something while she was stating that it could not be explained in words. I sometimes have an experience watching a film or reading a book where the beauty just stops time, has me transfixed, lasts an eternity. I had this experience of awe while reading The Moonday Letters, and it is worth a read for this alone. I had a similar experience most recently (and more frequently) while reading Station Eleven, while watching In the Mood for Love, and while gazing at a star strewn sky on a lightless night. Don’t believe the blurb - those expecting a romance have been disappointed. There is love in The Moonday Letters, but it is more elegiac than passionate, exploring various kinds of grief and homesickness, loss and longing. “What do you think of when you think of home?” "We carry within us every home, including those that no longer exist, so we'd have somewhere to return to" “Grief is an animal you can never quite tame.” The English audiobook is probably best at conveying the emotion of the novel. Some have found the visual text oddly cold. But Xe Sands’ performance makes the anguish plain throughout the novel, when Lumi is barely holding it together, and writing to distract herself from worry and absence. Interesting trivia: in latin Lumi means light and Sol is the Sun.