Undressing the Moon (T. Greenwood)

It's a whole new year, so it's a new begining(: (although personally, I'm rather afraid of this year, since I have my IB exams). Anyway, I was really racking my brain about what to review (because I was rereading an old not so recent book), and then, I found a book that I'd borrowed from Aunty Florence and forgot to read, which is great, because I wanted to start the first post of this year with a new book.

Anyway, Undressing the Moon is about a 30 year old women struggling with breast cancer, and her reflection on the "fateful summer" when she was fourteen. That summer (which is interspersed with details of her present life) was when her mom left, afterwhich her dad was in a physically abusive relationship with someone else, and she got into a relationship with her teacher. Complicated stuff.

I don't really see the connection between the title and the content, since one of the reccurent ideas is that of her mom and her finding pieces of broken glass. I suppose it's possible to say that one of the themes would be brokeness and repairing (although that really doesn't sound literary). But there are always titles that don't connect with the plot, although my sneaking suspicion is that it's because I just can't see the connection well enough.

Another thing I found interesting about the book would be closure, or the lack of it. The protagonist never really re-connects with her dad, or her mom, or even her teacher (even though she toyed with that idea). So in this sense, the book is atypical to me, since I'd have expected that she would be re-united with her family. But in the end, she does find a sense of peace (from, I suppose, the reflection about that summer that she did), even though she's going to die.

I found this book very thoughtful, and there was a good twist at the end, believable and interesting. It's a good reflection on life, and what it means to be family.