The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon [Paperback]

Tom Spanbauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 1992

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon  is an American epic of the old West for our own times -- a novel huge in its imaginative scope and daring in its themes. The narrator is Shed, or Duivichi-un-Dua, a half-breed bisexual boy who makes his living at the Indian Head Hotel in the little turn-of-the-century town of Excellent, Idaho. The imperious Ida Richilieu is Shed's employer, the town's mayor and the mistress, and the mistress and owner of this outrageously pink whorehouse. Together with the beautiful prostitute Alma Hatch, and the philosophical, green-eyed, half-crazy cowboy Dellwood Barker, this collection of misfits and outcasts make up the core of Shed's eccentric family. And although laced with the ugliness and cruelty of the frontier West -- Shed is raped by the same man who then murders the woman he thinks is his mother, and the Mormon townspeople bring a fiery end to Ida's raucous way of life -- the love and acceptance that tie this family together provide the true heart of this novel. The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon  is a beautifully told, mythic tale that is as well a profound meditation on sexualty,race and man's relationship to himself and the natural world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Haunting and earthy, this deeply felt tale of love and loss is told by Shed, a half-breed bisexual Indian. In the 1880s, Shed, only a boy, is raped at gunpoint by the man who then murders his mother; he is then raised by Ida Richilieu--prostitute, mayor of Excellent, Idaho, proprietress of a hotel/whorehouse painted pink. Under Ida's tutelage, Shed becomes a berdache , or holy male prostitute, and makes love to resident hooker Alma Hatch, a former Bible saleswoman. Leaving home to seek the meaning of his Indian name, he becomes friend and lover of Montana rancher Dellwood Barker, who converses with the moon and may well be his father. Returning to Idaho, the two men join Ida and Alma in an odd extended family involving various sexual liaisons. Then the four black Wisdom brothers come to town: after Ida defends them against racist Mormons, ensuing events cause Dellwood to lose his marbles, Ida to lose her legs and Shed to lose his innocence as he discovers his true identity. Spanbauer ( Far Away Places ) fuses raunchy dialogue, pathos, local color, heartbreak and a serious investigation of racism in this stunning narrative.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Spanbauer's second novel (the first was Faraway Places, Putnam, 1988) is the bittersweet story of a boy growing up with hard-drinking whores and assorted misfits at the end of Idaho's gold rush. Although his real name is Duivichi-un-Dua, he is also known as Shed. At times, Shed isn't sure who is crazier: the God-fearing citizens of his hometown Excellent, or his adopted family of whores and their admirers at the Indian Head Hotel. Other times, being half Indian, half white, and bisexual makes Shed crazy too. But Shed has a special strength he calls "killdeer," his own code of trust and self-preservation. Crazy or not, Shed tells what he calls his "human-being story" in a true and honest voice. Spanbauer's masterful plot is delightfully unpredictable and compelling. However, some readers may be offended by the unbridled sexuality of his characters. Recommended for large fiction collections.
- Janet W. Reit, Univ. of Vermont Lib., Burlington
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (September 9, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060974974
• ISBN-13: 978-0060974978
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Native America as You Never Knew It, June 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon: A Novel (Hardcover)

One recurring argument about this book is that it misrepresents some or all aspects of Native American history, philosophy, or culture. Quite the opposite: It epitomizes it.

I am Cheyenne myself, and perhaps being "raised white" caused me to return and research my roots much more carefully than if I had been raised within my own tribe. Spanbauer's character "Shed" is a much truer depiction of an Indian than is found in most popular fiction. Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee scratch the surface, sometimes delving deeply into the Indian mind, but Shed provides a look at the Indian soul.

To Shed, that that is is. His experience is his teacher, and it always tells the truth. The key is to observe his use of the word "killdeer," referring to a bird which will lure a predator away from the bird's nest by pretending to be wounded (an easy kill); when far enough away, the killdeer bird will fly off, leaving the tricked predator lost, confused, and hungry. Shed sees killdeer everywhere--traps, lures, illusions. The greatest illusion of all is to deny what is real, to deny emotions, to deny love--whatever its form.

Spanbauer's book is rampantly, wickedly sexual, including myriad instances of male homosexuality. "Not true," say the puritanical readers; "the cowboys weren't [politically incorrect term for "gay" here]." Wrong again, and history is proving it so with many writings about the great open prarie days. Spanbauer writes openly about experience as it is, not as it has been "laundered" in our history books. For those who doubt the concepts in Native America, go look up the term "berdache" and get back to me.

Spanbauer's book is as truly Indian and as truly spiritual as the greatly touted (and superlative beyond description) book Seven Arrows, by H. Storm. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a great read, a brilliant narrative, a peek at the spiritual side of Native America, or just a terrific laugh over! the marvelously bawdy story of Ida Richelleu's bright pink whorehouse. Read, and believe your experience.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Without Moves Moves we are nothing", September 6, 2003

By 

A. Hickman (Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon (Paperback)

This may be the most remarkable novel I've ever read. And one of the most original. Oh, there are echoes of other great books, such as "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" (other reviewers have mentioned "Little Big Man") but Tom Spanbauer's vision is unique: his subject is nothing less than the American identity, our dreams of reinvention and assilimilation, our fears and illusions, and the "human-being story" that is unique to each of us. Shed (tribal name Duivichi-un-Dua) begins life as the son as Buffalo Sweets, an Indian prostitute in the employ of Ida Richelieu, purveyor of Ida's Place, in Excellent, Idaho, a backwater in transition from frontier town to Morman community sometime at the beginning of the 20th century. When Billy Blizzard, who has been Ida's lover since he was thirteen, goes crazy, raping Shed and killing his mother, Shed goes to work for Ida as a male prostitute who lives "out-in-the-shed." But when Alma Hatch, ex-Bible salesman and exotic dancer, pays to sleep with Shed, he panics and leaves town in search of his own identity. That's when he meets Dellwood Barker, the Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon. And that's only the beginning of this incredible story, which eventually brings Shed full circle to Excellent, where he, Dellwood, Ida, and Alma form a family ("better than any Morman family" and briefly to include a traveling troop of "authentic Negro" minstrels) that tests them all in ways they could never have imagined. As John Donne said of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales": "here is God's plenty." With "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon," Spanbauer has earned a special place in American letters. I can think of no book since "Moby Dick" that offers such a vivid mosaic of American life, and no book so profound in its understanding of the human condition. This one goes beyond cult; it's a classic for all time.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wordcraft at its most lyrical and moving, March 21, 2003

By 

pjmittal (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon: A Novel (Paperback)

If I could give this novel 6 stars out of 5--no--*all* the stars in existence, I would. It's hard not to gush over work so perfect, so absolutely involving, so breathtakingly written as this. The wordcraft is exquisite--rich and ripe with the most unusual and stirring of metaphors. It manages that almost impossible balance between philosophy and reality, dream and grit, sex and magic. It's perfect.

'Shed' (whose name has other connotations) is on a search for his father. He finds him--and, in the form of his father, also discovers his teacher and his lover. His journey takes him across a landscape of strange beauty, filled with questions about the nature of love, sexuality, violence, cruelty and empathy. The minor characters are incredibly memorable as well--each one so *complete* that you will easily be carried forth into their world(s)--interspersed with irresistable laughter and grief. Shed's father/lover/friend is so exquisitely crafted, and such a strange and wonderful soul, that you will find yourself as much in love with him as Shed is.

I cannot say enough good things about this novel. This review feels inadequate. I can only insist that you read it NOW, right NOW, because when you do come across it, you'll be kicking yourself that you didn't pick it up earlier. (Yes, that's what I spent much of my time doing before gathering enough of my wits to write this review.) And even now I'm itching to go back and re-read it.

Perhaps the closest comparison is to 'Alice in Wonderland'--for Shed's journey is as delightfully absurd, by turns tragic and hilarious, and as surreal, as Alice's. One might almost say he is a modern, truly liberated version of Alice. But make no mistake. In the apparent absurdity of his journey, he discovers some achingly beautiful truths... each one profound. You will find yourself itching to quote these truths it to your friends--but the pity is, of course, that the entire *book* is quotable--so you'll have to spend hours running around getting them to *read* the thing themselves, as I am doing.