Customer Reviews

Phases of the Moon

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We take classes at college to have our eyes opened and Julia Watts made my Appalachian lit class worth its tuition. Phases of the Moon is her "serious piece of literature" I guess as it seems to have won awards and stuff. It certainly deserves them. Glenda Mooney is a 50s rockabilly artist and a lesbian working class woman. She is forced to cope with the tenuousness of stardom when she has a child by the King of Rock, the pseudonymous Xagus Peavely (I love Watts's names, I might write a paper about them).

As with all of Watts's books it features great humor (the funniest woman writing today?) and subtly drawn characterizations (though she kills her Little Richard character too soon). I wouldn't start here, but you'll want them all anyway.

After I read Piece of my Heart, i had to find another Julia Watts book. This book is about finding ones self through love, music, friendships, and pain. Glenda Mooney is one fiesty person who has no idea about life beyond the coal mines, but finds out that it isn't what she dreamed it would be...or is it? The true friendships with some of the characters is what made this book a true romance.

This book had been recommended to me and I didn't think I'd like it, but it strikes me as one of the best written and most accurate books about the women who made rockabilly music in the 1950s. I thought it was beautifully done and Glenda Mooney is one of the most real characters in all of recent literature. I can't wait to read Watts's other books.

I love it! This is the second book I picked up by Julia Watts and she hasn't let me down yet. Being a gay male some might say its kind of odd to be reading a lesbian genre book but this one is for everyone. I love the way Ms Watt's crafts the characters. I think everyone can relate to Lilly, being put into a tough situation and doing what you can to get out. I can't wait for her next one.

Julia Watts has written a funny and intelligent book about the early days of rock music, life in Appalachia, and coming to terms with being "a member of the family." A fantastic read for anyone concerned with any of those three topics. Watts is a writer to be reckoned with. Expect big things from her for a long time.

First of all, thank you Bella Books for reissuing this classic in e-book format so a young'un like me can experience it on my Kindle and not have to wait days on end for a paperback copy to arrive via snail mail!

Now that I've got that out of the way, "Phases of the Moon" is a tour-de-force by Julia Watts! The first-person POV narration and the use of southern hillbilly vernacular was pitch-perfect and made the story come to life in such a vivid way, I couldn't put it down.

I'm not ordinarily a fan of stories in Appalachia-type settings, nor historical lesbian novels taking place during the 1950s because often the female characters are drawn in very stark butch/femme roles and, unfortunately, very one dimensional. Although these characterizations appear to be fairly true to life based on documentaries I have watched, I dislike reading romance novels with this type of central couple. Until "Phases" the only other pleasant exception to this rule I've read had been Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt. Like Highsmith, Watts draws fully-realized characters, transcending standard cardboard cutout era stereotypes, all the while still able to illustrate the butch/femme dynamic and the lesbian underground lifestyle of the 1950s without hitting us over the head with scenes of bull dykes in speakeasy-type places dressing and acting like Marlon Brando. She uses real-life period characters in supporting roles in order to better define the period to nice effect, but changes their names (hilariously as another reviewer has noted) for copyright reasons, I suppose.

My absolute favorite part of this thoroughly enjoyable novel has to be the last quarter or so (as evidenced by my review's title), but the story must be taken as a whole to fully appreciate this portion. Many of the reviewers have remarked on Watts' humor, which is very evident during this portion of the book.

Overall, "Phases of the Moon" is a wonderfully realistic but also romanticized romp through lesbian life in the 1950s, very much in the vein of Forrest Gump (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition). Go watch a documentary or read Lee Lynch if you want something with more of the angst, fears, and prejudices that women "in the life" back then endured on a daily basis. But pick up "Phases" for a wonderful yarn that'll warm your heart and make you laugh out loud!

I guess its the fact that im only 21 that I couldn't follow Phases of the Moon as I could some of Watt's other novels. The story is written from an excellent vantage point. Rather than it being told like a story from a third, invisible person, its written as though the character in the story is speaking to you directly. Although written about the fifties I was able to follow throughout the book Glenda's absolutly heartwarming personality. A good woman who did the best she could for her son. Yet another excellent Julia Watts novel.

I'm sorry to say, but I was very disappointed. I have a read and have all of Julie Watts's books in my library and was looking forward to reading "Phases of the Moon". I continued to read hoping that there would be some build up to a climax but it remained very stale. No build up and no climax not to her normal standards. Historically it may have been right on but not entertaining.