Review of The Moon Without Stars on friendship and the price of popularity — Cyprus Mail

In Cyprus, Cyprus Mail published Simon Demetriou’s review of Chanel Miller’s young adult novel The Moon Without Stars. The reviewer believes the book addresses the themes of school hierarchy, friendship, the role of literature and the temptation of popularity, but ultimately does not fully realise its premise.

Luna and books for classmates

The novel’s protagonist, Luna Noon, is not among the popular students and spends time with her friend Scott. After Scott makes a gravestone for a classmate’s dead guinea pig, and Kyle trips over it and breaks his ankle, Scott becomes a target of bullying.

Luna receives the library of a deceased classmate and becomes a “book doctor”: she selects books that can help her peers with their problems and insecurities. Together with Scott, she also founds a zine publishing house — small self-published editions intended to support others.

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Popularity changes the heroine

In the plot, Luna is drawn in by June, whom the reviewer calls the queen of the popular students. She uses Luna’s writing abilities to create “fix-its” — malicious lists of other people’s flaws presented as a manifestation of honesty and a desire for self-improvement. Luna grows distant from Scott, abandons the book work and zines, and changes for the worse.

Demetriou notes that the heroine eventually recognises her mistakes and begins rebuilding her relationship with Scott. At the same time, in his view, this resolution seems insufficient, while the subsequent development of the story makes the novel predictable. The reviewer stresses that the book is not weak, but it could have been stronger fiction if it had relied less on the conventions of young adult literature.