Title: The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon Author: Tom Spanbauer Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1991 ISBN: 0-87113-468-3 [hardcover, 355 pages]
The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon is told in a voice so unusual, winning, and wise that you will believe every word of it.The voice is that of 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 the proprietress of this outrageously pink whorehouse, and she along with the beautiful Alma Hatch, Damn Dave and his Damn Dog, and the apothecary Dr. Ah Fong make up the core of Shed's eccentric family.
But Shed must leave this home to set off alone across the hauntingly evoked plains in search of the meaning of his Indian name, his people, a sense of identity. Along the way he meets Dellwood Barker, who initiates him into the sexual mysteries of the Wild Moon Man, and the old Indian Owlfeather, who has much to teach him as well. But it is not until Shed is back in Excellent -- not until the tragedy of the Wisdom Brothers, not until Ida has lost her legs, Dellwood his mind, and Alma her life -- that Shed attains the wisdom that infuses his exceptional and captivating book.
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