When the Moon Was Ours

I'm a trans guy, and culture is one of the most important things to me. When the Moon Was Ours - a book that shares the magic in culture and the trans experience - captured my heart. The writing style felt like hope, like maybe love is possible and good things can stay pure. I read the book in about four hours, it spoke to me that much. The ending is more abrupt than I would've liked and didn't feel very flushed out, which is why I'd say my rating is more like 4.75/5, but despite that I think it's a book tied directly to my soul and I'll be forever grateful it was written.

This is quite possible the most beautiful book I've ever read. I'm head over heals in love with the use of colours to describe almost everything! The realness of the story add to her magnificence. Reading felt like reading a poem, the writing style is one of my favourite! Absurdly happy I found this book!!
I've fallen in love, and I'm sure I'll fall again if I ever read it again. ❤️❤️

I received this book through netgalley. The following review is my own thoughts and opinions.

I requested this book some time ago and was quite interested in the story, yet I have had so many books to read and many other distractions that I forgot I had it. I only remembered when I saw the Teen Librarian at my public library reading it. I decided to move it ahead of other books in line so I could read what she was reading and also branch out from all the fantasy I've been reading lately.

I'm so happy I read this book. Was it my style? Definitely not. The writing is very flowery and beautiful, something I'm sure many people will love– and honestly it was an interesting change from what I'm used it.
I'm also not great with symbolism, but I think more qualified people will be able to explain the roses growing from Miel's wrist and what they mean.

This book was very pretty with its words and imagery. I felt swept away at times into this small town full of weird occurrences. Truly, a delight to read.

I also thought that the way the author wrote about transgenders, teens trying to understand themselves or who they are, as well as understanding the actions of others. There really is a lot here– even if I know I'm not understanding it all. Tears were soooo close to the brink of falling. This book is very emotional.

I do think this is a book that would be nice to talk about with other people to try and delve into meaning or try to understand what impact the book will leave behind.

To the boys who get called girls,the girls who get called boys,and those who live outside these words.To those called names, and those searching for names of their own.To those who live on the edges,and in the spaces in between.I wish for you every light in the sky.

When the dedication of a book makes you tear up, that's when you know it's going to be good. That's when you know it's going to become one of YOUR books. The ones that feel compatible with your very soul.

This wasn't just good, it was phenomenal. Enchanting writing swept me up in the story from the very beginning, pulling me out of my papasan chair and into the swell of a carved-out pumpkin, a rusty old water tower, a painted silver moon. If simple, straightforward sentences full of action are the way you like your books, this one probably isn't for you. But if you read for the feeling of words–for the way they wrap around you, caress your skin, scratch at your ribs and your heart–you'll love Anna-Marie McLemore's writing. She takes a concept and, rather than trying to make you understand the mechanics of it, she writes the senses–the touch-taste-smell-sight-sound of it. The atmosphere. The impression.

She builds characters from the inside out, the essence of a spirit existing before their appearance, or their gender, or their name. But those things are still deemed important. The way we present ourselves to the world, the secrets we keep and the lies and truths we tell, the labels we choose for ourselves–those things grow from the core of us, and they belong to us and us alone. They are a choice that only we can make, based on who we are in our minds, our guts, our hearts.

This is a book about personhood. It is about the power of words, and the power of the secrets that we hold close and protect. It is about those secrets and how we are never obligated to tell them, that they are ours to keep or share as we wish. It is about how when we do decide to share with the people that we love, we can discover the potential within ourselves to grow a rainbow of roses, or summon the glowing moon.

If this book doesn't win the Printz I'll eat my hat. Or someone's hat. I read it in one day. Incredible.