VENICE BEACH

In this novel, a teenager comes of age under the most turbulent family circumstances.

Charlie, aka Moon, is a 13-year-old boy running away from home at the beginning of Habeeb’s story. Not only is Moon fleeing his family, he is also reinventing himself with his new name. Prior to decreeing himself Moon, he was labeled a “loser, faggot, pussy, weirdo.” In choosing his own name, Moon acknowledges that “the moon and I had a lot in common: Bullied by meteors and space junk, the moon carried scars and bruises.” Moon leaves home and travels to Venice Beach in California for a plethora of reasons, including his abusive father and alcoholic mother. As Moon tries to survive on the streets, he is offered money and shelter in exchange for sex work, which he soon escapes when he lands at a shelter for adolescents. It is at the shelter that Moon meets Renata, a counselor who looks out for him and makes him feel safe and loved. But he soon begins to hang out with her son, Ben, who inadvertently introduces him to a drug dealer who solicits Moon to sell marijuana. It is only when Moon is finally able to admit to both Ben and Renata that he feels loved by them that he has the opportunity to change his life. Habeeb’s engaging novel skillfully explores the dark underbelly of growing up in an abusive household and trying to choose a new family. Moon’s early life experiences are full of trauma and pain. “When kids run away from home,” he reflects at the beginning of the book, “people try to find them and send them back. It apparently never occurs to them that kids run away for a reason, and because running away is difficult and scary that reason must be a damn good one.” The author deftly concocts an emotionally tumultuous narrative with an array of misfits and outcasts who come together out of both necessity and love. While the story can sometimes seem a bit overwhelmed by hardship and misfortune, Habeeb expertly balances Moon’s various crises with sincere connections between the main characters. Readers will root for the hero’s success and safety.

An engrossing tale about fighting for survival and finding love.