Maggot Moon
Ratings5
Average rating3.8
A 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book In Sally Gardner’s stunning novel, set in a ruthless regime, an unlikely teenager risks all to expose the truth about a heralded moon landing. What if the football hadn’t gone over the wall. On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn’t want anyone to know. But Standish Treadwell — who has different-colored eyes, who can’t read, can’t write, Standish Treadwell isn’t bright — sees things differently than the rest of the “train-track thinkers.” So when Standish and his only friend and neighbor, Hector, make their way to the other side of the wall, they see what the Motherland has been hiding. And it’s big...One hundred very short chapters, told in an utterly original first-person voice, propel readers through a narrative that is by turns gripping and darkly humorous, bleak and chilling, tender and transporting.
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Maggot Moon is different from anything I've read before. I don't even know how to label it. Historical dystopia, maybe? I'm not sure ‘alternate history' does it, although it is an alternate history of some sort, set in an universe which took obvious inspiration from Nazi Germany and Orwell's 1984. It's a beautiful, touching story—as disturbing as it is moving, with compelling characters and unique prose.
I was way into this, despite my noted dystopia fatigue. The short chapters and POV of a dyslexic character are appealing to reluctant readers, including adults who are reluctant to read another dystopia, I guess. It kept me turning the pages for sure.
I've read some reviews complaining about how vague the worldbuilding was, but I actually really liked that. But I also can't stand it when fantasy books come with maps of fake places, so, that's me.
distopic moon landing alternative -past. dyslexic/ non-neural-typical boy (15) delightful language. illustration elements in the text.
