If you鈥檙e going to write a novel, why not do as the title of Isa Ars茅n鈥檚 debut suggests? 鈥淪hoot the Moon鈥� refers to the actual act of getting astronauts to the lunar surface, but this work of fiction also attempts to shoot the moon like a fearless player in a Hearts card game 鈥� thematically, there鈥檚 bisexuality, loss, Daddy issues, and a unique wormhole that allows for some very specific time travel.
The bulk of the novel takes place in the late 1960s, as NASA is indeed trying to beat the Soviets to the moon. Annie Fisk is the lead character, a recent physics graduate whose father played a role developing the atomic bomb before dying young. By page five Annie is in love with an Apollo 11 astronaut named Norm she meets at a NASA Christmas party. And by page seven we鈥檝e gone backwards 18 years and 8-year-old Annie is meeting a like-aged stranger named Diana in the back garden of her childhood home in New Mexico.
The plot only gets trippier from there. In 1968, Annie really does discover a wormhole behind a bunch of computer power units at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. To say much more about where it leads and how she and Norm test it and what ultimately happens is to spoil the aha! moments of the book. The best parts are when things click into place as Ars茅n connects earlier scenes to later ones. There are times when the achronological nature of the story gets confusing and you may have to flip back a chapter or three to orient yourself, but perhaps that鈥檚 to be expected in a story involving time travel.
As for time, it鈥檚 Annie鈥檚 obsession. She either doesn鈥檛 have enough of it, or regrets what she鈥檚 already spent, or worries about the future. The wormhole makes her question the future because it repudiates everything she knows to be scientifically true, but it also helps her learn about her past. As one of her college professors puts it during a phone call about the anomaly she鈥檚 discovered in Houston: 鈥淭he greatest stunt reality ever pulled was convincing us there was any such thing as normal鈥� That鈥檚 the big secret, Annie: time goes on, agnostic of all our own mess, and it just keeps getting weirder.鈥�
This is a weird book, yes, but also a bold and unconventional love story. Ars茅n writes with real heart and certainly demonstrates talent as a storyteller. You can tell she cares for this character Annie she created, and readers should look forward to what she creates next.
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AP book reviews:
Rob Merrill, The Associated Press
