Finding Moon
Tony Hillerman is famous for his mystery novels set mostly among the Navaho, but he wrote two others that are not: Fly on the Wall about corruption in state government and Finding Moon about Vietnam and Cambodia.
I’ve been rereading Finding Moon, and I’m trying to decide whether it’s just a book that I like a lot because the main character is a middle-aged editor, or whether it’s truly a great work of literature. I’m leaning toward the latter.
The book takes place after the US had pulled its troops out of South Vietnam, just before the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese took over the country and the wildly demented Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia.
‘Moon’ Mathias, managing editor of Morning Press Register in Durance, Colorado, has recently learned that his younger brother Ricky has been killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam. Ricky had been in the army, but had stayed on after his enlistment to run a private helicopter repair company.
Moon (who got his name from a predeliction for moon pies in his youth) hears that his mother has had a heart attack at the airport in Los Angeles, which is kind of strange because she lives in Miami. Turns out she was on her way to the Philippines to pick up Ricky’s daughter whom no one knew about before she heard from a lawyer in Manilla. She calls on Moon to complete the mission.
But because of the deteriorating situation in Southeast Asia, the child has not reached Manilla as planned and Moon has to go after her in Cambodia.
It’s a really exciting story, as well as a journey of self-discovery for Moon (hence the title) and it really shows off Hillerman’s skill as a writer. Not many mystery writers have been able to jump the fence into the category of great literature, but with this book, I really think Hillerman has been able to make the leap. But that might be just because I’m a fellow middle-aged editor.
January 14, 2011 @ 4:11 pm
My Dad, Tony Hillerman, had great affection for “Finding Moon” and sometimes referred to it as his favorite of his books. I originally wanted to include quotes from it and photos of Vietnam in my book,”Tony Hillerman’s Landscape” but the editor convinced me to stay with the Chee/Leaphorn series. I think it would have been wonderful to have juxtaposed that lush green landscape with scene Dad depicted in our beautiful Southwest. Thanks for your insights.
January 18, 2011 @ 12:08 am
Dear Anne,
I’m definitely going to get a copy of your book. I have read every book your father wrote, many several times. All his characters seem to stand up and take on a life of their own, especially Leaphorn and Chee. But both times I read Finding Moon I felt this enormous uplifting feeling, as if an oriental doctor had somehow taken the knots out of my “chi”. Thanks so much for your comment.