The Man Whose Wife Was The Moon by Mike Russell

 

A lovely tale. A charming tale. A sweet tale.

However, Mike Russell's The Man Whose Wife Was The Moon contains a number of hard edges, such as police officers clubbing women protestors and the tale's main character being dragged off to the psychiatric wing of a detention and correction facility.

But such an enjoyable read - I read it three times in two days. And it's a short novel - an hour or two is all you'll need to finish.

So, we have main character Arthur Hart, a young astronomer who tells us he has two loves - Molly, his wife, and the moon.

Again, a sweet delightful story where what happens next is always a surprise. As not to spoil a reader's discoveries, I'll shift to a batch of The Man Whose Wife Was The Moon themes and highlights:

Time and Place - As something of a switch, Mike Russell actually locates his story in a specific time and a specific place: Washington DC in 1969, beginning on June 29 and ending on July 27.

The Landing - If this time frame has a vaguely familiar ring, it's because July 16, 1969 was the date Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic landing in Apollo 11 on the Moon.

The Feminine, One - Robert Bly speaks of the tyranny of patriarchal monotheistic cultures such as our own Western culture, where what is good and pure and divine tends to be male and what comes from nature is negative, chaotic and destructive. And since women are so closely aligned with nature and fertility, guess where all this leaves them.

The Feminine, Two - During his lecture at a junior high school, Arthur Hart tells everyone, "Within some of us, the masculine principle is more dominant; within some of us, the feminine principle is more dominant. But both exist within us all. The feminine principle that exists within us all is receptive, sensitive, intuitive, creative..." Meanwhile, the school's principle, a gruff, hard-talking, no nonsense kind of guy, shakes his head and glowers at Arthur.

The Moon - In myth and legion, the lunar is closely associated with women. To give but one example, the new moon, the crescent moon, the full moon and the waning moon all have their corresponding phase within a woman's menstrual cycle. At times Arthur will conflate Molly and the Moon, which turn out to be among the most humorous parts of the novel.

The Pills - The 1960s, the heyday of LSD and other mind-altering drugs. There was actually a time when the American CIA conducted tests with LSD, giving the drug to unsuspecting subjects. Picking up on these historic happenings, Mike Russell has a doctor at a mental facility force Arthur to take a small spherical yellow pill. Any guesses how this pill administered by a male doctor in a male dominated society will alter Arthur's mind and heart? Arthur might even admit all his past stuff about the feminine and the moon and Molly proves he was insane. But fear not - other forces are at play in Mike's novel.

Treat yourself to The Man Whose Wife Was The Moon. You might gaze at the sky with more wonderment than you ever thought possible.


British author Mike Russell, born 1973