Saturday, July 08, 2006

Please Don't Come Back from the Moon by Dean Bakopoulos

In Maple Rock, a working class suburb of Detroit, all the men "go to the moon." One by one they simply disappear into the night, leaving their wives and their sons and their daughters. No messages are left. No trace of them can be found. How Michael Smolij and his friends evolve without their fathers is the story of Please Don't Come Back from the Moon by Dean Bakopoulos.

I was hooked reading the mysterious first chapter. Michael is only seventeen, and the void his father leaves needs to be filled. The young man, of course, is not really ready to become a reliable adult and stumbles for years in his attempts to find vocation and commitment. His friends struggle, too, while their mothers actually seem eventually to thrive.

I do not want to give away the story. I will say that it is never predictable and I began to hope several of the characters could overcome their problems. I also enjoyed Bakopoulos' descriptions of the evolving suburb with its bars, old houses, trailer communities, and new shopping mall. I recommend it to readers who like offbeat fiction.

Bakopoulos, Dean. Please Don't Come Back from the Moon. Orlando: Harcourt Inc., 2005. ISBN 0151011354

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Rick,

Glad to see your mention of Please Don't Come Back From the Book. This was on our list as one of the 2006 Michigan Notable Books & I just loved it.

Dan Trabue said...

So, did they really go to the moon?

Anonymous said...

Dear Dan,

You'll have to read the book to find out if they go to the moon.... but boy, this book convinces you that they do in every metaphorical and realistic sense of that phrase.