Review: Luke's Journey
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 17, 2013
The main characters in Perigee Moon were complex, especially Luke. From the start of the book, Luke is passive, looking for someone to tell him what to do, and along comes Kate, to do just that. Kate is completely self-centered, a diva for whom everyone else in the world is a supporting actor, there to serve her. She decides that Luke belongs to her, and so he does.During the time that Kate controls his life, Luke is generally likeable, even if I'd have liked to slap some sense into him occasionally. Eventually, on the date of a Perigee moon, Luke realizes he must break away from Kate. As Luke starts to gain independence, I begin to see some troubling characteristics. His dark views sometimes become almost obsessive. In one scene, his landlady has invited him to a dinner party. He sees her nicely decorated kitchen and asks her to redo his (on his half of the duplex) and she agrees. Then he uses a paper towel and goes into a rant about a decorative quote on it and the dye polluting the environment, apparently neither realizing the irony of demanding a perfectly functional kitchen be redone to make it pretty and then condemning the paper towel manufacturer for doing the same, nor the rudeness of criticizing his hostess's buying habits. I began to feel he was almost as self-centered as Kate at one point.Then there's Abby. She is a truly kind person. She had opinions and ways of looking at things, but never imposes her views on others. Her natural tendencies are to be helpful, kind, and positive. She changes the whole tone of the story.Perigee Moon is a well-told story of Luke's life and how his character matures and grows.