The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks

Saturday, June 13th, 2009 | Posted in: Our Books

Edward, a young Minnesotan, is blessed with an abundance of “experience”–first when his mother dies and next when his father, an encyclopedia salesman, shoehorns Edward into a private boys school where he’s tortured and groomed.

Edward needs a place in the universe, but he wants an understanding of women. He stumbles into romance in high school, careens through dorm life in college, whirls into a tornado of love problems as a mini-mart owner in a trailer park in Alabama, and aims for a film career in Los Angeles.

In nine chapters, the reader experiences Edward’s life from ages 14 to 45. This is the first novel from Christopher Meeks, which follows his highly acclaimed collections of short stories, The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons. Author and humorist Sandra Tsing Loh has said, “Christopher Meeks’s quirky stories are lyrical and wonderfully human. Enjoy.”

Carmela Ciuraru wrote in the Los Angeles Times Book Review of Meeks’s first book, “This idea resonates throughout the collection: Meeks’s characters seek happiness in the small things because they have no choice … [The stories] are poignant and wise, sympathetic to the everyday struggles these characters face.”

Buy it from the Backword Bookshop.