You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
GINNY MOON
By Benjamin Ludwig
My rating: * * * *
Every now and then I find myself needing to read a novel slightly out of my comfort zone, to have a brief break from the crime, thrillers and psychological thrillers that I usually read. This book was the one that I chose for my crime / thriller intermission. This is the story of Ginny Moon, a 14 year old autistic girl who has been recently adopted by her Forever Family. The problem is that Ginny feels she's needed elsewhere and that she belongs somewhere else, and she's going to do her best to get back there. This story is written in the first person and from Ginny's point of view, which makes it a very different read. There were times when I loved Ginny and her quirky character and then other times when I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and give her a shake. But at the end of the day, I really loved this story and Ginny herself. If you are a reader who likes your novels dark, twisty and "adult", then this won't necessarily be a novel for you. But if you enjoyed novels like "Only Child", "Eleanor Olifant" and those types of reads, then I think you'll enjoy this one. I really enjoyed it and it gave me the break that I needed.
By Benjamin Ludwig
My rating: * * * *
Every now and then I find myself needing to read a novel slightly out of my comfort zone, to have a brief break from the crime, thrillers and psychological thrillers that I usually read. This book was the one that I chose for my crime / thriller intermission. This is the story of Ginny Moon, a 14 year old autistic girl who has been recently adopted by her Forever Family. The problem is that Ginny feels she's needed elsewhere and that she belongs somewhere else, and she's going to do her best to get back there. This story is written in the first person and from Ginny's point of view, which makes it a very different read. There were times when I loved Ginny and her quirky character and then other times when I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and give her a shake. But at the end of the day, I really loved this story and Ginny herself. If you are a reader who likes your novels dark, twisty and "adult", then this won't necessarily be a novel for you. But if you enjoyed novels like "Only Child", "Eleanor Olifant" and those types of reads, then I think you'll enjoy this one. I really enjoyed it and it gave me the break that I needed.
This is a very hard review for me to write. Many of my reading friends who have tastes similar to mine *loved* this book, so if you are considering this book, I'd urge you to read reviews other than mine for some other perspectives. I'll explain why this book didn't really work for me.
Ginny Moon is a 14-year old autistic girl who is living at her third "forever" home after being removed from her neglectful birth mother (note: there is some insinuation of other abuse). The story is largely told from her point of view, in the way that she would speak. Ginny is trying to make sense of a world that rarely makes sense, and that hasn't really been good to her. She wants to do the right thing -- sometimes she knows how to do that, and other times she does not.
Here are a few issues I had with the book:
1) A major plot point (and significant part of the book) deals with Ginny trying to communicate something to the adults in her life (her "forever" parents, teachers, social worker, police, etc.) over the course of many years. They do not understand what she is trying to say, and dismiss her pleas. Even though I initially didn't know what she was attempting to communicate, I kept saying to myself, "For Godsakes, people! Would you *please* just go and...(not putting this in because it would be a spoiler)" It just didn't seem realistic at all to me that she would be ignored by so many people for so many years, and yet the plot was contingent on this.
2) Related to the above, but also an issue in its own right, was the repetitveness of the book. To borrow a phrase from Ginny, it is "tedious." We hear the story from Ginny's point of view, and I believe the author is perhaps trying to be authentic to the way some people with autism would communicate. We quite literally hear the same words and phrases over, and over, and over again. I think listening to this on audio made it particularly grating (I am still in the phase where my own children say "Mom!" "approximately, not exactly" 8 billion times per day. I turn to audio books for an escape. This book was not an escape.)
Ginny Moon is a 14-year old autistic girl who is living at her third "forever" home after being removed from her neglectful birth mother (note: there is some insinuation of other abuse). The story is largely told from her point of view, in the way that she would speak. Ginny is trying to make sense of a world that rarely makes sense, and that hasn't really been good to her. She wants to do the right thing -- sometimes she knows how to do that, and other times she does not.
Here are a few issues I had with the book:
1) A major plot point (and significant part of the book) deals with Ginny trying to communicate something to the adults in her life (her "forever" parents, teachers, social worker, police, etc.) over the course of many years. They do not understand what she is trying to say, and dismiss her pleas. Even though I initially didn't know what she was attempting to communicate, I kept saying to myself, "For Godsakes, people! Would you *please* just go and...(not putting this in because it would be a spoiler)" It just didn't seem realistic at all to me that she would be ignored by so many people for so many years, and yet the plot was contingent on this.
2) Related to the above, but also an issue in its own right, was the repetitveness of the book. To borrow a phrase from Ginny, it is "tedious." We hear the story from Ginny's point of view, and I believe the author is perhaps trying to be authentic to the way some people with autism would communicate. We quite literally hear the same words and phrases over, and over, and over again. I think listening to this on audio made it particularly grating (I am still in the phase where my own children say "Mom!" "approximately, not exactly" 8 billion times per day. I turn to audio books for an escape. This book was not an escape.)
This was a well written account of an autistic girl who was in the care of a very unfit mother and then adopted into a forever family who thought they couldn't have kids.
Then they got pregnant and now all sorts of things come up.
Ginny is 14 and is having a hard time forgetting her "baby doll" since she took very good care of her when she lived with Wendy, her mother. Ginny lived with her mother until she was 9 and practically emaciated and abused. She vaguely remembers this but she is stuck on wanting her baby doll and will do anything to get it, including contacting her mother on Facebook even though she's not supposed to have any contact with her. Her forever parents are doing as best of a job as they can- but Ginny is very trying and as a reader I wanted to scream JUST STOP THIS CRAP!!! but as I read and got more into Ginny's world and the story unfolded I started to understand.
This can probably be somewhat compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, maybe not as profound but just as meaningful and interesting about children who are a little different but very special.
Then they got pregnant and now all sorts of things come up.
Ginny is 14 and is having a hard time forgetting her "baby doll" since she took very good care of her when she lived with Wendy, her mother. Ginny lived with her mother until she was 9 and practically emaciated and abused. She vaguely remembers this but she is stuck on wanting her baby doll and will do anything to get it, including contacting her mother on Facebook even though she's not supposed to have any contact with her. Her forever parents are doing as best of a job as they can- but Ginny is very trying and as a reader I wanted to scream JUST STOP THIS CRAP!!! but as I read and got more into Ginny's world and the story unfolded I started to understand.
This can probably be somewhat compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, maybe not as profound but just as meaningful and interesting about children who are a little different but very special.
This review, and many more, are available on my blog Girl About Library!
This book is one that grabbed me right away because of the description and the reviews. "Meet Ginny. She’s fourteen, autistic, and has a heart-breaking secret… Ginny Moon is trying to make sense of a world that just doesn’t seem to add up…." I had to know what Ginny's secret was, and I was really intrigued by the idea of an autistic narrator- while there have been a couple of well known books from that perspective, I haven't read a book like this before and wanted to see how that might work as a narrative choice.
Great perspective
From the start this book's perspective grabbed my attention, Ginny is autistic and it was both refreshing and challenging ( see more about this in the "Things I Struggled With" section) to read a book from such a unique perspective. Generally this is a sub genre that I really enjoy - a child narrator who doesn't quite understand what is going on, such as in "Room "by Emma Donoghue (which I loved!) In a similar way, this story has emotional weight and complexity because it is from a child's perspective. As intrigued as I was, I was also anxious starting this book. I am not familiar with very many autistic people, and I feared that Ginny's autism would be a poorly used plot device - thankfully that was not my experience with this book *at all*. Ginny's story and the narrative choices of the author were given extra weight, in my opinion, by the fact that in the acknowledgements the author mentions that he and his wife adopted a teenager with autism. Reading this book, it is both clear and important that the author has such a hands on experience with someone experiencing the same symptoms as Ginny.
Heartbreakingly frustrating
The emotion that I couldn't shake after reading when I would step away from this book was complete and total frustration that just made my heart ache. Reading I felt frustration for every character in the story. Of course for Ginny, but also for her adoptive parents, and then for the school workers, and her counselors, her classmates. It is undoubtedly frustrating at times to raise or assist someone with autism, and the author did a good job of showing how and why that happens. But more frequently during this book, that feeling was not directed at Ginny, but towards a system, and our our human nature, that seemed to constantly be working against her. I wanted even more from this part of the book. I wanted more of an understanding of how the adult characters- particularly her adoptive parents who were raising someone with autism that they adopted in a particularly difficult situation, but because the story is told through Ginny's eyes, we only really get the feelings that they openly say aloud.
Things I Struggled With
As I said at the beginning of the post, while I was initially drawn to reading this book because of my interest in an autistic narrator, ultimately it was challenging to read a book from her perspective. I had a hard time getting into "Ginny Moon" because of the narrative voice. I felt this way also with "Room" at times. In both cases, it was a brilliant choice by the author to have the child be the narrator. It certainly makes for a more interesting read and a more challenging book to write as well - but as a reader, it is hard to balance what I can acknowledge as deft choices by the author and my own desires as a reader. I had to work pretty hard sometimes to get into the book at the beginning. However once I was into the story, I would say for the last third of the book, I had a hard time putting it down! Otherwise I really enjoyed "Ginny Moon" and had few moments where reading it felt like a struggle.
This book is one that grabbed me right away because of the description and the reviews. "Meet Ginny. She’s fourteen, autistic, and has a heart-breaking secret… Ginny Moon is trying to make sense of a world that just doesn’t seem to add up…." I had to know what Ginny's secret was, and I was really intrigued by the idea of an autistic narrator- while there have been a couple of well known books from that perspective, I haven't read a book like this before and wanted to see how that might work as a narrative choice.
Great perspective
From the start this book's perspective grabbed my attention, Ginny is autistic and it was both refreshing and challenging ( see more about this in the "Things I Struggled With" section) to read a book from such a unique perspective. Generally this is a sub genre that I really enjoy - a child narrator who doesn't quite understand what is going on, such as in "Room "by Emma Donoghue (which I loved!) In a similar way, this story has emotional weight and complexity because it is from a child's perspective. As intrigued as I was, I was also anxious starting this book. I am not familiar with very many autistic people, and I feared that Ginny's autism would be a poorly used plot device - thankfully that was not my experience with this book *at all*. Ginny's story and the narrative choices of the author were given extra weight, in my opinion, by the fact that in the acknowledgements the author mentions that he and his wife adopted a teenager with autism. Reading this book, it is both clear and important that the author has such a hands on experience with someone experiencing the same symptoms as Ginny.
Heartbreakingly frustrating
The emotion that I couldn't shake after reading when I would step away from this book was complete and total frustration that just made my heart ache. Reading I felt frustration for every character in the story. Of course for Ginny, but also for her adoptive parents, and then for the school workers, and her counselors, her classmates. It is undoubtedly frustrating at times to raise or assist someone with autism, and the author did a good job of showing how and why that happens. But more frequently during this book, that feeling was not directed at Ginny, but towards a system, and our our human nature, that seemed to constantly be working against her. I wanted even more from this part of the book. I wanted more of an understanding of how the adult characters- particularly her adoptive parents who were raising someone with autism that they adopted in a particularly difficult situation, but because the story is told through Ginny's eyes, we only really get the feelings that they openly say aloud.
Things I Struggled With
As I said at the beginning of the post, while I was initially drawn to reading this book because of my interest in an autistic narrator, ultimately it was challenging to read a book from her perspective. I had a hard time getting into "Ginny Moon" because of the narrative voice. I felt this way also with "Room" at times. In both cases, it was a brilliant choice by the author to have the child be the narrator. It certainly makes for a more interesting read and a more challenging book to write as well - but as a reader, it is hard to balance what I can acknowledge as deft choices by the author and my own desires as a reader. I had to work pretty hard sometimes to get into the book at the beginning. However once I was into the story, I would say for the last third of the book, I had a hard time putting it down! Otherwise I really enjoyed "Ginny Moon" and had few moments where reading it felt like a struggle.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think the reason I like this book is because Ginny’s voice is so strong. She jumps out of the page and feels like a real person.
The whole plot is basically… People hear her but they’re not fully understanding her, and they don’t understand what she doesn’t understand partly because it’s hard for her to explain but also partly because maybe they’re not asking the right questions because they’ve made their own conclusions already.
And just because it’s really frustrating doesn’t mean it isn’t very human, or that it isn’t realistic. It is human to make assumptions. It’s realistic for things to be a mess.
I don’t know. I enjoy it. It’s a sad and frustrating book, but it’s frustrating because it makes you care. You want to know what happens. You want to know how it ends.
The whole plot is basically… People hear her but they’re not fully understanding her, and they don’t understand what she doesn’t understand partly because it’s hard for her to explain but also partly because maybe they’re not asking the right questions because they’ve made their own conclusions already.
And just because it’s really frustrating doesn’t mean it isn’t very human, or that it isn’t realistic. It is human to make assumptions. It’s realistic for things to be a mess.
I don’t know. I enjoy it. It’s a sad and frustrating book, but it’s frustrating because it makes you care. You want to know what happens. You want to know how it ends.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse
Minor: Sexual violence
3.5 stars. Fascinating read, but could have been shorter. Was looking for more depth and I had a difficult time connecting with any of the characters. Easy read, but not my favorite.
The adults in this book drove me bananas. From a weird and never-acknowledged breach of confidentiality on the part of the social workers, to the social worker trying to convince Ginny that her asshole “forever mom” was the best she was going to do, I was really frustrated by a lot of the characters and by the plot. But the reason it gets three stars rather than two is that the author made me care enough about Ginny that I a) finished the book and b) cared that the adults were mistreating her. Had she been a less believable and likeable character the crap behaviour of the other characters might have bothered me less and the whole book would have been less interesting.
Ludwig’s debut novel could be called The Curious Case of Why Ginny Wants to Get Back to Her Birth Mother. Ginny is an autistic 13-year-old, living with her third set of “Forever Parents” but obsessed with getting back to her birth mother, even five years after she was removed from her. Her concern for her Baby Doll, left behind, baffles all of the adults around her. I felt like Ludwig did an excellent job helping us delve into the mind of Ginny and how she functioned. For me, a major Highly Sensitive Peron, I got very nervous about the book, though. There is high potential for super-sad disaster, and after reading [b:The Light Between Oceans|13158800|The Light Between Oceans|M.L. Stedman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336683021s/13158800.jpg|18337340] I was a little scared to keep reading. It made me nervous right up to the end, but I won’t forget Ginny soon. I listened to this on audio, and the narrator did an excellent job with it, too.
Oh my goodness Ginny Moon has a special piece of my heart. I’m currently pursuing a career in Special Education and after reading this book, I feel like I’m on the right path. My heart was with her the whole time and I just wanted someone to listen and understand her. A beautiful and thought provoking story!
It got a teensy tiny bit drawn out the last 50 or so pages, but nonetheless an awesome look at autism in a teenager and parents who adopt.
I really, really did not like Maura the adoptive mother one bit. And God help me, I tried.
I do wonder if the author meant to make her likeable or not.
I really, really did not like Maura the adoptive mother one bit. And God help me, I tried.
I do wonder if the author meant to make her likeable or not.