4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Chocolate Chocolate Moons by Jackie Kingon is a fantastical witty fiction novel that is set in the twenty-fourth century and takes place in our solar system. Molly Marbles loves food, but not everyone shares her delight. As she journeys through the galaxy, Molly's experiences indicate that not everyone shares her joy and lack of guilt when it comes to eating food.
Molly Marbles loves to eat and loves her body, but is unhappy with criticism and ridicule her gourmand lifestyle receives on earth. When the opportunity arises, she relocates to the moon. Weight nor eating are an issue here, and Molly happily relates to the inhabitants of the planet. After two euphoric decades have passed, a family economic misfortune occurs. Molly, her husband, and her twin teenage daughters transport to Mars. When they arrive at their destination, Molly immediately feels out of sync. On Mars, everyone is thin and has an idiosyncratic antipathy for food and a disdain for overweight individuals. The plus side of their move is that the company that manufactures Molly's favorite candy, Chocolate Moons is located on Mars. Molly is quite happy to take a security job at the corporation. Then a horrible calamity happens; someone poisons the Chocolate Moons and right under Molly's nose. Molly and her Martian co-worker are on the trail of the criminal and will traverse the universe to make him pay for his sacrilege.
This book is a thought-provoking allegory with satirical elements that mock the weight loss industry and society's view of eating as a whole. It imaginatively presents the individual's love/hate relationship with food and their bodies. With all of her outlandish and extreme twists on reality, the author makes a good point. The overindulgence of food versus the unhealthy goal of a thin body is a dilemma our nation faces. In the book, replacing food with chemical substitutes and depriving the body of food is how the characters achieve that goal.
This book is humorous and has a multitude of laugh out loud moments. The whole time I was reading it, I was smiling. Euphemisms and incongruities related to everything imaginable. Such as, a lump of coal was more desirable than a ten-carat diamond or the outrageously paradoxical use of history in the "rare etching of the great English chef from the Falklands, Margaret Thatcher, standing in front of Folsom Prison holding a rolling pin over the head of finance minister Johnny Cash." I did find it quite droll, when under the duress of moving from the moon to Mars, Molly's family parrot squawks, "Calorie wants a Prozac!"
This novel is amusing and fascinating, and I highly recommend it to those who love a good futuristic and zany out of this world story. It is well-written and has a sound plot with a salient message woven within it's humorous and superb storyline. However, I had a problem with the constant play on words. At first, it was comical, but towards the end, the barrage of parodies did wear a little thin and became distracting. Other than that minute issue, I believe this is an exceptional novel, and I rate it 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Chocolate Chocolate Moons
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Silvermoon's review? Post a comment saying so!