The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon (Tom Spanbauer, 1991)

This book has to be one of the weirdest works of fiction I've ever encountered. In it, Shed, a half-native American teenager, who works as a prostitute at a brothel out in the shed (hence his name), tries to work out who he is. Along the way he meets and falls in love with Dellwood Barker, a man he believes to be his father - not that this stops Shed from having sex with him. There are madams, native Americans, a mentally handicapped man named Damn Dave and his Damn Dog, a lot of mormons, a group of black minstrels, and a whole lot of sex - between men and women, men and men, women and women, anyone really - and being related is no barrier.

Shed narrates his story in a very arresting, innocent, almost child-like prose that takes a little getting used to. The first chapter is a little confusing as Shed plays fast and loose with his recollections of events, mixing timelines and revealing nuggets about how the story turns out, which I didn't realise were as such until I got towards the end of the book. 

The beauty of this book lies in Spanbauer's language, and how he completely transports you to turn of the twentieth century Idaho, and the world that Shed and his mismatched family inhabits. Family is key to the tale too. At one point Shed is living with the man he believes is his father (still fucking him too - the father isn't aware of his paternity), his adopted mother Ida Richilieu (the brothel madam), and her lover and fellow prostitute Alma Hatch. Such a random group of people are believably connected throughout Spanbauer's story (the term 'story' is important in this book) and I cared for each and every character - yes the incest may be distasteful and the language incredibly visceral, but Shed's innocence and love really brings you along with him. A scene where a woman's legs are sawn off was much harder to read than any of the sex scenes.

After finding this book on an Amazon.co.uk recommendation and giving it a shot, I was shocked by the content, but moved and pleased by the story I discovered between the unassuming, cartoonish front cover. I think this book will stay with me for a while.