Book Review: Moonface by Angela Balcita

Title: Moonface: A True Romance
Author: Angela Balcita
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Original edition
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
Paperback: 240 pages
ISBN: 978-0061537318
Genre: Memoir

From the Publisher:

The moving and hilarious true story of a young woman who found romance and laughter in the midst of illness

At the age of eighteen, Angela Balcita had reached a point in her life when her health could not keep up with her optimistic personality. After suffering kidney failure and after her body’s rejection of the kidney her brother donated to her, she was in desperate need of a transplant.

Lucky for Angela, she had found the ultimate partner in crime: her boyfriend, Charlie. Although they had known each other for only a short period of time, Charlie offered Angela his kidney. The ensuing story is unforgettable, with readers following Angela and Charlie’s journey through preparations for their respective surgeries; the procedures themselves, difficult yet emotionally riveting; the process of recuperation through the relapses; and the eventual healing—both inside and out—that greets this undeniably powerful duo.

Expanded from Angela’s unforgettable “Modern Love” column in the New York Times and by turns funny, bittersweet, and heartwarming, Moonface will make readers laugh, cry, and, above all, appreciate the importance of unconditional love.

My Review:

Moonface by Angela Balcita is beautiful memoir of illness and unconditional love.  The book opens with Angela and Charlie doing a comedy skit about how they both came across their scars. Then Balcita takes the reader back through her life in flashbacks about Charlie’s life, her life and the discovery during her freshman year of college that she has glomerulonphritis, a disease of the kidneys, and at the young age of eighteen undergoes her first kidney transplant.  Balcita writes with wit, wisdom, and grace, unafraid to mention her worries and concern for her health in an uncomplaining manner.  I not only enjoyed Angela, but also her family and Charlie O’Doyle’s unwavering love for her.  I absolutely adored learning the story behind Charlie, referring to Angela as Moonface.  Moonface is a beautiful story of love, illness, and family.   Balcita chronicles her medical needs as she flashes back to her childhood and fond memories of her family, college, meeting and dating Charlie, focusing mainly on the period when she requires a second transplant and Charlie decides to donate his kidney to her.  Moonface tells the extraordinary story of unselfish love intermixed with exceedingly laborious and painful medical procedures that no one should ever have to go through once let alone multiple times, all the while never seeking pity, but rather telling her story through wit and love.   Each family member captured my heart and the Dolyes and Balcitas are exactly the sort of families I would very much enjoy.  I had absolutely no difficulty relating to the last few chapters, for I went through something quite similar and miraculous.  It is not a secret that I am a fan of memoirs, yet I have not encountered a memoir quite like this one and I would highly recommend Moonface to any reader who enjoys a beautiful and inspiring memoir of trials, family, and true love.

About the Author:

Angela Balcita received her MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Iowa Review, and Utne Reader, among other publications. She lives in Baltimore with her husband and daughter.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of Moonface by Angela Balcita from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

Be Sociable, Share!

•