Fiction Friday (135)

 

The cultural revolution of the 60s saw many writers examining things that had been left untouched for a long time. There was a wave of fiction that tried to tell the stories of characters who didn't fit the norms. Recently, my library weeded a large number of books that had fallen out of circulation and this is one of the many that I saved from the dumpster. I was attracted by the old style cover, but was soon taken by the story. The last 20 pages are pure beauty.

Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon by Marjorie Kellog

(FSG 1968)

Warren, Arthur, and Junie Moon are three tortured souls who meet in the hospital while recovering from ailments. When these "misfits" make a pact to leave the hospital and live together, no one really believes they will make it. 

Confined to wheelchair after being shot in the back by the only man he ever admitted his love to, Warren is the unofficial leader of the group and the catalyst for almost everything that happens to them. Arthur suffers from a degenerative disease that doctors cannot identify, but perhaps is more plagued by the hurt of abandonment. Junie is a tragic figure who has had her face and hands disfigured by acid burns from a troubled lover. The are individually damaged, but together seek to heal as they move into a rundown house under a large tree that serves as a kind of protector.

Healing is hard, as they soon discover. Healing hurts. But what they find is a sense of belonging with each other, a sense of family which none has ever truly had. They find love and more importantly, acceptance.