Maybe the Moon

Maupin uses a uniform tone in telling the story of Cadence Roth--a once-famous but now forgotten actress. His lethargic, deadpan delivery makes Cadence's cynical attitude delightfully amusing. The apathetic tone also evokes empathy from the listener as Maupin recounts Cadence's dehumanizing experiences in show business. Maupin uses this voice most effectively in the epilogue when reading the correspondence between film executives concerning Cadence's untimely death. The style exposes their false sympathy and the irony of their plans to profit from a film version of her life. Full of humor and sorrow, the novel is a thought-provoking tale of a tragic hero and a manipulative industry. M.P.T. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

November 2, 1992
Though Cadence Roth, the heroine of Maupin's captivating novel, is only 31 inches tall (she is said to have held the title the World's Shortest Mobile Adult Human in the Guinness Book ofRecords), her impact on the reader's emotions is enormous. In choosing this diminutive woman to dramatize the role of an outsider, Maupin draws parallels between the way small people and others who are thought to deviate from the norm, such as gays, lesbians, blacks and Jews-are mocked and dehumanized. He does this skillfully and delicately, with humor and compassion, meanwhile telling a suspenseful story whose subtly foreshadowed ending delivers a dramatic clout. At 30, Cady is a has-been in Hollywood. A decade earlier, she had portrayed an adorable elf in a film that captured Americas heart. But since there are few movie opportunities for dwarfs, her career as an actress and singer has skittered downhill. Cady chronicles her gutsy attempts to earn her livelihood in funny and poignant journal entries, her irreverent voice spiked with trendy movie-town lingo. She is offhand about the handicaps small persons must endure: what it's like to be patronized and treated like a child, to walk in a forest of legs, to be unable to turn on the shower or close the bathroom door-and to yearn for romantic relationships and a sex life. Under the clever patter and black humor, however, Cady fiercely and wistfully conveys her need to be viewed like everyone else. Maupin (Sure of You) surrounds Cady with other appealing outsiders a black pianist, a gay writer, Cady's spacey housemate. But tiny Cady acts as a strobe light whose compelling gaze illuminates the depths of the human heart. 60,000 first printing; BOMC alternate; QPB selection; author tour.

November 1, 1992
Cadence Roth is a heroine one will not soon forget. All of 31 inches tall, Cady played Mr. Woods, an E.T.-like character, in a hit movie a decade ago. Now 30 years old, she performs at birthday parties and bat mitzvahs, on the fringe of an industry that doesn't have much need for chubby dwarfs. In a strong and witty voice, Cady records daily life with her dizzy, star-struck roommate Renee, the physical challenge of turning on a shower, discrimination by people, and harassment by dogs. She begins a charming romance with a tall, handsome pianist and then, with her best friend, Jeff--a writer active in gay politics--she plots her comeback. Both a well-told story and a subtle fable about difference, this novel was penned by the author of the popular series "Tales of the City," of which Sure of You ( LJ 9/15/89) was the final installment. Recommended for public libraries.-- Brian Kenney, Brooklyn P.L.

Copyright 1992 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 1992
Maupin follows his fabulously funny, politically hip "Tales of the City" (the first successful serially published novel--indeed, series of novels--since God knows when) with the story of Cady Roth, the world's shortest female would-be movie star, who once inhabited the rubber corpus of the elf-protagonist of the second most popular movie in history, "Mr. Woods," and who's been trying ever since to be recognized clad in her own skin and one of the outfits she's small enough to make out of a single yard of material. Her friends include gay novelist-activist Jeff, her housemate Renee, who's the incarnation of the dumb blonde bombshell with a heart of gold, and Neil Riccarton, a young black divorced father struggling to make his way in showbiz, too. Eventually, Cady and Neil get a thing going, as does Jeff with Cady's "Mr. Woods" costar Callum, now grown up into something of a gay preppy wet dream. By book's end, both romances have foundered, both on the rocks of fearful prejudice. And then, Cady gets a chance to avenge the wrongs Hollywood, particularly "Mr. Woods" director Philip Blenheim (a Spielberg-Coppola type), has done her. Animated more by keen appreciation of the different yet similar injustices little people and gays suffer than by Maupin's daffy and endearing humor, "Maybe the Moon" is as easy to keep reading as any of the "Tales," but it's not as much fun. It is, however, arguably more affecting--a serious soap opera travesty that's exactly attuned to these times of increasing pressure for social equality. ((Reviewed Sept. 15, 1992))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1992, American Library Association.)