Colleen Mondor Reviews The Moth Girl by Heather Kamins
The Moth Girl, Heather Kamins (Putnam 978-0-593-10936-6, $17.99, 258pp, hc) March 2022. Cover by Hsiao Ron Cheng.
In The Moth Girl, author Heather Kamins puts a fantasy spin on a devastating contemporary problem, that of the sudden diagnosis of chronic illness. Because this is not a straightforward drama, however, the illness is thoroughly unexpected. Teen cross-country runner Anna is, by her definition, ‘‘happily average.’’ Then she begins to run faster than she ever has, before suffering a growing cascade of painful and terrifying physical ailments that culminate in a faint, during which she falls up rather than down. That is when Anna learns she has lepidopsy, an incurable disease that can kill her through cellular deconstruction if she does not learn to take care of it. Her life has changed in an instant, and before she can grasp what it means to be sick, Anna begins to learn how much every seemingly ‘‘normal’’ part of her world is quickly changed by the disease as well.
The plot of The Moth Girl unfolds in a manner that will be familiar to YA readers. Anna’s pre-illness life is typical, with loving parents, a longtime best friend, and a few frustrating but not uncommon moments at school. However, her diagnosis throws every aspect of this fairly predictable life into chaos. First, there is the fear of what might be wrong and then what the diagnosis means. Anna spends some time in the hospital, has a crash course in treatments, and because of the nature of the disease, finds herself coping not only with doctors but also needing counseling, where she meets other teens with chronic and unusual illnesses. It’s a lot for any teen to deal with, and when you throw in the possibility of uncontrollably flying away (which is terrifying), then it’s not difficult to imagine the sort of pressure she is under.
Kamins, who shares her own diagnosis with lupus in an afterword, clearly knows how to write about interactions with medical personnel and well-meaning but occasionally thoughtless friends. Anna feels left out of everyone else’s lives because her life, by necessity, is dominated by the lepidopsy (which has a startling array of symptoms). There are classmates and friends who are curious to the point of being creepy, and those who are oblivious to the point of being insulting. Her parents are terrified, she is angry, and the worst part is that they have no choice; Anna and the people who care about her have to cope. Kamins expresses all of these feelings with a deft hand and a lot of sincere emotions, making The Moth Girl a vivid look at the journey to understanding the bombshell that is diagnosis of a chronic illness. This book will be a gift to anyone who has endured such a moment, but it’s also an outstanding coming-of-age story about a teen who must keep her feet on the ground while her body tries to pull her away.
Colleen Mondor, Contributing Editor, is a writer, historian, and reviewer who co-owns an aircraft leasing company with her husband. She is the author of “The Map of My Dead Pilots: The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska” and reviews regularly for the ALA’s Booklist. Currently at work on a book about the 1932 Mt. McKinley Cosmic Ray Expedition, she and her family reside in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. More info can be found on her website: www.colleenmondor.com.
This review and more like it in the August 2022 issue of Locus.
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