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Finding Moon  By  cover art

Finding Moon

By: Tony Hillerman
Narrated by: Erik Bergmann
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Publisher's summary

Tony Hillerman's best-selling Navajo mysteries have thrilled millions of readers with their taut, intricate plotting, sensitive, subtle characterizations and lyrical evocations of landscapes and cultures. Now he departs his trademark terrain and applies his talents to a story he has wanted to tell for decades about an ordinary man thrust into total chaos.

Until the telephone call came for him on April 12, 1975, the world of Moon Mathias had settled into a predictable routine. He knew who he was. He was the disappointing son of Victoria Mathias, the brother of the brilliant, recently dead Ricky Mathias and a man who could be counted on to solve small problems. But the telephone caller was an airport security officer, and the news he delivered handed Moon a problem as large as Southeast Asia.

His mother, who should be in her Florida apartment, is fighting for her life in a Los Angeles hospital - stricken while en route to the Philippines to bring home a grandchild they hadn't known existed. The papers in her purse send Moon into a world totally strange to him. They lure him down the back streets of Manila, to a rural cockfight, into the odd Filipino prison on Palawan Island and finally across the South China Sea to where Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge is turning Cambodia into killing fields and Communist rockets are beginning to fall on the outskirts of Saigon.

Finding Moon is many things: a latter-day adventure epic, a deftly orchestrated romance, an arresting portrait of an exotic realm engulfed in turmoil, and a neatly turned tale of suspense. Most of all, it is a singular story of how a plain, uncertain man finds his best self.

©1995 Tony Hillerman (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

What listeners say about Finding Moon

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not the Tony Hillerman I Know

Would you ever listen to anything by Tony Hillerman again?

I've loved every one of the Chee and Leaphorn books and wanted to enjoy the characters in this book, but nothing held together. No compelling characters, the story goes nowhere. I was disappointed.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Little Disappointing

What made the experience of listening to Finding Moon the most enjoyable?

Tony Hillerman is a very good writer and makes you feel that you really know the characters. His story structure is easy to stay with.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The biggest problem we found with this narrator is his lack of consistency with the pronunciation of Asian places and names. It seems that he did not research how to pronounce either and made it difficult to feel that one was in an Asian setting. It became too "Americanized" and felt out of place.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

We had listened to this book in the abridged version and although we prefer the unabridged version of any book we did prefer the original narrator.

Any additional comments?

Tony Hillerman's creations are always pleasant to read (or listen to). It's just too bad that publishers feel the need to condense a book for any reason. If the author wanted the book to be short he would write it so.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not his best work

I loved the mysteries on the reservations more. He was so much better when talking about the Navajo.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A different but still great Hillerman

This story has nothing to do with Leaphorn or Chee or the Navajo Nation. The setting is the end of the Vietnam War, and each chapter is introduced with a legitimate headline as to the disposition of the "current" situation. I have listened to this recording several times, and even though I know what will happen, it is still thrilling. I rate a story by how much I care about the characters and what happens to them. These are wonderful characters. It is an exciting and wonderful story, and Erik Bergmann's narration is superb.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Pass on this one!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I can't see anyone judging this as worth their time.

What was most disappointing about Tony Hillerman’s story?

This story lacked substance. The author tried too hard to make a story out of just too much unrealistic stuff.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Reflects Viet Nam history

I listened to this story in August 2021 as the U.S. and allies had begun exiting Afghanistan after fighting there for 20 years. Did not realize that this book was a poignant look at the U.S. exit of Viet Nam in 1975.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not what I was expecting.

I prefer the Navajo settings. Descriptions in this book were very good but it was not the same.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent.

I often drive long distance, often most of a day. Tony Hillerman's book is a perfect companion, making the time fly by.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoy all of Tiny Hillerman's work.

Enjoy all of Tony Hillerman's work. They are too short as I want more to happen! I feel I'm there and learn several things about that place or time.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not as engaging as Hillerman's SW books

Not a bad story. I didn't feel the heat like I do in other stories.

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2 people found this helpful