Becoming Moon is a coming of age story written by Craig A. Hart. It's not easy being a committed atheist at fifteen, especially if your father is the pastor of Christ's Apostles Church, and your mother is equally zealous about her faith. While attending church services three times a week was something even illness couldn't excuse him from, he had remained obdurate about his lack of faith and his refusal to come up to the altar and be saved. When he finally left the small town in northern Michigan to attend college, he was free to pursue his dream of becoming a published writer. Twenty years later, he's on his way back to Mosquito Bay; a pilgrimage designed to revitalize his muse. For some reason, writing in a cabin in the woods seemed to do the trick at times like this. But first, he would need to stop at the Jesuit, where he would sit in his favorite booth, and the barkeeper would know what he drank.

Craig A. Hart's coming of age novel, Becoming Moon, is compelling and well-written. The author exposes his character to the reader with all his flaws, foibles and sins clearly exposed, but seeing the world through his eyes makes the exposure feel even more intimate and, at times, disturbing. His family's obsessive religiosity and the constant pressure on him as the pastor's son is so clearly conveyed, and I began to feel invested in his badly needed and eventual escape. His swimming adventure in Mosquito Bay with Emily, the new girl in town, is a marvelous and magical break from the tension and extreme repression that the boy lives under. Their innocent, nearly-skinny dip, which his friend Nick marvels about later on, is beautifully portrayed as the young Emily teaches him how to swim and holds him up so he won't sink. His later collaboration with the writer, Nigel Moon, posits him with another writer living a hermetic existence and watching them interact is marvelous. Becoming Moon is an accomplished and complex story that sticks with the reader long after the last page is finished. It's most highly recommended.

Craig A. Hart’s Becoming Moon takes you into the mind, the often twisted psyche of a writer. After all, “if you acted sensibly you wouldn’t be a real writer at all.” Becoming Moon is an account of one man’s journey to perfect his art. Breaking away from the mundane to gain inspiration, the writer heads north to the upper peninsula of Michigan. This has become his writing getaway; this is the spot where the creative juices flow. This is part of his compulsive lifestyle and ritualistic writing process. Sitting in a local tavern in St. Francis, he meets the legendary author, Nigel Moon. His life will be marked by this unusual meeting. Moon makes him an offer he cannot refuse.

Becoming Moon written by Craig A. Hart expresses the idea that writers have to be slightly off to be on the path of success. Hart is definitely on with his descriptive writing; he paints a wonderful scenic view of the landscape of the story. You sense the enclosed feeling of city life and the mysterious freedom of nature. The protagonist is odd, OCD, troubled by hallucinations, yet on the positive side, very observant. Hart portrays in sordid detail the life of his struggling character, from his childhood abuse, coming of age situations, to a mind plagued with guilt and shame. Each of the five parts of the narrative tells of a distinct time and event of the protagonist’s life. The parts seem random and disconnected, but by the end make sense. The unique angle of this story is that the main character’s name is never given, which of course is logical because he is “Becoming Moon.”

In Becoming Moon by Craig A. Hart, we first meet a struggling writer on his way to his habitual sanctuary in a bid to get inspiration for his next book. On his first planned stopover, he meets Nigel Moon, an aging writer who offers him a sweet deal if he agrees to ghost write his next book. He is not sure whether to take Nigel’s offer and write the book or just continue on his way and seek motivation for his own book. He is, however, forced to stay longer after a heavy snow storm and an unexpected but very pleasant run in with the beautiful Kate. The story takes us back to his early life and we follow his life journey as a boy growing up in an old-school community, struggling to find answers to the questions the current way of life left hanging. After he meets Moon, the story takes an interesting turn. Will the two writers make a good team and produce a hit novel, or will their personal lives get in the way?

Becoming Moon by Craig A. Hart is the story of a man struggling to find his footing. The plot development was excellent and the background story to the main character’s early life gave a good look at his personality and provided much needed insight into why he was the man he turned out to be. It was interesting to see the story progress and how the different circumstances affected him. Becoming Moon is an exciting read. It was fascinating to see the relationship between the two writers take shape and the effect it had on their lives amid the challenges, deception, betrayal and drama. It is an intriguing read with interesting twists and turns.