No Tuesday Top of Mind for this Tuesday because I cannot get this book out of my head.
And also because there has been so much crap that has entered our consciousness in just the last 5 days as to require a little processing time.
Okay, it’s me. I require processing time.
AKA my mind is too full to discuss any of a number of things. From the supreme court giving the conman in the white house unchecked power to the minimal amount of reaction that I am getting from different source to the unfortunate but somehow warned of flooding in Texas to the idiotic yes-men in the federal legislature that are rubber stamping these inhumane practices to the attacks on healthcare to Medicaid being virtually unfunded through attrition because they put the bar so damned high to the continued attacks on higher education to to the file with names that didn’t want the names released disappearing tricks to the attacks by those who should know better but they are grasping at power anyway they can in any number of sectors to the thought of what will undoubtedly additional deaths to the concentration camp on American soil to apology we have to make to those who cried out never again and then they did it anyway to the women who are dying because of policies that purportedly put the child first, no matter that there is no child to the families who have been upended or straight up ended because of inhuman immigration policies to the man who has never heard the word no and paid attention to the boundary to any number of things.
This just in (July 8, 2025, 3:15pm)- to the conman who is “looking into” the take over of 2 American cities (DC and NY, if he doesn’t like their elections) because of the “red scare” that he is trying to engender. Well, the Muslim scare.
Ugh.
Cruelty is the point indeed. And so is irrationality.
To cleanse my mind, I will review When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi.
Published March 25, 2025 through Tor Books.
This book has been on my radar for quite some time. I massively enjoyed Starter Villain, which was released on September 19, 2023. But the first book I read by John Scalzi was Lock In, which was released on August 26, 2014. This was another of my library finds. I kept seeing it on the New Releases shelf and it mocked me until I picked it up.
Fabulous read but not the book I want to write about today.
I picked up this book from the library last week. It’s been on my library holds list for months.
I read it in two days.
I have thoughts. Many thoughts.
There will be spoilers for this book. But this is my take on this book.
Last chance for spoilers.
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What struck me was the structured/unstructured path of the chapters. It wasn’t until I was nearly at the end that I realized that each chapter was numbered with a day since the moon had turned to cheese. And that the entire book takes place over 28 days, the length of a lunar cycle. This is genius and sneaks up on you.
Each chapter has a different voice and a different narrator. From a group of old men in a diner in the Midwest, one of whom is a retired philosopher, to the billionaire adrenaline junky, to the astronomy student whose entire academic life and potential career that has been upended, to the board of a bank who are worried at people pulling all their money out of the bank to live their bucket list, to the President of the United States and the First Lady getting ready for bed, to the writer who grew up a gifted and talented writer who got stuck on the first three chapters of her book to realize that there is no time, and more.
The first point is that the moon has suddenly, absurdly turned to cheese in an instant. Specifically around 1700 EST. Alarms were raised immediately when it was noticed.
Also the quarter moon is brighter than it should be in the sky. This brings to mind the moon shifting of the movie Bruce Almighty.
Of course, the moon mission that is a must do for the billionaire whose company developed the lander. Of course, the United States outsourced outer space to the billionaire class. Of course, the astronaut who was destined to be on that mission hears of the moon turning to cheese while on the phone with her mother.
Of course.
The following are notes straight from the notes app that I wrote to myself, annotated with page numbers. And also my stream of consciousness thoughts on the events of the book. I tried to match these up as best as I could. Your thoughts and notes will be different.
Philosophy. Astronomy student feeling unmoored because the moon has turned to cheese p. 145
Billionaire subplot. My thoughts are that it is basically a pull em out boys space race. Including the race between 2 billionaires to be the first to taste the moon cheese scene.
NASA outsourcing the space program to billionaires p. 169. My thoughts are of course they are.
Dry heaving in zero G was an interesting application of physics p. 175. My thoughts on this is what I learned p. 173 is something I already knew. That billionaires are spoiled brats and have never been told the word no. And they also get bored, to our detriment. The billionaire’s death (Jody) because of hubris was definitely an homage to the billionaire deaths from hubris on the way to the Titanic. See also billionaires being bored.
President and First Lady having a conversation, starting around p. 210. He drops his shirt on the floor, she tells him to pick it up, he argues that they have staff for that. She says, “If you dropped a shirt with the expectation that someone would pick up after you, I would divorce you immediately.” She continues “Dropping your shirt for someone else to pick up shows contempt. I didn’t like it when I was the person who had to pick it up. I don’t see why I would like it less now that someone else would have to do it.”
My thoughts are that I loved this exchange. And is also an answer to my own husband on leaving things on the floor for me to pick up. This will be my new answer to that. I feel that most women are frustrated or have been frustrated by this exact issue.
Back to the philosophical discussion p. 210. My thought is that there is a lot of philosophy in this book and it is a common thread. I have recommended this book to my cohort and will be recommending it to my dissertation chair.
The reaction of everyday Americans turns into fuck the moon sentiment and flipping off the moon to relieve stress. My thought on this is that might be the energy we need for I.C.E.
Unfortunately fuck the moon unraveled quickly to an attack on a cheese shop p. 217. My thought is that at least the estranged brothers who are running rival cheese shops across the town square from each other have reconciled. Also this is very evocative of Romeo and Juliet, which is actually mentioned in a previous chapter from the astronomy student.
Immigrant cook who says they want to go back to their home country because he isn’t as hated there as he is in America p. 228. My thought is that I realize this was written before the current administration crack down on illegal immigrants and naturalized immigrants. But oof.
There is a development in that the Lunar One which is the projection that is not unlike a meteor has been detached from the moon and is hurtling toward earth. My thought is cue the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. This has been earned because wipe it all out is something I’ve heard from various quarters.
Oh and Lunar One will impact the earth in 2 years and three months with a 95% confidence. My immediate thought was that I understood that reference. Which is a meta reference in and of itself to Captain America in The Winter Soldier.
The Lunar One impact will be devastating and lead to the cessation of life on the planet.
There is a chapter on the filming of an Saturday Night Live show shortly after the announcement that the earth has an expiration time. The studio audience laughs at none of the skits and are very unsettled. Finally, the host stands up and starts to sing “Imagine” to placate the audience after a pretty speech of coming together. He is immediately clocked by a chair and a riot ensues. My thought is that this is a delayed reaction to the celebrities singing Imagine on Zoom during the lockdown in 2020.
There is a chapter on a drunk, Caleb, interrupting a church service. Remember, the world knows that time is ticking. The pastor throws out his dial a sermon that he got from a sermon service and speaks from the heart. He calms fears and basically toes the religious line p. 253.
The private conversation he has with God later that night is perfection.
A bank meeting about people panicking and taking all their money out is next. It is revealed that the bank has modeled the end of the world. But, hey, the bank still has to make money. The plan is that they will introduce a zero interest rate $40,000 limit credit card with no repayment due for 2 years. The bank model also says that the consumer confidence will end after the planned last Christmas. After all, people hold it together for Christmas. Thought for this is that yes, yes, they do.
The last major character is a gifted and talented girl child who only wants to be a writer. Her entire life is pointed in this direction. Until she gets caught in the writing group trap after the third chapter and gives up. Until there isn’t enough time because, hey, the end of the world is upon us. Her husband says who cares if there isn’t enough time to get published, she should write for herself and because he wants to read it. My thought for this part is that she has the uncomfortable realizing that gifted kids can’t give up when it gets hard. You have to work that much harder to succeed.
Really the entirety of Chapter 23 spoke to me, the former gifted and talented kid. And has inspired me to write my dissertation chair and get this train back on its tracks. The world will still be a dumpster fire.
The most hopeful tidbit of this entire book is that “American Democracy has survived worse than the end of the world.” p. 302. Well, I needed to hear that.
The hardest tidbit of this entire books is that when you know that it is going to be the last of a thing (because, you know, part of the moon will be crashing into the earth and killing everyone), that knowledge weighs on you.
There will always be the last Christmas, the last birthday, the last day at a job you love. The thing is to keep going anyway.
After all, it might not be the last thing.
I will not address how the book ends.
Just know that my take aways are flip off might be the energy we need.
And do the hard things.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 