Moon Honey

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson Polytechnical University.

Moon Honey is a sort of surrealist, whimsical take on Black Like Me.
Mayr’s novel describes various metamorphoses, the main one being the
transformation of a white woman into a black one, and the subsequent
effects of the racial change on this woman and her relations with her
boyfriend, his mother, and others in her life. Another metamorphosis
comments on the requirements of mothers, when one develops, literally,
eyes in the back of her head and a third arm in order to protect her
children. Much of the book is concerned with the follies of wedding
ceremonies and marriage and the foibles of sex and intimate
relationships, often with bizarre and fantastic situations taken to an
unreal extreme. Although Moon Honey has a serious message about racism
and the role of women in marriage and society, it is nevertheless a very
funny and imaginative book.