Not Your Average Teen Love Story: Genre-Blending Storytelling, Myth, and History in Emily X.R. Pan’s “An Arrow to the Moon”
With her debut novel, The Astonishing Color of After, Emily X.R. Pan established herself as a fresh voice in young adult fiction with a story that melded the magical and the mundane and gave shape to the contours of grief. Pan’s sophomore novel, An Arrow to the Moon, brings back her signature dazzling prose and genre-b[l]ending storytelling for a different kind of tale.
Set in 1991 in a New England suburb, An Arrow to the Moon follows the story of two Taiwanese American teens, Luna Chang and Hunter Yee, whose lives are inextricably bound together not only by a vicious professional rivalry and personal enmity between their families but also an ancient magic as unnerving as it is fascinating. Sparks fly — almost literally — at their first meeting at an illicit party, causing a mysterious earthquake that baffles seismologists and portends dark days ahead. Neither Luna nor Hunter realizes who the other is at first, having been kept away from each other by their parents. However, the two find out soon enough and, in typical rebellious teen fashion, continue to see each other despite their parents’ warnings. Beyond that initial spark and chemistry, they also find common ground dealing with the suffocating weight of their immigrant parents’ expectations.
From the beginning, it is evident that An Arrow to the Moon isn’t just your average teen love story. In a prologue beginning with the words “Once upon a time,” an omniscient narrator sets the larger-than-life tone of the story by invoking a familiar Chinese myth. Another chapter preceding the main events of the story takes the reader to the excavation site of the now infamous terracotta warriors buried with Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang. Myth and history combine to make the loom upon which the threads of Luna and Hunter’s story are woven.
Although the narrative is dominated by two perspectives, those of our star-crossed lovers, it also dips into the minds of both sets of parents, Hunter’s younger brother, and a man from the Yee family’s past who hunts and haunts them at every turn. Similarly, while most of the story takes place in 1991, the narrative often moves into the past, calling forth the characters’ nostalgia and trauma that reverberate in the present. The tensions between all of the characters are palpable, tangling into a web of secrets and lies that threatens to snap at the slightest disturbance.
More than romantic love, familial bonds form the core of the story. Each and every member of the Chang family and Yee family has sacrificed something hoping it will bring happiness to their loved ones. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that sacrifices will beget rewards. An Arrow to the Moon is a heartbreaking exploration of what happens when sacrifices are not enough.
