Water Moon

Fiction | Novel | Adult

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3, Chapters 29-43

Part 3, Chapter 44-Part 4

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Book Club Questions

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Literary Devices

Point of View

Water Moon is written from the third-person point of view. The narrator shifts between the primary characters’ consciousness throughout the novel. This means that in some passages, the narrator inhabits Hana’s interiority and describes the narrative world according to her lens. In other passages, the narrator inhabits Keishin’s, Izumi’s, or Toshio’s interiorities and describes the narrative world according to their lenses. This narrative fluidity expands the novel’s scope and deepens its thematic explorations. For example, both Hana and Keishin are thematically in Pursuit of Happiness. By allowing the narrator to access both characters’ inner worlds, the author shows how each individual’s search for fulfillment is unique.

Additionally, the third-person narrator’s mobility adds dimension to each of the primary characters. The narrator isn’t strictly omniscient and therefore doesn’t tell readers how to perceive Hana, Keishin, Toshio, or Chiyo, for example. Instead, the narrator describes each character from the other characters’ vantage points, thus showing their complexity. The way that Keishin sees Hana isn’t the same way that Toshio, Chiyo, or even Hana sees her. The differences among their various outlooks nuance readers’ perception of truth and reality and challenge them to make their own interpretations of the characters and their magical world.

Figurative Language

The author uses vivid, descriptive language to craft the Water Moon narrative. Because the third-person narrator has access to the primary cast of characters’ interiorities, Yambao can describe the world according to each of their points of view. For this reason, the author’s linguistic patterns mutate according to whose lens she’s following.

For example, the way that the author describes the world from Keishin’s point of view contrasts with the language she uses to describe the world from Hana’s point of view. Because Keishin is awed by Hana’s world, “[f]inding words to describe” his experience feels impossible (72). The narrator says that Keishin can’t “find anything that could adequately describe the rustle of the grass around him, the sunlight warming his cheeks, and the patient gaze of the woman waiting for his answer” (74). Although Keishin is at a loss for words, the narrator uses descriptive, exacting language to attempt capturing his wonder.

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Such passages enact Keishin’s excitement over Hana’s world but contrast with the less ornate language that the author uses to convey Hana’s viewpoint: Hana tells Keishin, “We only have one world, and this is it,” using plain, flat language (74). Her diction, syntax, and tone reveal her lack of enthusiasm for her world. In these ways, the author uses language to authenticate each of her primary character’s emotional experiences. At the same time, Yambao’s overarching approach to language is defined by metaphor and simile, color imagery, and sensory detail—stylistic techniques that vivify the magical world of Water Moon.

Structure

Water Moon loosely follows the hero’s journey model. This archetypal narrative structure—inspired by Joseph Campbell and C. G. Jung—is alternately referred to as the monomyth. According to this narrative structure, the main character’s story begins at home. They are then called out on an adventure, which takes them away from the familiar confines of their domestic reality. During their adventure, they face a series of obstacles that they must overcome to save themself. These challenges—which the character often faces with the help of divine, supernatural, or magical guides—transform the character over time. Hero’s journey stories typically end with the main character then returning home as a changed individual.

In Water Moon, Hana’s story begins on her “first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner” (3). She understands the significance of her new role but feels trapped by her predictable life at home. When she discovers the shop ransacked and her father missing, Hana is compelled to leave the pawnshop and go searching for answers. Most of the narrative then chronologically traces her and Keishin’s adventures as they look for Toshio and avoid the Shiikuin. Along the way, they receive help from Ramesh, Sobo, Haruto, Natsuki, Hiroko, and others. Once they complete these missions, they both return home changed.

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Yambao nuances this narrative structure by allowing Hana’s story to continue beyond her immediate return to the pawnshop. The last chapters of the novel leap ahead in time, revealing how her life has changed since her adventure with Keishin. This structural subversion allows Hana’s character to live outside the confines of the page. The narrative structure thus implies that Hana’s adventures continue beyond the novel’s end.