I admire an author who can get us right into a time and place without much set-up. And Frances Dowell does that with this book. Though it seems odd to think of a Vietnam era book as historical fiction,this title is another good addition to that particular list. As an Army brat herself, Frances Dowell brings a credibility to the narration and, even though the father, the Colonel, is a gung-ho soldier, the reader picks up on his pain when his own son, TJ, enlists, well before the main character, Jamie (the little sister) does. That's a painful, painful moment.

The book moves along at a fast clip and I liked Jamie's interactions with the soldiers she meets in the rec center where she's a volunteer. One of them teaches her how to develop the black and white film her brother sends back to her when he goes "in-country" (to Vietnam). Though she's puzzled by the topics -- often injured soldiers -- she faithfully makes prints of the best ones for him. The title comes from her brother's hobby of shooting photos of the moon, something he also continues to do in Vietnam.

I did wish that the book didn't move along quite as quickly as it did. I think that would have helped me experience the story's most significant event much more fully. Frances Dowell is looking at hard things here and I get why she might want to slide past some of them. But in order to serve her story, I think she needed to take a hint from TJ and face that tough stuff square on. I would have awarded at least 4 stars to this book had she done so.