America the Beautiful

by Moon Unit Zappa

America Throne is living the good life in L.A. Her career is sprouting, and she is in love -- with Jasper Husch, a sexy-sultry artist from San Fran. But just as soon as they've realized domestic bliss, Jasper has a change of heart, and America falters on the slippery slope of hope: hoping that he will come back, hoping that new sex will erase all evidence of him, and hoping that in nurturing a truce with her dead father she will make peace with all men.
America's trip from self-destruction to wholeness is a romp on the wilder shores of the West Coast. From a dodgy therapist to a silent retreat, America Throne's "aha" moment culminates with, "While we are all busy swimming upstream, the universe is conspiring to take us to something better."
In America the Beautiful, Moon Zappa has taken the broken-heart story and given it a twist all her own through the emotional honesty and edginess of America Throne. Hailed as "brilliant" ( Sunday Telegraph Magazine ), America the Beautiful is the debut of an unforgettable and unfaltering new voice.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Music

302 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Moon Unit Zappa (born September 28, 1967) is an American actress, musician and author. She goes by the name Moon Zappa; "Unit" is her middle name.

Zappa was born in New York City, the eldest child of Adelaide Gail Sloatman, who worked in business, and musician Frank Zappa.

She has appeared in numerous films and performed on numerous albums with the Zappas, Julie Brown and the Vandals.

To date, America the Beautiful is her only novel. Wild Child: Girlhoods in the Counterculture is a documentary style exploration of the offspring of the flower children.

Reviews

[Britta Stumpp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books to re-read on a semi-annual basis. It is what I consider "light" reading for in between the semesters or in the summer time. I call it light because it is a novel I use for levity; an all-around feel good book. I like to balance my heavy-statements-on-the-human-condition reading with books that actually remind me why it is GOOD to be alive sometimes.

Moon Unit Zappa's loosely based autobiographical novel America the Beautiful is one such a feel good book for me. The protagonist, America, is the grown offspring of a famous and very eccentric painter. Growing up amongst hippie acid trips and orgies, America is one of the most lovable female characters I've ever come across in contemporary literature. She's goofy, confused, full of self-pity, addicted to chocolate and struggling to find her own career apart from her family. Her aggrandized notions of her own hardships are undeniably hilarious.

To top it all off, her "perfect boyfriend" has just dumped her. In one of the first chapters, Zappa writes the most hilarious and incredibly accurate sex scene from the female perspective I have ever read. America's quest to find self-fullfillment is filled with honest and raw moments of female lunacy at it's most comical. There are so many laugh out loud moments in this book, it is sure to cure even the most dour of moods.

If this novel had been written with less dry wit, honesty and vivacity, it would be easy to disregard it as chic-lit but I would more accurately like to classify it as a romantic comedy with buxom handfuls of dark amusement.

It is fun, don't expect anything more than that, but if you are need of a break from the Kafkas and the Nietzsches of the world, this is a good book to get a laugh.

[Pauline Butcher Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lived in Moon Zappa's house until she was four years old, I was interested to read how she's turned out and I think this novel is brilliant. The heroine America is a thinly disguised Moon, as is the fictional mother a perfect portrayal of Gail Zappa. It was like listening to Gail talk all over again. The portrayal of her father which I suppose is based on Frank Zappa, is more hazy, perhaps because he'd died just a few years before publication and Moon was still somewhat tender about him. As regards the plot which centres on America's love life and sex life, I think it's wonderful. I loved America/Moon's honesty and total lack of modesty. I recommend this book to everyone interested in the Zappa family but although women love it, men seem less keen. Perhaps it's a girl thing.
(Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa by Pauline Butcher)

[Michele Gardiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Within this tale, woven in between the fiction, is some fascinating insight about Moon's life with her dad, Frank Zappa, and about their relationship and about her place in this world. I believe she revealed some real truths she's been aching to share.

As someone who's heard her memoir pieces, I see how the puzzle pieces fit.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, first off, the obligatory admission: I bought this book initially because it has the name "Zappa" on the cover. I'm a Frank Zappa fanatic, and many, many years ago I saw a book by his eldest child, Moon Unit, so I bought it. It wasn't until recently that I decided to read it. Here goes the review:

I've never read anything that is classified as "Chick Lit" but I think this would probably count. It's a book about a young woman, America Throne, daughter of the famous artist and writer Boris Throne, deceased. America is looking for love, trying to figure out her life, trying to get over an abrupt break-up initiated by her douchey artist boyfriend, trying to get over the death of her often distant and philandering father, trying to deal with her bizarre mother, and so on, and so forth. Told by America, this is the story of a young woman's existential crisis in a pop culture, superficial age. In Los Angeles.

The reason I say it could probably be considered "Chick Lit" (and I'm not using that term negatively, nor do I wish to get into a debate about gender bias in the literary world) is because, well, everything I said above: it's a woman obsessing over "affairs of the heart," wondering when she'll find true love, dealing with daddy issues, the whole nine-yards. In a way, it's pretty cliche. BUT, Moon Zappa is a pretty decent writer. There's a lot of humor, some witty observations, clever and skewed ways of looking at the world... It's definitely "light" fiction, but it isn't crap the way, say, your average dime-store harlequin romance novel is a pile of crap (and yes, they are crap in every way, I will not back down from that statement). Rather than being escapist fiction for bored, sad, lonely, and low-brow housewives, this is escapist fiction for intelligent, literary indie chicks -- see the promo quotes on the cover from Janeane Garafolo and Alanis Morrissette. It's not a book I will read again, but it was an entertaining diversion. Just not really interesting beyond a quick read through.

Now, to deal with the elephant in the room: autobiography or not? Moon has been pretty adamant about saying, "this book is NOT autobiography. My family is not like this, my dad was not like this." I'm inclined to believe that is basically true, but clearly she drew on her life for inspiration and raw material. I think, though, it was more on the order of using the structure of her life -- famous dad, strange name, oddly psuedo-public life in the world of the semi-famous, strains of trying to figure out your own path in the shadow of a famous father -- and reimagined it. I don't think, for example, that Moon's childhood was much like the childhood of her character, but I'm sure the odd incident or two made its way into the book. That is, after all, what writers do, and even autobiography is a fictional construction. Of course, the other reason why I doubt that the book is a memoir in disguise is because of Gail Zappa and the Zappa Family Trust. The Zappas, led primarily by Gail (Frank's widow) have been pretty protective of Frank's legacy since his death, and I really doubt Gail or even Moon would want to publish something that cast him in a negative light or portrayed him as a distant father, philandering husband, self-obsessed artist using everyone around him as part of his work. Ever since Frank became something of a public/political figure in the 80s, one of the family's main emphases has been that while he may have been a composer of eccentric, satirical, and often extremely dirty music, he was also a devoted family man.

Anyway, tangent... To Frank Zappa fans: you probably won't be that interested in this book for its literary merits, unless you're into above-average, intelligently written rom-com stuff. If you're interested in it for dirt on the Zappa family, look elsewhere also. If you are the target audience for this, however, which I think would be middle/upper class women aged 21-35, you may dig it. You're not going to get any new insights about life and love, but you'll laugh some.

[Tara Martino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe it was the time if my life that I read it, but this book had a profound effect over me - loved it

[Yuckamashe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know what you are thinking. Seriously, Moon Unit Zappa? Yes, I really love this book. It's chick lit and lighter than most stuff I'm into.However, I love the characters and can't forget Jasper!

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read. I learned all of us woman can act weird/lame/goofy when it comes to men. That we put them up on a pedastool and if the relationship ends, we qustion what was wrong with me? When it should be, things just end.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't have much hype on this book going into it but this is a book to get excited about. It's a lighter read and a lot of fun with interesting characters and I would like to read more by Moon Unit Zappa for sure

[Jenny Organa · Rating 4 out of 5]

strangely enough, i found this book in a locked cabinet in the 8th grade classroom i was working in at the time. only one copy, dusty, amongst math games, old english textbooks and dices. forgotten. i'm guessing left behind by a former english teacher. it excited me, partly because of the author, partly because of the pretty cover and partly because it had lyrics quotes before every chapter, lyrics quotes of songs i like. i assumed no one would miss it so i took it home. (i later returned it to the librarian at the school, who figured no one would lend it anyway, so i gave it to one of my best students in the hopes of her reading it. i don't know if she did.)

it is a beautifully written novel. the language and descriptions are similar to those of Francesca Lia Block, possibly because of the common denominators, the beautiful scenery of los angeles and hurting women. the roses in the garden, the weather, the hills, the clothes, her car. it all sounds so fantastic and the images in my head are like those of eden. magical and sparkly. like Francesca Lia Blocks stories, there is also that social realism hiding beneath the surface. what really happened to the protagonist when she grew up? what is it that we are not being told?

it's been a few years since i read it so i only have the images in my head and my memories to go on, but i remember thinking that it felt real, despite the glitter and beauty. the characters felt real, their feelings felt real.

i distinctly remember the descriptions of her car for some reason. and the reference to music. there was a lot of reference to music, you could tell moon unit grew up with it. other than that, i know shit about the zappas - father or daughter - but i don't have to. i didn't read this novel as semi-autobiographical. this novel stands on its own, it works.

[Eileen Reeger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shocking AND HILARIOUS!!! Made me feel better at my own pathetic foibles in the pursuit of love. Belly laughs with the author and at myself!
All women with a good sense of humor should read this book, if they are not too easily offended by sex, exploits and language.

[Billie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this story...I only wish Ms. Zappa would write more.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Funny. Bittersweet. LA 20 years ago. I remember. Thank you Moon for a beautiful surprise of a book.

[Kristi Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books! I've read it a dozen times, just makes me feel that freedom of being a young woman who has gone on disastrous dates, relationships and life. This book makes you laugh out loud, over the characters reactions which are very similar to your own in those situations. It's a great "chick" book.

[Juan Sanmiguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

America, daughter of famous parents, gets dumped by her boyfriend. She takes it badly. She learns to deal with it and her feelings towards her late artist father. The film reminds a bit of Almodvar's film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It deals with relationships and all the pain and pleasures they can bring. Hope Ms. Zappa does some more writing.

[Byrd Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I did read this in one day, that was a testament more to my own "indifference to life" for a day, than to intrinsic quality of the book. The characters engaged, but story was trite. Maybe i am being unfair- it did keep me in vertical position start to finish.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that many females could relate too.

[Nicole Ambrosino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book written by Frank Zappa's daughter. She needs to write more books.

[Alfred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to read in teens.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to be a host at a retreat in Montecito, California. Often we had guests who were quite famous. I was also in charge of night emergencies, so would often interact with people, famous or not, in intense situations. For instance, that's how I met Kookie Burns (of "Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb" fame).
Miss Zappa once visited our retreat in Montecito. When she received a call, I could not find Moon Unit on the guest list. I did find her, though, and walked her to the office to pick up the call. I didn't mention it to her, but the song "Valley Girls" had made a huge impression on me. This was because it was the eighties and I was surrounded by Montecito kids who spoke in that sociolect. So, I found myself speaking it, just blurting it out without any intention of doing so. There was, at that time, however, something of a stigma attached to speakers of Valspeak. People who spoke in that dialect were thought to be a little ditzy. And lots of parents, especially mothers, found their tongues being taken over. After all, mothers are the ones who transition their little ones from the babbling stage to mature speech. In doing so, they find themselves speaking in babble also.

Some of the kids I knew who had passed Valspeak on to me, were concerned about speaking it. So we made up a new language, a "secret" language. We felt that by speaking in that tongue with one another, we could purge ourselves of Valspeak. Our language was called "ibe." Just insert "ibe," (rhymes with "vibe") between the first sound of each word and the following soundss. For instance, in ibe, my first name, Jim, is Jibim. Jibim wibent tiboo thibe stibore = Jim went to the store. So, this is how we elevated ourselves above the masses.

Later in my life, I heard a presentation by an Indian fellow whose parents were from India. And he was justafiably upset by how an Indian fellow's speech was depicted on The Simpsons show. There were a lot of young Indian ladies in the university auditorium, who got in a question and answer session with him. And, to my surprise, they were all speaking in Valspeak.

So I waited until everyone had left and went up to him and asked him if he was aware that he was speaking in Valspeak. He thought for a moment and then said, "Yes. But we don't use it derogatorily (as the Indian character if The Simpsons is depicted). It is just the way we speak." (He was from the San Fernando Valley, where Frank Zappa and Moon Unit lived and Valspeak originated.

As a writing tutor, I interact with university students quite a bit. So many of them speak Valspeak dialect that the university teaches it to incoming exchange students from China.

Originally, in the eighties, Valspeak was considered to be a sign of airheadedness. As if teen girls from the San Fernando Valley cannot be geniuses. However, times have changed. Speaking in any sociolect has nothing to do with one's level of intelligence. I have seen highly awarded scholars with multiple doctor's degrees in daunting subjects who have elements of Valspeak in their speech.

I loved Moon Unit's book, America the Beautiful. It shows her wit and creativity. Did you know that Moon Unit is one of the two women in world history whose way of speaking (at least on the record) has drawn the most attention from linguists? The other woman is the lone woman of San Nicholas Island (of Island of the Blue Dolphins fame).

After many decades of study, linguists have determined that the dialect of the Chumash language the lone woman spoke was of the San Fernando band. So, another world-famous Valley Woman.

In the 1980s, I wrote a documentary comic book in which I depicted Madonna speaking in Valspeak. At that time, the dialect was, unjustly, looked down upon. Times have changed, and I owe apologies to anyone my book has offended. I'm not promoting that book, so I will not mention it by name.

[Priscilla King · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank Zappa's daughter got the creative gene. She writes. Although not much happens in this big gorgeous chunk of chick lit, Zappa does a fabulous job of describing how it's possible for a rich, cute California girl to be unhappy--mourning for her father, missing an ex-boyfriend, trying all the wrong ways before she finds a few right ways to feel better. Her descriptions of the glamorous life of a heartbroken fatherless girl, whose given name is America, suggest autobiography but they're sweet, rich, and juicy enough to stand a good chance of taking readers' minds off any heartaches they may be living through. As before-bed escape fiction, this book even has a good chance of reminding old postsexual readers what it was like to be a Bright Young Thing, and making us grateful that we don't have to be one any more.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a difficult time relating to and empathizing with the protagonist but that might be by design.

[Laney Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

happened upon this book sort of accidentally.. so glad I did. Delightful!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this book being good, but telling that I could hardly remember another thing about it

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[David William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not fantastic, but a fun read.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gag me with a typewriter.

Totally.

[Audrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this book up on recommendation from a friend whose taste in books is usually so in tune with mine.

I don't know what went wrong.

This has got to be one of the most sophomoric writing attempts I've ever read. Way too much detail about things that don't matter, like the "ice-blue Ikea rag rug with orange circles that lined the edges" -- just overkill and irrelevant. Some description to create setting, mood, etc -- yeah, that's good. Necessary. But cataloguing every detail -- that's just a sign of poor (or still developing) writing skills. I couldn't decide if this was semi-autobiographical, which bugged me. I couldn't stand the main character.

And did I mention the details? I mean, at one point she seriously used the word "glurp" to describe the sound of the main character getting her period. Then we are treated to a description of her grabbing a wad of paper towels and stuffing them in her underwear and later, of that mess falling out and being dragged under the couch by the dog. WTH? Seriously???

There were a few points that I liked -- the opening chapter and the closing chapter -- but aside from that, I just couldn't find enough to merit a decent recommendation here. Even if you like hippie chick lit, don't waste your time.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way to go, Moon Unit. I used to be quasi-obsessed with you and your family, and since I’ve gotten what I’d consider a taste of what your life might be/might have been like at some point (yeah, we all get that this work of fiction was—ohmygod—semi-autobiographical. I mean, come on. America is the daughter of an artist father and a hippy-dippy mama, and “Mer” is struggling to find her place within that framework. Geez.), I’m under impressed. Ok, so I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really love it either. You know what really got me though? There’s this part towards the end of the book when Mer is looking through one of her BF’s CD collections, and she’s listing what she sees, and lo and behold! There’s a Frank Zappa! Hisssssssssssssss. (Ok, ok, ok. You wanna pay some homage to your pops. Do it another way.) Way to turn me right off, MOON. UNIT.

[Shorewalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice lady at the Ocean Shores Library book sale laughingly offered this book up and said "oh here is the book for you", I think she was joking but she is nice lady so I paid my 25 cents and took it on our camping trip.
Now don't misunderstand, in many ways this is a raunchy tale with some graphic sex and some foul language - please note that I did not use the "inappropriate" sex or language, because in the context the America Thornes story they are not, they are just what they are.
Well I kept reading because Ms Zappa grabs you to the extent that your a rooting for her young (well not so young (will not go into it as "spoiler") main character. We want her to be happy, but boy does she have trouble finding it.
For a first time out the author did a fine job with a difficult topic.