Moon in Full: A Modern Day Coming-of-Age Story

by Marpheen Chann

Overview

In his memoir, Moon in Full, Marpheen Chan recounts an emotional and modern day coming-of-age story that has roots in the Cambodian genocide and weaves through troubled familial relationships, housing projects, foster homes, churches, and college life, as well as rural Maine where he struggles to reconcile his fears and beliefs as a young gay man of color adopted into a white Evangelical family. He has continually struggled with his lost identity as a Cambodian and homophobia as a young gay man of color. As PTSD, poverty, abuse, and addiction took their toll on his mother, Chann and his siblings were removed and placed into foster care. And that is where his journey into adulthood truly begins.

With compassion and honesty, Chann recalls what he has learned, what he has found and what he has lost in his evolution from rebel boy to holy-roller youth to advocate for equality and civil rights, all in one of the nation's oldest and least diverse states; but a state that he proudly calls home. Chann's story shines a spotlight on the search for truth, compassion, and the struggles of our complicated era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781952143359
Publisher:	Islandport Press
Publication date:	06/21/2022
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,097,608
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Marpheen Chann is a Maine politician, activist, writer, speaker, community organizer, and gay man of color. He helped found the Cambodian Community Association of Maine in 2018, and serves as its president. In 2014, Chann became the first of his biological or adoptive families to graduate college, studying political science, philosophy, and economics at the University of Southern Maine, where he helped start the University of Southern Maine’s Queer Straight Alliance. He later earned a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law. Chann has devoted his career to civil rights and advancing diversity, inclusion, and equity in education, politics, and municipal government. His service to Portland and the Cambodian community is his way of giving back and connecting to his roots. Marpheen lives in Portland and he hopes to someday foster and adopt his own children. Until then, he’s content being an uncle to upwards of ten nieces and nephews (including dogs and cats). Moon in Full is his first book.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Part 1

California, 1991 3

Chestnut Street, Portland, Maine, 1997 20

Riverton Park, Portland, Maine, 1998 28

Part 2

Acton, Maine, 2000 47

Park Place, Windham, Maine, 2001 62

Gorham, Maine, 2002 67

Part 3

Naples, Maine, 2003 79

Windham Christian Academy, 2005 109

India, 2007 133

Windham Christian Academy, 2008-2009 140

Part 4

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 2009 149

Gorham, Maine, 2010-2012 185

Fort Worth, 2012 210

San Diego, California, 2012 225

Part 5

Mother 235

Father 240

Epilogue 243

Acknowledgments 246

About the Author 248

Editorial Reviews

05/06/2022

Chann, a politician and advocate for Asian and LGBTQIA+ rights, has written a powerful and moving memoir about growing up and learning to embrace his gay identity. The son of a Cambodian refugee, his early years were fraught with chaos due to his mother's abusive relationships with men and an ever-intensifying loss of his Cambodian identity. Stuck in the foster care system, he lived in a series of homes before being adopted by a white, conservative Christian couple in rural Maine. Struggling with his sense of belonging as an Asian boy in a majority white environment was challenging enough, but, when he realized that he was gay, he made the painful decision to live in the closet. Chann's memoir is at its strongest when he focuses on his burgeoning sexuality, his memories of his extended Cambodian family, and as he embraces his true self during his college years. VERDICT Chann's enriching memoir speaks to those who feel they are still growing up and learning to overcome trauma. Though the narrative slows down when the author focuses on the psychology of Christian conservatism, the story he tells is an important one.—Leah K. Huey

Library Journal

2024-04-03
This memoir follows a Cambodian American gay writer and activist’s quest through childhood and adolescence to find his identity.

Chann was born in 1991 into a Cambodian refugee family in Stockton, California, and in his early years, he lived with his mother, his grandmother, or his godparents in the state. Later, he moved with his mother, his sister Tanya and other siblings, his grandmother, and his mother’s abusive partner to Portland, Maine. By 2000, Chann and his sister were living in Acton, Maine, in the first of a series of foster homes; they would finally end up living in a rural part of the state with the Berrys, a family of white, middle-class evangelicals; their religious views created a feeling of dissonance as the author came to understand that he was gay. Throughout his childhood, he writes, he was frequently the only Asian American student at the Christian schools he attended; he reflected upon his identity and belief system and, after transferring from a biblical college to the University of Southern Maine, became what he considered his truest self. Throughout this remembrance, he offers striking details, particularly about food, which effectively mirror his internal emotional landscape: “Food was another language that my grandmother spoke—and this one I could understand. She fed me. I ate. And if my plate was empty of jasmine rice, she’d pile on another plate’s worth, as if to declare the abundance of her love.” This sometimes-heartbreaking narrative illustrates multiple levels of identity development, showing how children often reject parts of who they are to blend with a dominant culture. However, he also lucidly shows how he found his authentic identity as a gay man in college, and later integrated his Cambodian sense of self after meetings with his mother, biological father, grandmother, and extended family members. Some readers may wish that Chann had included more about his later adult life. However, as is, this is a beautiful story that will resonate with a wide audience.

An earnest and well-written account of a search for self.

Kirkus Reviews