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Earth to Moon

A Memoir

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

From Moon Unit Zappa, the daughter of musical visionary Frank Zappa, comes a memoir of growing up in her unconventional household in 1970s Los Angeles, coming of age in the Hollywood Hills in the 1980s as the "Valley Girl," gaining momentum as an accidental VJ on a new network called MTV, and finding herself after losing her father, then her mother, and the testing of her most important relationships.

How can you navigate life as the "normal" child of an extraordinary creative? What is it like to live in a hothouse of individuality that on one hand fosters freedom of expression, and on the other tamps down the basic desires of a child for boundaries and affection? Should you call your parents Frank and Gail from birth?

For Moon Unit Zappa, processing a life so punctuated by the whims of genius, the tastes of popular culture, the calculus of celebrity, and the nature of love, was at times eviscerating, at times illuminating—but mostly deeply confusing. Yes, this is a book about growing up in the shadow of Frank Zappa. Moon and her family were a source of constant curiosity, for their unique names and for their father's reputation as a musical savant and fierce protector of the First Amendment, even though he was never a commercial success.

Searching for her own path, first as her father's inadvertent musical collaborator and public sidekick with their surprise mega radio hit, then as an actress, an artist, a spiritual person, a wife and mother, Moon Unit calculates ever-changing equations of fame, family, death and ultimately legacy when dealt the shocking news that Gail's will established an unequal distribution among the remaining, tight-knit Zappas, catalyzing a quest for meaning and redemption.

With love, humor, and humility, Earth to Moon reminds us that every family is faced with problems that are unique to their particular makeup, but the journey to growing into yourself with grace is as universal as it gets.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Author and narrator Moon Unit Zappa recounts her nontraditional upbringing in the same simple, honest manner she had as a child. Zappa emphasizes certain words as she describes how her younger self craved attention from her parents, especially her father, Frank Zappa, the renowned innovative musician. She shares high school memories and her family's reputation for liking to shock. It's at this point that more emotion becomes evident in Zappa's voice. She begins articulating the complexities of her feelings, aided by years of therapy. Snippets from the "Valley Girl" song that Zappa lent her vocals to are showcased with the requisite bored girly affectation. Zappa's pace helps immerse listeners in her recollections. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 7, 2024
      In this outstanding debut, Zappa chronicles her unconventional upbringing as the daughter of musician Frank Zappa. Born in 1967 L.A., Zappa reflects on being raised by parents who insisted she and her three siblings call them by their first names and taught them to use profanity. Though Zappa expresses ambivalence about the “chaotic, full-throttle” household of her youth (she was left naked in a room of strangers at two, then told to lighten up when she mentioned the episode to her mother as an adult), she writes rapturously of playing pretend with her siblings, and of the rare occasions when her father wasn’t working and they listened to music together. (They recorded the 1982 hit “Valley Girl” together, though the song’s success intensified existing tensions with Zappa’s music producer mother.) Though Zappa resented her role as the family peacemaker, she reconciled with both of her parents before they died of cancer—her father in 1993, her mother in 2015—but surfed new waves of tumult when probate complications regarding her father’s estate estranged her from her siblings. Zappa’s unvarnished prose and resolve to capture the difficult and beautiful parts of her upbringing with equal clarity elevates this above other memoirs by the children of celebrities. It’s a fascinating window into a complicated family.

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  • English

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