Shine Shine Shine: A Novel

Written by Lydia Netzer

Narrated by Joshilyn Jackson

A New York Times Notable Book!

"Over the moon with a metaphysical spin. Heart-tugging…it is struggling to understand the physical realities of life and the nature of what makes us human….Nicely unpredictable…Extraordinary." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

When Maxon met Sunny, he was seven years, four months, and eighteen-days old. Or, he was 2693 rotations of the earth old. Maxon was different. Sunny was different. They were different together.

Now, twenty years later, they are married, and Sunny wants, more than anything, to be "normal." She's got the housewife thing down perfectly, but Maxon, a genius engineer, is on a NASA mission to the moon, programming robots for a new colony. Once they were two outcasts who found unlikely love in each other: a wondrous, strange relationship formed from urgent desire for connection. But now they're parents to an autistic son. And Sunny is pregnant again. And her mother is dying in the hospital. Their marriage is on the brink of imploding, and they're at each other's throats with blame and fear. What exactly has gone wrong?

Sunny wishes Maxon would turn the rocket around and come straight-the-hell home.

When an accident in space puts the mission in peril, everything Sunny and Maxon have built hangs in the balance. Dark secrets, long-forgotten murders, and a blond wig all come tumbling to the light. And nothing will ever be the same.…
A debut of singular power and intelligence, Shine Shine Shine is a unique love story, an adventure between worlds, and a stunning novel of love, death, and what it means to be human.

Shine Shine Shine is a New York Times Notable Book of 2012.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jul 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781427221407

Lydia Netzer

LYDIA NETZER lives in Virginia with her husband and two redheaded children. She is the author of How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky and Shine Shine Shine, a NYT Notable Book and a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize.

Reviews for Shine Shine Shine

[sharn_3 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Ok. I never give books 1 star, ever but I just didn't get this book. I didn't enjoy it and I don't even feel compelled to write a review, simply because I don't know what to say. I thought it was choppy and weird.

[nightprose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an extremely unusual debut novel. While not my usual genre, I am glad I was given the opportunity to read and review it.Maxon and Sunny are a young couple, raising a family in the suburbs. However, they are not your typical couple. He is a genius, on a space mission. His goal is to colonize the moon with robots. Back at home on Earth, pregnant Sunny is raising their autistic son. She is also caring for her terminally ill mother. She wants Maxon home, where he is needed. Stress is pushing their marriage to the edge.Suddenly, the powers of the universe shift. Maxon is stranded in space. Everything is different; nothing will ever be the same.Being raised in the developing space travel era, I watched Neil Armstrong’s legendary first steps on the moon. Even at age ten, I worried about the astronauts being stranded in space. I couldn’t help but think of David Bowie’s song “Space Oddity” and the fictitious Major Tom in the song. Wildly imaginative and creative, this story is still intelligent. Lydia Netzer has written an emotionally charged, very unique first novel.

[spincerely · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really loved this book though it was completely unbelievable. I would love for there to be a sequel. I would like to know more about these characters and how their lives progress. I also have some questions about The Mother. What I thought was true, didn't really seem to be.

[litfan_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was drawn to the unusual storyline in this novel and had really hoped to enjoy it more; however, it fell somewhat flat for me due to insufficient character development and a timeline that jumped around a bit too much. It's the story of Sunny, a woman born with no facial or body hair, her husband, Maxon, who appears to have Aspberger's, and her son Bubber, who is also on the autism spectrum. At the start of the story, Sunny is pregnant and coping with the impending death of her mother and astronaut Maxon's journey into space.An unexpected event early in the story causes Sunny to question everything; she has worn a wig for years to fit in to the upper class neighborhood in which her family lives, and she suddenly revolts against her prior attempts to conform. The story succeeds at exploring the different kinds of masks that we wear in sometimes humorous, and sometimes poignant, ways; unfortunately, the characters weren't developed enough to maintain a deeper emotional connection to the story. They felt somewhat like caricatures, as though the author were trying so hard to present unique characters that they ultimately felt forced and unnatural.While the love story between Sunny and Maxon is quite touching, the movement of the story in time makes it difficult to ever really settle into their story. I felt as though I had a bit of literary whiplash because the story would jump from present day, to college, to childhood, then up to middle school, etc.In the end I felt that it was a somewhat enjoyable read with potential to be much better, had the characters been better developed and the timeline a bit tighter.

[peggygillman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I started this book and put it down because it seemed too strange and not interesting but then the Times reviewed it and loved it so I picked it up again. And boy was I glad I did. Sunny has been bald since birth without apology but decides she needs to wear a wig when she has a child. Maxon is a genus who has won the Nobel Prize from his work on robot and has Asperger’s. Maxon goes up into space to deliver robots to the moon and everything goes wrong on earth and near the moon. Wonderful! 8/

[sugarcreekranch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Shine Shine Shine is so different from anything else I've read. It's a novel about a suburban housewife with very relatable issues: a dying mother, a struggling young son, and a husband who spends a lot of time travelling for work. But there are quirks: Sunny is completely bald, her husband is in space deploying robots to the moon, and her son's problems are the same issues that make her genius husband who he is. This is very atypical love story, with two very atypical characters. The author's voice is smart and fresh. I loved how she had Maxon (the husband) occasionally express his thoughts in formulas and pseudocode. And I loved how raw and honest Sunny's feelings were.Disclosure: I received a pre-release copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Julia Bauman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very raw heartfelt story! Was able to really get inside the characters minds.
Beware of some language and explicit scenes.

[jaylia3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Maxon’s autistic mind parses the world through formula infused thoughts. He’s married to Sunny, his lifelong love, a born hairless free spirit whose artistic acumen has allowed her to construct the facade of suburban normality she thinks is best for their young son. But as the novel opens, things aren’t going so well. Maxon is flying to the moon on a NASA mission with robots he designed to build a lunar colony, but his now meteor damaged rocket is drifting, lost in space and cut off from all Earth communication. Sunny is on an hurried errand in her minivan but her car is hit by a Land Rover, sending her wig out the window and into a muddy puddle, exposing her bald secret to the world. Plus her mother is dying slowly in the local hospital, her son is medicated with an ever changing pill regime to quash his autistic behaviors, and her uterus is holding a new baby who’s threatening to come out too early. Flashback scenes in the rugged rural Pennsylvania town where Sunny and Maxon grew up, and Burma where Sunny was born to a missionary father and a determined mother, fill out the story which reads like science flecked poetry. Shine Shine Shine captivated and charmed me completely. I love its celebration of neurodiversity, and as someone who has been temporarily hairless through chemotherapy I'm thrilled to read a book featuring a bald woman.

[readermom68 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to like this book. So many people have given it glowing reviews, but it just left me saying 'Huh?' I felt like the author was just trying to go in too many directions and left too many question unanswered, without enough information for the reader to come to any definitive conclusions; you basically just have to guess.

[melissarochelle_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a GREAT READ! The characters are unique, the writing is fantastic, and the story is beautiful. I laughed, I cried, I related (I mean, we all have those moments where we just want to FIT IN!). I loved the structure of the story, the author kept it moving forward, but also went back to fill in the gaps. Not only that, I would wonder about a piece of Maxon and Sunny's story and the next segment would answer the question beautifully. I just loved it!And for some reason, I keep thinking of The Time Traveler's Wife. They're very vaguely similar, but I enjoyed this one far more...mainly because I wasn't lost in anyone's time travels.

[mojomomma_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sunny and Maxon have known each other most of their lives. Maxon is a quirky robotic engineer working at NASA. Sunny is his very pregnant wife and mother to their 4 year old autistic son. Maxon seems like the damaged partner in the relationship, but Sunny has her hidden issues as well. When Maxon's spaceship is hit by a meteor, Maxon's perceived weakness becomes his greatest strength and Sunny decides to come clean and live her life differently.

[julie10reads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Netzer’s debut, about a heavily pregnant woman left to care for her dying mother and autistic son while her Nobel-winning husband travels to the moon, takes the literary concept of charmingly quirky characters to a new level. Maxon was different. Sunny was different. They were different together. Now, twenty years later, they are married, and Sunny wants, more than anything, to be “normal.” She’s got the housewife thing down perfectly, but Maxon, a genius engineer, is on a NASA mission to the moon, programming robots for a new colony. Once they were two outcasts who found unlikely love in each other: a wondrous, strange relationship formed from urgent desire for connection. But now they’re parents to an autistic son. And Sunny is pregnant again.And her mother is dying in the hospital. Their marriage is on the brink of imploding, and they’re at each other’s throats with blame and fear. What exactly has gone wrong? Summary BPLThis one gets my vote for best novel of 2012. I listened to the audio version on my way to and from work—about two weeks. Then I listened to it again. Then I borrowed the hard copy from the library. After all that, I still don’t “get” all of it…which is why I want my friends to read it so we can talk it out.A stand-alone piece, woven with the skill of a literary Penelope, Shine Shine Shine is unlike any novel I’ve ever read. Ms Netzer rivals Geraldine Brooks for ruthless economy of prose but finishes with a lighter texture. It somewhat resembles The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime in that it there was no precedent for either novel, no category—other than fiction—to house it. Of the title, the author said in an interview: It’s inspired by a lot of things — a song by Carbon Leaf, a scene about Maxon imagining Sunny’s bald head as a light source, the behavior of the moon, the exhortation to be yourself, be weird and awesome and noticeable.Lydia Netzer’s original theme may have been about resisting the elemental pull to “fit in” but the novel grew far beyond that. Her story leads us to the very edges of life, to: the birth of Sunny’s second child; her mother’s death; AI and robots capable of laughter; astronauts in lunar orbit; her husband’s descent into volcanic pipes on the Moon. Sound heavy, dark? Not so! Even though, as Ms Netzer says below:the thing [Shine Shine Shine] has been revised fifty thousand times, and its pages contain everything I wanted to say about humanity, love, death, motherhood, and fear. Every word has been analyzed, moved, changed, tweaked, and every line is purposeful.the writing is conversational, quirky and funny. 9.5 out 10 I highly recommend the audio version: the reader is an author herself as well as a friend of Netzer’s. For fans of quality, individuality and relationships expressed through mathematical equations.

[aelizabethj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

WHAT

Okay, no, this was really a beautiful book and I loved it and all buttttttttt it ended so abruptly that I was like, hmm? Wait, what? I don't have twenty more pages to finish this up? Other than literally TWO throwaway sentences in the last couple of pages, it leaves things very open ended. However, with all that said, this really was a beautiful book, and the story was original and engaging and enthralling, but seriously. WHAT.

One of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read : "This is what it means to die. You do not finish." This sentence alone bumped it up to four stars for me. Hurts so good.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the most original novels I have read in a very long time and with the amount that I read that is really saying something. Strange but brilliant, this novel and Sunny just grabbed me and didn't let go. Trying to be perfect and fit in is her goal when she becomes a mother for the first time, her son Bubber is autistic, and her family is so very different. Loved all the angles, the writing and the details of the backgrounds that formed each of these characters. They are all so very flawed but each is endearing in a different way, each struggling to grasp something just out of reach. This is a novel one has to actually read because it is extremely difficult to accurately describe all the variances in this novel. Wonderfully interesting debut novel, can't wait to see what this author comes up with next. ARC from NetGalley.

[krau0098 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I got a copy of this audiobook to review from Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review. This was an excellent read that is more contemporary fiction than science fiction. It’s a book about life in general and how people try to force themselves into a “normal” mold. Sunny’s life is perfect. She has the perfect house, a successful husband, and good friends. Everything is just right except that: her husband just left on a trip to the moon, her 4 year old son is autistic, her mother is dying, she is very pregnant, and she has no hair. Her husband, Maxon, loves robots and he loves his family and is brilliant, but he’s up in space. As Sunny’s world begins to fall apart she starts to realize that there is no normal, everyone is just as flawed as everyone else.The audiobook was very well done. The voices for different characters were easy to differentiate and the narrator was pleasant to listen to. The book does jump around in time some, this was denoted by pauses in the audiobook or by the start of a new chapter. The time changes were a bit hard to follow...but after listening a few seconds I was usually able to figure out who was talking and what time frame we were in.The book explores Sunny and Maxon and their past and present. We learn how they got to be where they are and how Sunny tried to force normality on them when she got pregnant. Sunny and Maxon are both incredibly unique people with an interesting relationship. But Sunny has an idea of what a mother and family should be and tries to force them into that mold. The deeper Sunny digs into the lives of those around her the more she finds that normal isn’t really all that normal.This is a really great book that encompasses a number of issues really well. This book deals with space travel, robots, autism, motherhood, womanhood, what it means to be normal and just so many things. It is written in a piece-meal way. You hear from the wife/mother Sunny and you hear from her husband, Maxon. You listen to what is currently happening in their lives and what has happened in the past. Despite the way the plot jumps around it all comes together to make an interesting and cohesive story. The characters are all very real people and the story in very engaging. You keep wondering if Maxon will make it to the moon, if Sunny will have her baby before he gets back, and if their son will do okay off of his meds.This is definitely more contemporary fiction and just a story about life in general. This is really not a sci-fi/fantasy read. Yeah there is a bit about space travel and robots...but that takes a backseat to reading about Sunny and how she deals with her life. Still I enjoyed it overall and enjoyed how it makes you think. The one thing I did not enjoy at all was the ending...absolutely nothing is resolved. Although this is in keeping with the story (it's about life and life doesn't have any clean cut answers and endings); I hate endings that are that unresolved and open. So just a warning to those who dislike open ended stories without any resolution.Overall this was a wonderfully written book, that was creative and engaging. The characters are completely believable and the plot was engaging. This is more of a contemporary fiction than science fiction so keep that in mind; there is some space travel but that takes a back seat to watching Sunny deal with her every day life. This book is about realizing that everyone is different and that there is no normal, instead there are many different ways to lead a fulfilling life. It is a book that will definitely make you think about the way you live your life. Recommended to those interested in contemporary literature, quirky characters, and autism.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: I was attracted to this book because of the autistic son. Both my own son and myself are autistic (me: Asperger's) so I am often drawn to books that depict these characters. The book also sounded like it would be "quirky", something I really enjoy.All I can really say about this book is "WOW"! What a beautiful story. Sunny and Maxon share the ultimate love story. This book is about love, the pure and simple kind and how complicated we can make it out to be. What is experienced between Sunny and Maxon is that something kind of wonderful that one can only hope they will get to experience in some small way in one's own life. This is a romance for people who don't read romances. The book also explores autism and Asperger's in all its awesome reality, both its drawbacks and its benefits. We see this way of being from all possible angles, theories and thoughts. I was truly swept away with these characters and in love with both autistics, Bubber and Maxon, as I saw myself and my son in them to certain degrees, while totally relating to them. And yet I also related to Sunny, who has her own difference she must live with who only wants to be "normal" and have her family fit in and *be* "normal" like everyone else. But as she learns, no one is really normal and the most normal of us all usually are faking it on the outside, just trying to fit in like everybody else. An extremely powerful book, with characters who hit your heart and won't easily be forgotten. I rarely read a book and imagine re-reading it, but this is one I *know* I will be rereading a few years down the line!

[dablackwood · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Not really a review - more a comment. I had to stop reading this book because I found it so boring. The main character, Sunny, is bald from birth and this seems to be the sum total of the author's interest. I did not want to pick it up and could care less if Maxon returns from "space," if Bubbers gets better or if the new baby is born safely. Just don't care.

[msf59 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone”-Elton JohnSunny, is a young housewife, struggling to keep up appearances, while her life is sliding out of control. Her son, Bubber, is autistic and she is pregnant with her second child. She wears a variety of wigs, to disguise the fact she was born bald and remains so. Her mother is dying from cancer and her brilliant scientist husband is currently heading to space, on a rocket, to assist colonizing the moon with robots. The marriage was on shaky ground before his departure and it looks like Sunny is left to handle it all alone.This is a beautifully written story about helplessness, identity and making tough choices. It also contains a razor-sharp wit, causing this reader to break into a smile on a few occasions. Think of a cross between Anne Tyler and the film directors, Tim Burton and David Lynch, with a warmer, more optimistic under-coating.Netzer is a fresh, engaging new talent and this turned out to be one of the most pleasant literary surprises, I’ve experienced this year.

[dandelion_cottage · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm giving this 3 stars because the story held my interest, but the characters just kind of annoyed me. Maxon was like a much less endearing version of Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory," Sunny in her "perfect housewife" phase made me think of Betty Draper on "Mad Men," and I pictured Les Weathers as a deranged Ted Baxter from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." I can't think of a TV character to compare Emma to, but I had trouble relating to most of her behavior too.

In spite of that, I still wanted to follow the story of these quirky people to the end.

[draak_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. If you are a mother than you will probably see a little bit (or alot) of Sunny in you. It brings out such a range of emotions. Just an incredibly good book. I won this from Goodreads and I highly recommend it.