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Good Morning Moon: A Snapshot of an American Family
The bestselling poet, novelist, and biographer focuses his keen eye inward in this luminous memoir about the decision to start a family later in life only to be surprised by revelations from his own childhood.
In a unique latticework of a memoir, Brad Gooch paints an indelible portrait of becoming a father in middle age. Having experienced once unfathomable changes in what it means to be gay in American society, having lived through the AIDS crisis in New York and surviving the death of his first great love, Brad wasn’t longing for a conventional family life.
But in late middle age, he meets Paul, marries, and together they take the leap, soon having two boys through surrogacy. As with many new parents, the arrival of children spurs a reflection on his own upbringing as an only child in a comfortable town in Pennsylvania, and a mystery hidden in plain sight that only a DNA test can solve.
Pondering fundamental questions about the nature of family, while capturing the joys, humor, and hardship of raising kids, Good Morning Moon is an unforgettable addition to the literature of parenthood.
In a unique latticework of a memoir, Brad Gooch paints an indelible portrait of becoming a father in middle age. Having experienced once unfathomable changes in what it means to be gay in American society, having lived through the AIDS crisis in New York and surviving the death of his first great love, Brad wasn’t longing for a conventional family life.
But in late middle age, he meets Paul, marries, and together they take the leap, soon having two boys through surrogacy. As with many new parents, the arrival of children spurs a reflection on his own upbringing as an only child in a comfortable town in Pennsylvania, and a mystery hidden in plain sight that only a DNA test can solve.
Pondering fundamental questions about the nature of family, while capturing the joys, humor, and hardship of raising kids, Good Morning Moon is an unforgettable addition to the literature of parenthood.
- GenresMemoirNonfiction
192 pages, Hardcover
Published June 2, 2026
About the author
Brad Gooch
29 books117 followersBrad Gooch is the author of Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor (Little, Brown, 2009.) His previous books include City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara; as well as Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America; three novels--Scary Kisses, The Golden Age of Promiscuity, Zombie00; a collection of stories, Jailbait and Other Stories, chosen by Donald Barthelme for a Pushcart Foundation Writer’s Choice Award; a collection of poems, The Daily News; and two memoirs, Finding the Boyfriend Within and Dating the Greek Gods.
His work has been featured in numerous magazines including: The New Republic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Partisan Review, The Paris Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Art Forum, Harper’s Bazaar, The Nation, and regularly on The Daily Beast.
A Guggenheim fellow in Biography, he has received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, and a Furthermore grant in publishing from the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
A professor of English at William Paterson University, he earned his PhD at Columbia University, and lives in New York City.
His work has been featured in numerous magazines including: The New Republic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Partisan Review, The Paris Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Art Forum, Harper’s Bazaar, The Nation, and regularly on The Daily Beast.
A Guggenheim fellow in Biography, he has received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, and a Furthermore grant in publishing from the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
A professor of English at William Paterson University, he earned his PhD at Columbia University, and lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Brad Gooch has long been one of my favorite biographers. His books on Frank O'Hara, Flannery O'Connor, and Keith Haring are among the finest literary biographies I’ve read. So the moment I saw he had written a memoir, I immediately picked up GOOD MORNING, MOON. It exceeded my expectations.
On the surface, the memoir chronicles Gooch and his husband Paul building a family and raising two children, but the book is far richer than that premise alone suggests. From the beginning, Gooch draws readers into his deeply personal experience of living openly as a gay man during a time when marriage equality felt unimaginable - and then witnessing a world in which marriage, parenthood, and family suddenly became possible in entirely new ways.
The memoir captures the emotional, financial, and psychological complexities of queer parenthood with remarkable honesty. Gooch never shies away from the anxieties, vulnerabilities, and complications involved in surrogacy and fatherhood, and that candor gives the book tremendous emotional weight. At the same time, there is immense warmth and tenderness throughout.
What truly distinguishes this memoir is Gooch’s writing itself. His prose is sharp yet lyrical, intimate yet observant. Reading the book felt less like consuming a conventional memoir and more like inhabiting a fully realized world. You can practically feel the rooms he describes and experience each emotion alongside him. Few memoirists achieve that level of immersion.
It’s also an incredibly absorbing read. I finished it in a single day because I simply didn’t want to put it down.
A moving and beautifully written meditation on love, family, queer identity, and the evolving meaning of home.
On the surface, the memoir chronicles Gooch and his husband Paul building a family and raising two children, but the book is far richer than that premise alone suggests. From the beginning, Gooch draws readers into his deeply personal experience of living openly as a gay man during a time when marriage equality felt unimaginable - and then witnessing a world in which marriage, parenthood, and family suddenly became possible in entirely new ways.
The memoir captures the emotional, financial, and psychological complexities of queer parenthood with remarkable honesty. Gooch never shies away from the anxieties, vulnerabilities, and complications involved in surrogacy and fatherhood, and that candor gives the book tremendous emotional weight. At the same time, there is immense warmth and tenderness throughout.
What truly distinguishes this memoir is Gooch’s writing itself. His prose is sharp yet lyrical, intimate yet observant. Reading the book felt less like consuming a conventional memoir and more like inhabiting a fully realized world. You can practically feel the rooms he describes and experience each emotion alongside him. Few memoirists achieve that level of immersion.
It’s also an incredibly absorbing read. I finished it in a single day because I simply didn’t want to put it down.
A moving and beautifully written meditation on love, family, queer identity, and the evolving meaning of home.
June 10, 2026
I just finished an advance copy of Good Morning Moon: A Snapshot of an American Family by Brad Gooch.
At first glance, it's a memoir about becoming a parent later in life through surrogacy. It is that. But it's also about family, loss, identity, and the stories we inherit whether we realize it or not.
What struck me most wasn't the mechanics of how the family was created. It was the questions the book raises. What makes a family? How much of who we are comes from our upbringing versus our DNA? How well do we really know the people who raised us?
Gooch doesn't seem interested in arguing a position. Instead, he invites the reader into the uncertainty. As his family grows, he begins uncovering unexpected truths about his own past, creating a parallel story about parenthood and self-discovery.
I found myself thinking less about the author and more about my own life. The people who shaped me. The things I've accepted as fact. The ways families come together and sometimes come apart.
It's a relatively short book at under 200 pages, but it's the kind of book that lingers after you've put it down. Not because it gives answers, but because it leaves you with better questions.
And maybe that's what the best memoirs do.
At first glance, it's a memoir about becoming a parent later in life through surrogacy. It is that. But it's also about family, loss, identity, and the stories we inherit whether we realize it or not.
What struck me most wasn't the mechanics of how the family was created. It was the questions the book raises. What makes a family? How much of who we are comes from our upbringing versus our DNA? How well do we really know the people who raised us?
Gooch doesn't seem interested in arguing a position. Instead, he invites the reader into the uncertainty. As his family grows, he begins uncovering unexpected truths about his own past, creating a parallel story about parenthood and self-discovery.
I found myself thinking less about the author and more about my own life. The people who shaped me. The things I've accepted as fact. The ways families come together and sometimes come apart.
It's a relatively short book at under 200 pages, but it's the kind of book that lingers after you've put it down. Not because it gives answers, but because it leaves you with better questions.
And maybe that's what the best memoirs do.
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June 8, 2026Parenthood: memories and love.
This book was a pleasure to read.
Daddy and papa, both much older than most parents. But where's Mom? Two women helped to create each son. One egg donor and two surrogates. The author kept in touch with the donor, which I was wondering about. Also talked if they should tell kids who she is, if she would introduce her own child and will the other two half siblings want to know about their existence (she donated her eggs twice before). I also have questions about surrogates, but there's not much about them. There's either no more contact or they want to stay incognito. But I would still like to hear their side of the story.
The relationship with kids is adorable and while kids ask the craziest questions, this family has to answer more of them.
This book was a pleasure to read.
Daddy and papa, both much older than most parents. But where's Mom? Two women helped to create each son. One egg donor and two surrogates. The author kept in touch with the donor, which I was wondering about. Also talked if they should tell kids who she is, if she would introduce her own child and will the other two half siblings want to know about their existence (she donated her eggs twice before). I also have questions about surrogates, but there's not much about them. There's either no more contact or they want to stay incognito. But I would still like to hear their side of the story.
The relationship with kids is adorable and while kids ask the craziest questions, this family has to answer more of them.
June 16, 2026
I won this through a giveaway. I enjoyed it. It really makes you think about and feel empathetic towards those who have different lives and experiences than yourself.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews