7.18.2019

Gravity is the Thing by Jaclyn Moriarty


Gravity Is the Thing by Jaclyn Moriarty
Publisher: Harper Books (July 23, 2019)
Description from the publisher:
Twenty years ago, Abigail Sorenson’s brother Robert went missing one day before her sixteenth birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail of a self-help manual, the Guidebook, whose anonymous author promised to make her life soar to heights beyond her wildest dreams.
The Guidebook’s missives have remained a constant in Abi’s life—a befuddling yet oddly comforting voice through her family’s grief over her brother’s disappearance, a move across continents, the devastating dissolution of her marriage, and the new beginning as a single mother and cafĂ© owner in Sydney.
Now, two decades after receiving those first pages, Abi is invited to an all-expenses paid weekend retreat to learn “the truth” about the Guidebook. It’s an opportunity too intriguing to refuse. If Everything is Connected, then surely the twin mysteries of the Guidebook and a missing brother must be linked?
What follows is completely the opposite of what Abi expected––but it will lead her on a journey of discovery that will change her life––and enchant readers. Gravity Is the Thing is a smart, unusual, wickedly funny novel about the search for happiness that will break your heart into a million pieces and put it back together, bigger and better than before.

This was one of those odd books that was not at all my kind of read for about 90 percent of the pages, and I adored the last 10 percent. I am a big supporter of DNF'ing (did not finish) books that I don't enjoy, but sometimes there's a mystery that I want to get to the bottom of and I just keep going. The mystery in Gravity is the Thing is indeed solved, and with a magnificent sucker punch ending that completely changed my thoughts on this novel in the final few pages. So, I'm having a bit of conundrum on my overall opinion...
First, here's what didn't work for me. The story is told in a dual timeline, present day with revealing glimpses to the past that slowly reveal how Abi came be a single mother. Normally I really love a dual timeline, yet the structure of the past timeline utilizes Abigail's yearly 'reflections' (her responses to each year of chapters she receives from The Guidebook) which are written in  'stream of consciousness' style. She learned this particular technique during a class she took with her long lost brother, so it makes sense to employ, yet it is all over the place and just didn't flow. The present day sections are not much improved, even setting aside the absurd plot device that brings her together with her current love interest. The storylines seem disjointed and I felt as if so much could have been eliminated to improve the pacing. Whole sections are dedicated to Abigail reading several different self-help books and applying their advice in her everyday life. These were cute asides, but had nothing to do with the plot or character development and felt tedious. I would have liked more development with her love interests, of which I didn't feel terribly invested. 
What DID work for me, however, was the writing - there were some absolutely lovely and astute passages amid what felt like ramblings. And, the plot threads that Moriarty pulls together in the end to solve the mystery of Abigail's missing brother, are so well done. The reveal was so poignant and it just broke my heart. In the end, the absurdness of The Guidebook, and the gathering of characters who received the chapters, was needed to deliver said ending. I just think she could have drawn straighter lines to get there. Overall I wouldn't give this a hearty endorsement, because it took too much work to get to the resolution. I'd recommend this for readers who might enjoy stream of consciousness philosophical musings on self help.
Many thanks to Harper Books for a complimentary copy for review!

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