The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
- Kei
- Feb 2, 2020
- 2 min read
Rating:
★★★☆☆
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with an advanced e-copy for an honest review.
The Gravity of Us is a queer-#ownvoices novel that mixes romance, journalism, reality TV and sci-fi in one entertaining package.
This novel gets your attention from the beginning, right away we day into who Cal is and who he wants to be. Sadly, that doesn’t match with his father, Calvin Lewis Sr, plans of becoming a pilot in NASA's newest mission, Orpheus V. Now, Cal finds himself in Clear Lake, Texas with no friends and his million followers on a platform where he regularly posts live journalistic videos I risk of disappearing.
I loved the cleverness of this book, trust me, it is like nothing I’ve read before. These weirdly entertaining combinations the author makes (science + reality TV) works on so many levels, I just enjoyed it too much. The narrative and descriptions of this book made it a well-written-quick read. The discussion of mental health was very real and necessary because there’s often this notion of ‘fixing’ what’s ‘broken’ that is a complete misconception of depression. I also appreciated the portrayal of the familial dynamics, especially with Cal’s, whose parents in spite of having a complicated relationship, still have a love for each other.
However, the book failed me in terms of characters and their development. First up, we have our main guy, Cal, who was annoying, whiny and quite selfish. Then, there’s Leon, who is actually a character that works by himself, his journey with depression felt real. Nonetheless, Leon & Cal didn’t really do it for me, they went from 0 to a 100 in nothing… I just couldn’t with them, too Insta-lovey.
Finally, everyone this book fun and really unique, and it comes out soon!
Book's release date: February 4th, 2020 by Bloomsbury YA
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