User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
A wonderful, heartwarming book, yet heartbreaking at the same time. Abigail, a single mum to five year old Oliver, has had some tragic times in her life. First her brother disappeared when she was a teenager, then she broke up with her husband, "the love of her life" and gone through her parents divorce. During all these times she's been receiving mysterious help through chapters of 'The Guidebook', a self help manual she started receiving about the time her brother disappeared. Now, twenty years later, she's been invited to an all-expenses paid retreat, to finally learn the truth of 'The Guidebook.'
Abigail goes, somehow convinced that 'The Guidebook' and her brothers disappearance are connected, yet what she finds is something entirely different indeed. She finds herself going to a series of seminars connected to 'The Guidebook', finds new friends and really starts to find herself.
Gravity Is The Thing is a lovely, witty tale, beautifully written and original. Jaclyn Moriarty will make you laugh, and she'll make you cry. A compelling storyline that you wont want to put down, you'll find yourself neglecting what you're supposed to be doing. Recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
I thought this book was absolutely delightful. I frequently wondered how much of the author was invested in Abigail, her main character. Surely to be able to write a person whose brain runs around in circles one would have to be a little that way oneself!
Personally I would love to meet Abi. She was intelligent, funny, caring and original. Someone very special. Her story was alternately funny and sad and sometimes heartbreaking. I admit to tears especially the scene in the hospital when the man I really wanted her to be with turned up to hold her hand!
What else to say but that I loved the whole book and will be thinking about it for days. Jaclyn is one very talented author - just like her sisters!
Rating: really liked it
OH MY FRAGILE HEART.GUH.
So much love for this.
SO MUCH.When I was younger, I discovered Finding Cassie Crazy. I didn't even realise it was a second book in a series. I just fell instantly in love. It was so witty and light and
fun but it had real talk, too, and made you think long and hard about important things.
I loved this for all the same reasons
and more. It was so incredibly relevant, despite featuring a single mum. I normally feel distanced from stories told by mothers but not so with this one. Because
it's a story about life and how, sometimes, it kinda just happens to you without you getting to have much say.I don't really want to say too much more, other than that it's beautifully written, and quirky, and disjointed, but somehow so
seamless, so elegant and graceful and
light. There's true substance but it's not oppressive; it lifts you slowly and lowers you gently.
An absolutely stunning read that left me with a lot to think about, and reaffirmed my admiration for this author. Can't wait to read what she writes next.
Rating: really liked it
There is such a feeling of lightness and sense of joy in this book that it's impossible not to feel uplifted by it. Moriarty's writing style is light and breezy, funny but also heartbreaking at the same time, and the characters are wholly original. It felt like such a unusual premise for a novel, that a random selection of young people have been selected to receive regular mailings of chapters of a self-help guide for twenty years, but somehow it works.
Abi Sorensen received her letter asking if she would like to receive chapters of the Guidebook, shortly before her brother Robert disappeared on the day before her sixteenth birthday. In her mind, the two events are linked and she's never got over the grief of not knowing what happened to her brother and has kept receiving the chapters year after year. So when she receives an invitation to attend a retreat to hear the truth about the Guidebook she decides to go, leaving her mother babysitting her four year old son.
At the time of the retreat Abi's life revolved around her young son and her wonderfully named Happiness Cafe (who wouldn't want to go there?), a single mother (after separating from her duplicitous husband), without any time for dating or a social life. It was therefore lovely to watch her life and spirit lift as she made new friends through the Guidebook and learns to embrace life. A lovely feel-good book with a heart-wrenching mystery which makes for very compelling reading. 4.5★
With many thanks to Good Reading and Pan Macmillan Australia for a copy of this book to read
Rating: really liked it
This is the story of Abigail Sorenson, 35 years old, mother of Oscar, former lawyer and now the owner of The Happiness Cafe which only serves food that releases serotonins. My kind of cafe. She gets an invitation to an all expenses paid retreat on an island in the Bass Strait where she will learn the truth about chapters of a self help guide books she has been receiving since she was 15. Free holiday? Yes please. So off she pops. There she meets a disparate group of people including Niall who she has a brief relationship with and Wilbur who is running the retreat. They do some weird activities to ‘find the balance’ and ‘learn to fly’. Yes, indeed. At this point I confess I nearly gave up but I have a defiant nature and so I kept going and although there are some parts I did not particularly enjoy there are others where I definitely did, in particular the concept of learning to flying. Part of the story deals with the loss of Abi’s brother Rob (15) who had just had a a diagnosis of MS. Despite a police search no trace of him is found which clearly has a devastating effect on Abi and her very likeable parents. Although these two aspects seem unconnected the ‘learning to fly’ helps Abi accept the loss.
The book has some very likeable characters especially Abi who is funny, easy going, quirky and very caring. Oscar, her son is utterly delightful and I love his expressions. There are some funny sections and some good descriptions of people and place. However, a lot gets lost in over detail and there is some repetition as the story goes backwards and forwards in time. I like the end where Abi sees that she can overcome her fears and learn to fly, that there is hope, that friendship is paramount and you can fulfil your dreams.
Overall, an ok read, interesting in places with a thoughtful premise but I’m not sure that it is a book I will remember for long.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the ARC. Publication on 2/1/20.
Rating: really liked it
4.5
The thing is this novel enthralled and surprised me in unexpected ways.
Gravity Is The Thing (love the title) is about many things, beautifully pulled together in this first adult novel from Jaclyn Moriarty.
Abigail Sorensen began receiving the "Guidebook" twenty years prior, the year her fifteen-year-old brother, Robert, disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.
Abi's now a thirty-six-year-old single mother of a boy and the part-owner of the Happiness Cafe in Sydney.
Her life revolves around her child and work.
She gets an opportunity to attend a free retreat organised by the son of the people who had been sending the Guidebook. There she meets a mix of people, although only a few of them will be chosen to attend a special seminar back in Sydney. Is that some kind of pyramid scheme, a cult?
This novel is about finding your way and moving on when grief, heartbreak over a failed marriage and the day-to-day struggles seem to cage you.
Despite the above, the tone of the novel is very light, with some amusing episodes.
I had a good chuckle at Abi's analysis of many very popular self-help books, such as
The Secret,
The Celestine Profecy,
He's Just Not That Into You to name just a few.
I'm not doing this novel justice, so I'll just sum it up by saying that it was surprising, intelligent, relatable, touching, uplifting and I loved every minute of the twelve hours plus I spent in its company.
I hope Jaclyn Moriarty will write more novels for grown-ups. She's got a fan in me.
A huge shout out to Aimee Horne who was absolutely magnificent. So now I've read novels by all the Moriarty sisters, who write books (three out of five are published writers). They're a talented bunch.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 STARS.
When I started this book, I thought, Wow, I’m really going to love this book.....
But then, it petered off for me:(
We meet Abi, who has been receiving “The Guidebook” in the mail for 20 years. In fact, she started receiving them the day her brother, Robert, disappeared. Each month she received a new chapter for her to ponder and do activities. She has been invited to a retreat, all expenses paid, by the son, Wilbur, of the originators of “The Guidebook” From there, she joins Wilbur’s weekly group.
I really loved the character of Abi- she is a single Mom who lost her brother when he disappeared and then lost her husband through divorce. (Not a spoiler) . She was such a likeable messed up soul. My favourite parts of the book were the back stories of Abi’s life. Her time with the “group”, as they learn the principles of gravity and flight I found to be tedious.
This book is ultimately about how to live life. Abi spends a lot of time reading self help books and analyzing herself and her life. There is definitely some poking fun at all these types of books.
I do feel that the last 60 pages elevated the book for me. I loved how the author brought it all together.
So, overall, a good book that required patience on my part. This book has been loved by many readers and I must admit, I tend to feel guilty when I don’t feel the same way. So read it and please and decide for yourselves!
A line I loved:
“Headlights flared through the window, flaring in my chest, and I understood why Emily Dickinson’s poetry is so terse. It hurts too much to carry on. You keep coming up against the sharp, you need a break, a fence. Niall’s silence, like Robert’s, grew from reprimand to something more like punishment, a scourging.”
Rating: really liked it
4+ stars
What a lovely, lovely novel!
Well, I need to back up. The first 10% seemed completely hokey, but then the story shifts and the beginning made sense and I fell in love with this novel and its narrator and I gobbled it up. The story is told by Abi, who at 37 is a single mother with more than her share of sadness in her past. But since she was 16 years old, she had been receiving unsolicited chapters of a quirky self help book in the mail. Now, she is called to attend a reunion of all the other people who had been receiving chapters from the book. Hokey, see! But there's far more to the story than this unpromising beginning. Abi is funny, sad and introspective, and the whole story is written from her lovely point of view. The beginning of Abi's sadness was the disappearance of her brother when she turned 16, which is a mystery and ache than permeate the whole novel. And the puzzling chapters and their provenance morph into a lovely subplot of human connections. I'm trying to say enough without saying much because this is a lovely reading experience to be savoured as you go. This novel is human, philosophical, sad and funny -- but it doesn't take itself too seriously.
Thanks to Goodreads friend Bianca for bringing this one to my attention. And thanks for Edelweiss for giving me access to an advance copy.
Rating: really liked it
I loved every single thing about this and am bereft at its being over.
Rating: really liked it
“Life! Honestly! It’s just a series of rebukes from the universe for judgmental thoughts.”
“My impressionistic glances might be more like impressionistic, long, unnerving stares.”
Much of Jaclyn Moriarty’s novel, “Gravity Is The Thing”, is full of impressionistic glances. Moriarty’s main character, Abi, even informs the reader that she’s using the technique that she picked up in a creative writing workshop. It works well in this quirky and at times zany novel.
Yet within the humor lies human heartbreak. Abi is a very relatable character. Abi is a young adult, going through a period of finding happiness and relevancy. Additionally, Abi is tyring to make sense of her personal tragedies and traumas. Those events, by definition, are painful; yet Moriarty finds whacky ways for Abi to grow.
Abi’s life has been defined by her brother Robert’s disappearance on her sixteenth birthday. They were emotionally close, being only eleven months apart. They celebrated being “twins” for one month a year. Abi’s birthday is always a big deal because she breaks the twin age. Robert’s disappearance weighs heavy on Abi through her life.
Abi goes on a retreat and meets a group of eccentric (and lovable) characters. Through meetings with this group, Abi eventually finds her way. Adding humor to the story, Moriarty pokes fun at the self-help genre of books. Abi tries all the theories, and believe me; you will recognize yourself in at least one of them.
This is a sweet and fun story with more depth than read at first glance. The impressionistic glances technique works well. I enjoyed this as an upbeat novel that provides the reader with faith in humanity.
Rating: really liked it
*https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogsp...
Abigail is a single mum trying to get on with her life and recognise her desire for love whilst bringing up her child, as best she can. Always doubting herself. Everyone she had loved had left her.
Abi’s mind was always running around in circles and it always came back to Robert’s disappearance.
The mystery of Robert’s disappearance compelled me on until I discovered the relevance of the Guidebook and then this became another part of the story I was intrigued by and eager to find out where and if the two plots would join.
Moriarty’s writing is clever, witty, calm, erratic, whimsical and chaotic changing as the writing reflects Abi’s moods. She breaks all the rules of writing and pulls it off beautifully.
Gravity is the Thing is a story that explores grief and loss and just trying to do your best. It’s about human connection, coincidences and fate. Moriarty is a keen observer of people and their foibles.
This is a thought provoking read that will definitely open up more contemplation on a second reading.
I liked the double meaning in the title, which becomes apparent as the story progresses.
Gravity is the thing that prevents us from flying, literally.
Gravity is the thing that prevents our spirit from flying and attaining happiness.
Moriarty has written a story that is tender and uniquely original.
To learn more about the author you can read my interview with Jaclyn Moriarty here
Rating: really liked it
I honestly don’t even know how to begin talking about this book. I have so many thoughts about it, totally disjointed, and the idea of structuring them into something readable is daunting. I was unsure of this book at first, but after a while I was falling more in love with it with every passing chapter.
From the beginning, you as a reader can honestly not tell where this book is heading. Not at all. After a mysterious letter leads a group of seemingly unconnected people to a retreat, where a select few will learn the secrets of human flight, how much do you utilise the suspension of disbelief? After all, none of the people there believe in what they’re studying, so why should you. But there is always a tiny hint of “but, what if?” hiding in the background.
So yes, this book is about the theory of human flight. But god, it’s about so much more than that.
Light-hearted ridiculousness has been perfectly balanced by Moriarty with gut-punching devastation. When this book hits hard, it hits hard. Abigail, the narrator, has a tone similar to that of characters such as Kimmy Schmidt and Eleanor Oliphant – and the almost naive outlook that these characters share is mirrored also in the trauma under the surface.
The exploration of self-help books is a potent theme throughout the story. “The Guidebook”, non-chronological chapters of which Abigail had been receiving through the post since she was a teenager, is what draws the key group of characters together, after all. The outlandishness of the book’s purpose – to teach humans how to soar through the sky like birds – lends to the satirical nature of this exploration. And yet, the story also feels – to me, at least – like a kind of homage, too. A cautious one. Via The Guidebook and various other self-help books, and also via her critique of them, Abigail goes on a journey of self-discovery throughout the story.
The final few chapters were so painfully honest, and one scene especially had me particularly choked up with its naked depiction of emotions, long-buried, suddenly surfacing in the most brutal way.
Summing up this book is impossible, but to me the most striking theme is the exploration of past trauma – particularly trauma that has not had its closure.
I definitely recommend this book, regardless of whether talks of “human flight” and “self-help” have put you off. Go into it with an open mind, because it will take you on a journey.
Rating: really liked it
I’m not sure if I’m missing something with this or what, but I didn’t care for this book. It honestly didn’t make a lot of sense to me by the end. It was so disjointed, at times boring and very strangely written. I really wanted to like it, but the more I pushed through, the more I found myself disliking it.
Rating: really liked it
Gravity Is the Thing was an enjoyable, whimsical read, with a touch of romance and some solid underlying themes about how we can choose to live authentic lives. It was my first read of a book by Jaclyn Moriarty, though I have previously read and enjoyed fiction written by two of her similarly talented sisters.
The book follows a dual-timeline narrative structure, exploring the life of central protagonist, lawyer-turned-café proprietor Abigail Sorensen, in the present and in several flash-back vignettes set over the years since she was a teenager. The central thread is a mysterious self-help program Abi was invited to join just prior to her sixteenth birthday. The arrival of "The Guidebook" coincided with the sudden and unexplained disappearance of Abi's younger brother, Robert, and she has always conflated the two as being related.
In the present, Abi is invited to an all-expenses-paid retreat on a remote island in Bass Strait, with the promise that the truth behind the Guidebook will be revealed. Curious, keen for a short respite from sole parenting her delightful but demanding four-year-old Oscar, and remaining hopeful that she might discover a clue as to Robert's whereabouts, Abi sets off. What transpires is bizarre, to say the least, but introduces Abi to a varied group of fellow Guidebook alumni, all of whom are searching for something more in their lives. Their subsequent meetings back in Sydney provide an opportunity for escapism, wonder and personal discovery.
Interwoven with the present day narrative are chapters based around the annual reflections Abigail has sent to the Guidebook's originators over the years since she turned sixteen. Through these passages, we see Abigail's personal history unfold, and develop an increasing empathy and understanding for the challenges she faces in the present.
Moriarty writes with a lyrical and assured style - much of her dialogue and many wry reflections made by the central character had me laughing with delight, particularly Abi's exchanges with her innocent but perceptive young son. Abi herself is a sympathetic heroine, who faces many experiences and challenges with which readers will relate. The supporting cast of characters are quirky and interesting, with loveable foibles and struggles that create a wider sense of pathos in the story.
Gravity Is the Thing has been on my TBR for most of 2021, and I'm glad I've finally gotten around to reading it, providing as it did a lovely sense of escapism and perspective during the dark days of the Covid-19 resurgence in Australia.
Rating: really liked it
Gravity Is The Thing has a unique premise at its core. The guidebook seems to me the only aspect that differentiates this story from others with the same situations. It's unique but not enough that I loved it. It's a slow start, and I never got much into the story. I could not connect with this story or the characters. It's kind of blah, and I wouldn't read it again. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
