The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner
pages: 208
released: May 2011
publisher: FS&G
cover love: ♥♥

While Nick Gardner’s family is falling apart, his best friend, Scooter, is dying from a freak disease. The Scoot’s final wish is that Nick and their quirky classmate, Jaycee Amato, deliver a prized first-edition copy of Of Mice and Men to the Scoot’s father. There’s just one problem: the Scoot’s father walked out years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. So, guided by Steinbeck’s life lessons, and with only the vaguest of plans, Nick and Jaycee set off to find him. Characters you’ll want to become friends with and a narrative voice that sparkles with wit make this a truly original coming-of-age story. (Goodreads)

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 11/7/2011 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET

Review:

The Pull of Gravity is a cute little contemporary novel about a boy coming to terms with the death of his best friend and the failing marriage of his parents. Though the story itself didn’t leave a huge impression on me, I was pretty impressed by characteristics of the main characters, both the physical traits and their personalities.  

Nick Gardner is the  “fever king” a.k.a. the sickly kid of the family (everyone has one in theirs). He’s always had bad fever symptoms like hallucinations and seizures. The last one was so bad he ended up breaking his leg trying to climb a water tower while escaping a giant cherry cola can. The Scoot, is Nick’s best friend who has Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, a disease that is aging him rapidly and who is obsessed with Star Wars. And Jaycee Amato is the gothy looking chick with blue streaks, orange sneakers and troll doll necklaces. After Scoot passes away, Jaycee and Nick set out to fulfill a promise to him: delivering his first edition of Of Mice and Men to his father who walked out on him. 

The whole story is centered around the short Steinbeck novel, which Nick and Jaycee read to each other on their travels and how they learn that even the best laid plans don’t go accordingly and Stars Wars quotes, which is where the title of this book originates. I felt bad for Nick at times. He felt guilty for drifting away from his best friend, plus he felt like his water tower accident was the cause of his father walking out. But I think toward the end he did realize he had no control over those type of things, they just happen. Like gravity. I also liked how Nick and Jaycee’s friendship blossomed into a romance. At 200 pages, the plot is short and simple and could’ve used some broadening. But all-in-all it was good read. Nothing spectacular, but still well-written and fairly interesting.

3