Gravity

by Robert M. Drake

"And when it was over, nothing defined us other than the moments that made us feel free."

With the same heartwarming composition and genius Robert M. Drake brought to his international best-selling books Beautiful Chaos, Black Butterfly and A Brilliant Madness, Robert M. Drake now takes his readers to a deeper level of his consciousness with his highly anticipated debut novel.

Wes, a bright and introspective young woman is devoted to Owen, her childhood best friend. One day their mutual connection is severed by tragedy. A few years later Wes finds herself onboard a plane headed toward San Francisco haunted by the loss of friendship and love. Here, Wes, tries to mend her future with her past as she discovers the value between life and death. Between holding on and letting go. Between who she was and who she is meant to be.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Mental Health

265 pages, Paperback

Published January 18, 2017

About the author

https://www.instagram.com/rmdrk/

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Am I the only person who feels like this whole book is a bunch of quotes strung together by dialogue? I haven't finished yet, I'm struggling to get through it. Hopefully it gets better as I go...

[E · Rating 1 out of 5]

R. M. Drake's poetry is some of my favorite, but I found this book painfully short of impressive. There was no substance, no thought provoking philosophical undertones. It was all emotional fluff and self-centered jargon. Not at all what I expected.

[Emy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
Ever had the following experience ?
you order a plate based on the positive reviews of many other customers, and knowing the chef/trusting the chef's creativity you order it with hope of having a unique journey, then reality punches you with an unexpected result of what seems to be a lazy labor of one of your idols! each bite is harder to swallow than the previous ones, you keep eating while trying to convince your brain that some treasures take effort and time to be found, that it has to be good, that you need to dig deeper in order to make a better judgment; you keep pushing yourrself, and BOOM :Your gut was right from the very first bite! ! THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED !!!
I like Robert M.Drake “the poet” and apparently "the novelist" is not my type. Some parts of the book gave me a hard time that I needed to put the book aside, do something else, read something else, and then come back again just to find that things didn't change at all. (Wes played on my nerves, I don’t like indecisive people, so I think that part played a role on the disliking process)

[Amethyst Kinnair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

I am a huge fan of R.M Drakes work, however Gravity touched me in a way no other writer has ever been able to. I was hooked from the first page, I found Gravity beautiful and moving, yet so sad and realistic. A beautiful read. At times I had goosebumps.

[Abrar_Bahmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the deepest books that I have ever read, RM Drake has always been a favorite of mine his words are so touching. It hits every aspect of ur life in one way or another, every page you turn, every line and every word has a deep meaning. It touches you in many ways you cant even imagine.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This must be what poetry in prose is like - beautiful, haunting, but ever flowing forward. It speaks to the part of us that loves too much, too deeply, and is afraid to ask for what we need most.

[Leonie]

I've been thinking about a rating for a few weeks now and I've come to the conclusion there are books you simply don't slap a rating on.
This is a great book, though, especially - but not only - if you've been fealing with grief in the past.
There are a ton of passages that i truly felt deep im my heart and I'd recommend to anyone who's not afraid of hurting while reading a book to pick this one up.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one that gets better as you go on.

[Nathaly · Rating 4 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW

Robert managed it without difficulty again. He tried something new and I really like it, but I can only imagine how Gravity will upset "true fans". I want to laugh. Some people will not be able to get over it. When you think that Beautiful And Damned was a trash, well, this is not his collection of poems, too. The writer wants to surprise us with every book, but some reader could have a nervous breakdown. This is reality. If you want, read the book, but do not complain about everything. I warn you in advance. Thank you for understanding.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I forget how deeply you feel things as a teenager, and this book is filled with it. Enjoyable overall though.

[Nostalgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda predictable.., typical story and I wasn't excited to finish it.
Tho I relate to some of the qoutes I found in the book.

[Samantha Ivy (novelsbysamantha) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this book! It was everything and more! I enjoyed this book very much 💕 I recommend this and I give this 10 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ // for reviews: www.instagram.com/sundresssecrets

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful story with some really beautiful prose, as always when it comes to Drake. Unfortunately, I was left feeling unsatisfied at the end.

Wes is highly complicated due to circumstances she could never control however, she is also selfish and immature in ways that I cannot understand. She talks about wanting to be saved while simultaneously pushing away every human in her life who might help her. Though she acknowledges this flaw and I can understand how tragedy might do this to someone, it's sickening to see how she treats people who genuinely care for her. As the novel is written from her POV, I couldn't help but cringe.

Owen and Harper, despite not being as fleshed out as characters, made so much more sense. They were the protagonists of this novel and I truly believe Harper was the shining star. We learn more and more about her as the novel moves along and when we get her final words, it all makes sense.

My one big caveat about the novel, despite it's beauty, is Owen from the flight. It irritates me that we don't get to see him again after he was so central to our understanding of the Owen/Harper/Wes trio. That he disappeared into thin air. And though I understand that he was a stranger, I felt the same way Hazel feels about Sisyphus the Hamster (the fault in our stars reference, for those who don't immediately get it) - I just want to know what happens to him. We learn so much about him and his own tragedies, it seems a waste to not see where he ends up. But perhaps that's my own issue with needing closure.

[Zahra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Dake’s poems so much, so I was really excited to read a novel written by him. I really wanted to like this novel and give it more than 2 stars but I literally had to force myself into finishing this one. I don’t remember how many times I put this book down and decided not to finish it, but here we are I finally finished it one year later. I honestly believe that this story could’ve been written in 100 pages max instead of stretching it to 255 pages long. The main character (Wes) kept repeating herself over and over throughout the book to the point that I had to skip some parts because it gets tiring. With that being said, I believe that there’s a moral to every book I read and the moral of this story is to appreciate your loved one and never take their existence/ love for granted.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I'm a huge fan of Drake's Instagram page and I think his words are beautiful. This debut novel did contain some of those beautiful passages that I'm so used to reading. However, the story itself fell flat for me. It didn't quite flow or resonate with me in any way. The last few chapters were the best and were where the true moral of the book came through, but unfortunately it couldn't make up for the beginning and middle being hard to get through. I'm sure some people will really enjoy this, but unfortunately the way the story was told just wasn't for me.

[Nini · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful and at the same time so devastating.. i guess we can call it life. One of the best books I read!

[Anna Flentje · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmm, where do I start?
I started this book twice before I was able to get halfway through it. Eventually, I was sick and tired of the protagonist, Wes, being as Fake Deep as self-diagnosed mentally ill Tumblr girl who ~isn't like the other girls~ that I just skimmed to the end. This book is a prime example of why "showing, not telling" your audience what happens is important. All these superficial *~lessons about life~* building up to some lame climax (I wouldnt even call it that) where we find out Harper, the old best friend of Wes, actually died a few years back, and Wes doesn't know that Harper actually died of ALS, and no one told her the cause of death because reasons. Wtf? How do you not know the cause of death for your best friend of what, 10+ years?? This is poor writing at its finest.
But yeah. Bottom line is, I wasted my time attempting to get through this book, and unless you're the type of person who squeals and highlights any quote that sounds remotely philosophical, don't waste your time with this.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one to decide a rating for. The first half of this book drug for me. I've read a lot of this author's poetry and his quotes. He's incredibly gifted at stringing together words to hit you right in your feelings, but it seems to fall short in novel format.

This felt like a lot of good quotes and poetry forced into a story with very awkward dialogue.

However!! It does pick up in the second half. That's why this is hard to rate, because the storyline itself, I did enjoy a lot, and it did have an emotional impact on me in the latter half. For that, I do think the struggle to down to the true heart of the story was worth it.

One thing I can't get over though is how plane Owen just vanishes and is never heard of again. This felt more like a hole in the story than a purposely planned write off. He's portrayed to be such a a pivotal character for over half the novel. You'd think there would be some form of closure somewhere. If anything, I think it would have been more impactful for them to not have exchanged emails and left it at what it was.

[Foram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before starting the book I didn't think i would relate to the main character so much. It's emotional, makes you vulnerable at times, makes you realize about things that you take granted for, it's about relationships of you with people in your life and people around you. Overall it was an amazingly written first novel and I'm proud of the author. I cried reading this book and I think it is one of my favourite book.

I read this novel while I would travel to my college and it would be early morning around 6 am it was an hour journey to and fro and that's how I managed to finish it I couldn't read it home there was something about reading in a train journey . And now that I'm done with my college I recall all the times that I spent reading this book in the train and the journey the emotions that were present then, it brings back all the memories even when I just look at the cover of the book. I'm sort of emotionally attached to the book a little bit.

[Jasmine J · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I didn’t like this book. I had no idea if the main character was a woman or a guy...then it just dragged. It was a slow opening, but later I realized I had a lot of commonalities with the main character. I also liked how the summary of the novel didn’t give away a lot of the plot. It expressed just enough to get you interested in reading, and then while reading, he gave you a whole bunch of turn of events you were not expecting (well I wasn’t expecting).

Overall, it was a good read to learn about love, loss, pain, letting go, and hope.
His deep thoughts are always expressed in words beautifully connected to create specific emotions in my soul.
I love his quotes and the way he is able to relate life to the reader, while also teaching us something. He’s a great author!

[Nathalie Okdeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟
You should only read this book when you’re already sad, down or emotional. This is the only way you’d “enjoy” or feel through the story. At times, I had to put it aside because it felt too let’s-feel-right-now. However, when I was down and I picked it up, it was good. It felt like a warm sad hug.
Wes’ story is heartbreaking but portrays the truth of grief and getting over people. Some people can find peace within this book… it can offer that.
My only issue with this book, which is a relatively important one, is that it felt too poetic, too let’s put together a bunch of quotes on the same page and make sense of them. Sometimes the writing felt nice but it also got extremely annoying at one point.

[Nicole Garden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings for this book bc at times it was so good and the words were really inspiring to me, but at other times it was repetitive and the structure of it wasn’t the best imo. Also it was too dramatic in some parts and ik thats how Wes is but damn quit it. I feel like it could’ve been edited down bc by the last 100 pages i was ready for it to end and I felt like i was rereading parts of the book. I could donate the book but Im gonna keep it bc i feel like i could go back to the impactful parts of this book and use it to reflect on my own experiences, like the plane ride conversations with Owen were really thought provoking and interesting to me (also im mad plane Owens character disappeared, I was waiting for him to come back)

[Rachel Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

i went into this book not knowing what to expect from it, it was just an idea based on a quote i read of of twitter, the words hunted me , compelled me ,and charmed me into reading this book and i'm glad that i did.
from the first chapter i was captivated, and i love a book that gets me from it's first chapter, that means i'm in it for a wild ride of emotions, feelings and a lot of love.
this book made me think about all of the things that i went trough, all of the heartbreak, the tears, the soul breaks, but i'm here, stronger than ever, wiser than ever , and trust me when i say that life goes on, it moves on, and you grow along with it.

[Emily Hightower · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book really thinks it's dropping truth bombs, spitting hard-hitting life lessons and existential queries. A repetitive slog through what could be charitably called purple prose if it at least had the balls to commit to its own melodrama in all the bombast that kind of thing requires. Instead it's a veritable soap opera- pulling twist after twist, far beyond any suspension of disbelief- spouting lines, and entire paragraphs in fact, that would rather be quotable than actually poignant

Also, One of said plot twists also revolves around a woman lying about being abused, which was, in the year of publication 2017, perhaps an unfortunate development to include

[Nicole Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a great read! I'm a big fan of R.M. Drake's poetry so decided to give this a read. At first it was hard to get into, but towards the middle of the book I couldn't wait to read more. I really felt for Wes and all the trauma she went though. The ending was good and gave closure to the end of Wes' story. In all, this novel keeps you on your toes and helps you really cherish the people around you because you never know when they'll be gone!

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just finished "Gravity" by RM Drake, and honestly, it was a bit of a struggle for me. This was my first experience with his writing, and I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about his style. The themes are interesting and thought-provoking, but I found the narrative a bit hard to follow at times.

I think I expected something different, maybe more structured or cohesive? There were definitely moments that stood out, but overall, it just didn’t resonate with me as much as I hoped.

[ashley marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this book stopped as she got off the plane. The second half of this book was filled with an overwhelming amount of clichés and that lead to Wes appearing to be flighty and immature. The plot line felt very forced.

[Lisa Macon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note that this is a novel, not a poetry collection. I found it to be nicely written and if I were in the mood for something that very much takes place in the characters thoughts rather than in the real word, then I'd have enjoyed it more. However, the plot was original and worth the read.

[Jana Katanji · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love drake’s poems but this book was such a disappointment. I was waiting to see what might happen with hope that their might be a plot twist something interesting but unfortunately it was way too boring

[Svenja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book broke my heart.