Force of Gravity

by R.S. Jones

pParanoid yet judiciously reasonable, innocent yet calculating, strange yet strangely endearing, Emmet Barfield finds the world around him looming larger and larger the more he struggles to make his way within it. With Emmet as our guide, iForce of Gravity/i transforms the world through a solitary consciousness until the reader's perceptions become as inverted as if seen through a modern version of Alice's looking glass.ppEmmet's world is a place where shopping in a market requires the cunning of a carefully considered crime, where a bustling city street in summer appears as desolate as a forgotten wasteland, where a stray cat adopted for company becomes as menacing as one's darkest foe, and where a mother and son riding a ski lift suddenly find themselves dizzy with the threat of death. Through his eyes, the world becomes newly alive with the terrible vividness and weird beauty of an undiscovered territory.p

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1991

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

File this next to The Room by Hubert Selby. In each book we're trapped in the mind of a clearly crazy person and we never get out. Force of Gravity is quirky and slightly funny until it's not very funny because it's mad; The Room is completely insane from page first to page last and is not remotely funny. And neither books are especially enlightening, and certainly not enjoyable, and I have no idea why I ended up reading both of them. Oh yes, now I recall. It was because each one came garlanded with fine words by a bunch of critics. But what I say is this:

Fine words butter no parsnips.

And I also say :

I really ought not to be so gullible.

[Angel LaBeija · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, Emmett... How clearly I understand the struggles you endure. I loved this book. It's funny, tragic, heartbreaking, and eye-opening. I read this right after Walking on Air, and really appreciated the stark contrast in mood and style between both books. I was heartbroken when I found out that R.S. Jones had passed away. I felt, and still feel, that Jones had many more stories to tell... Stories that needed to be told. A definite must-read.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not begin to care about this character at all. Jones seems like a skilled enough writer, but this narrator and plot are awful.

[Pewterbreath · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that I could very easily change my rating on depending on how I felt, ranging from 2.5-4. I definitely feel like I need to put this down for a year or so, let it percolate, and then reread. This may be the sort of book that improves greatly on rereading.

This is a novel about insanity, and RS Jones nails the thinking style of someone with a particular kind of mental illness (though we never get the specific diagnosis). Emmet, our main character, has paranoid delusions, severe anxiety, plus trauma to deal with. RS Jones focus isn't on Emmett's diagnosis as such, but more looking through the eyes and thoughts of someone who is quite unbalanced.

He's not dangerous, in fact, at the beginning of the book at any rate, Emmet is even functional, in his own way, however he's definitely not healthy. I'm glad for that, because usually in fiction mental illness is treated as a motivator for unhealthy things, rather than a state of being.

And man, it's a hard read. Because Emmet is quite ill, and it's clear that while he might have ways to manage his illness, he's never going to really get better. The way he sees the world is so paranoid and he's aware enough to know that other people don't live the same way, that in some immeasurable way, life is a bit easier for them, but this knowledge doesn't help him.

As for the writing of this book, the first half drags quite a bit, and for most of it Emmet is alone. I think that this section could have been shortened to be more effective--his state from the beginning until he is in the hospital doesn't change very much, and there gets to be a point where it gets repetitive.

However, once he gets in the hospital and is around other people, the book breaks into a sprint, suddenly bringing in all these characters, and the story really comes alive. This is no rehash of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; there might be questions about how this hospital handles some things, but there is no question that all these people need help in an institutional setting. Also, the patients are more than their afflictions--any one we spend significant time with turns into a fully fleshed being who happen to have mental illness.

I would recommend reading this, but only if you've got the strength for it. This is a painful read, that doesn't offer easy answers. I respect it.

[Jared Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Discovering this title in Sydney's expansive and overwhelming second hand book shop, Gould's, lead me on a journey in the life of a protagonist who never understands his mission - never fulfills his ability to gain a greater understanding of his world - and can't construct a basis for his insanity in the over 336 pages. Although I finished this book last night - the ending is forgettable, unfortunate, and without symbolic or concrete resolution. A lovely premise, an opportunity for character growth, but ultimately a disappointment.

[Robert Wechsler]

I was very taken at first with this novel, always happy to find a literary editor who can write so well. I was taken with Jones’ prose, with his choice of a third-person narrator intimately close to the protagonist, and with the oddness of the protagonist (I especially enjoyed the stories of his past).

But as the novel became more and more about the present, and things actually started happening, the novel stopped working for me. The prose seemed to flatten, and the oddness became dull. Almost halfway through, I put it down. But I’m glad I gave it a try.

[Duc]

‘When he was away from work, he preferred to take notes. At night before bed he copied everything he had done, down to the most minute detail, in his diary. He had started months ago when he first found the events of the day receding, even before he had slept, like the details of a dream”. -R.S. Jones, Force of Gravity

5/11/07

[Krista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usually when I'm not sold on a book about a third of the way through, I just move on. So Jones gets 2stars for keeping me involved past that point. But that's it.