Gravity's Revolt: Synopsis
I am aware of course of the daunting length of my book. When I submitted the manuscript to mainstream and commercial editors and agents, I was told repeatedly that as an unknown writer I was crazy, hubristic (or worse) to offer such a white whale of a novel to a publisher, that no one would even look at something so monstrously long, that publishers would faint or throw my summary out the window. The only answer that I can think of to this charge is Pilate’s: I have written what I have written--by which I don’t mean to be flippant.
To do justice to my story and to its characters, that is to really do justice to them, I needed space. Like Clarissa, my novel is only as long (exactly as long) as it needs to be. Most works of fiction deal with their action and with their characters in the most superficial way--I wanted to do something else.
I do not pretend that my way is the only way to achieve depth of portrayal, but it was the only way for me--that is why I do not apologize for the length of Gravity’s Revolt although perhaps initially I need to justify it.
Gravity’s Revolt is revolutionary in content, sheds light on misconceptions and challenges stereotypes, challenges the way we see the world of marriage, the world of religion and the world of the novel itself. It tells the truth clearly, without flinching. This is a very interesting moment in the history of publishing. The commercial houses are losing their grip. Anyone who wants to can now publish a book. This situation of course creates new pitfalls for the reader and for their alleged guides, the critics. Reviewers remain obsessed with the old kinds of credentials. One critic in fact told me that basically he expects the editors and the agents to have weeded out the works of merit for him to consider, that he was not about to try and find his way among the proliferating new kinds of publications. I am actually proud to have been disqualified in his sense because the result of the weeding out process which he alluded to seems to me to be products of a numbed and a numbing conformity: the average new novel consists of 270 pages with large print--I invite anyone who reads this web site to test this assertion--go to any book store and pick up the new novels--they are thin and diluted, virtual baby books, the perfect safe, not overly assertive offerings that one is taught to concoct in creative writing classes.
Readers' Reactions to Gravity's Revolt
The main character, the Reverend Christopher Reed, is a young Presbyterian minister who is having a major life crisis. He grew up in Pittsburgh, attended Shady Side Academy, and is serving his own prestigious home church as Associate Pastor. He has known its members his entire life. Relationships with three people dominate his life during the year in which this novel takes place: with his wife, Vinnie, an art teacher at Ellis School and accomplished painter in her own right; his boss, Dr. Alexander Buttrick, Interim Pastor at Old Eighth Presbyterian Church; and his Sunday School student and sexual playmate, Becky Grierson.
There is shocking and outrageous material in the four volumes of this story of Chris Reed's obsession with Becky, and there is insight and wit, vivid descriptions of Pittsburgh and its surroundings, and keen observations of characters drawn from the wealthy and privileged of the Pittsburgh’s East End. --Nora Johnson
Just a few words on Gravity's Revolt.... The sheer honesty of the book, the way you deal with all the conflicting emotions of such a situation, is remarkable, probably the best thing about the book. And I know, personally, how difficult all that is. (It all makes me really glad I'm not 29 years old again, or whatever age it is, although a couple of men in my men's group have made just as big asses of themselves as any 20 year old. One of them is pushing 70). Your visual sense is nothing short of astounding, especially to somebody who knows the places and some of the people. And the portrait of Dr. Buttrick as a kind of saintly man, which is a most difficult thing to do, comes across very well. Again, his physical awkwardness and occasional aw shucks manner really help; if he seemed too perfect we'd never believe it. But one rarely reads a portrait of a really virtuous man, or enlightened person (though Gulley Jimson in The Horse's Mouth qualifies, I do believe). Somehow, for me at this moment in my life, it's coming across as a remarkable example of the way we create suffering for ourselves, trying--of course--to make ourselves happy. It would be so much easier for our hero to drop the whole thing, especially after all the difficulty he's had after just one encounter. And we can see that this cannot have a happy ending. It's a little unnerving to think it's going to go on for three more volumes.... ...It's the end of the day, I'm going to try to set down a few things about Gravity's Revolt, which I did finish last night. I still think--as I was thinking throughout--of the book as a tour de force of male emotion regarding women, and affairs. I don't know how much of it is invented, or remembered, but in either case I don't know how in the hell you have such an ability to reconstruct emotion at such a far remove, and your honesty about it is absolutely astounding. Men who manage to read it (they have to be honest with themselves) would probably be furious at you for spilling the beans this way. Most probably wouldn't admit to the truth of it. And in that way I think women would also resist it. But though it shatters all their romantic dreams of how men are/should be, I think women are a little better at admitting the emotional truth of a situation, however much they don't like it. So I think your best readers would be women. This is by far the best thing you've ever written. The writing is also the best you've ever done, and is consistently good throughout. The descriptions of people and especially of scenes in nature, or city scenes, the characterizations of people are really marvelous. My emotional reaction is somewhat more complex, and of course is that of a 52 year old duffer with a prostate like an Idaho potato, or whatever that line is. I am a student of the Buddha, who said that our suffering in life is a result of our craving, and this whole book is a kind of footnote to that teaching. Your hero even often knows that as it is going on, but still can't seem to do anything about his craving. He doesn't even like Becky anymore and still wants her body almost uncontrollably. I remember what that was like I did have the craving. But it just seems to cause so much suffering. It's incredible. Nobody suffers more than Christopher Reed. So I didn't read the book and want to run out and have an affair. I wanted to never have another affair as long as I live. And in that way I think the book is very true, and very real. It shows the truth of what the situation is. -- David Guy, author of Football Dreams; Autobiography of My Body; The Red Thread of Passion; and Jake Fades: A Novel of Impermanence
Explicit sex, un-nice situation. A mother would feel that it reflected badly on her to have raised the kind of son who would concoct such a monstrous story. -- Anonymous