Gravity Well review: Melanie Joosten's finely tuned second novel
FICTION
Gravity Well
Melanie Joosten
Scribe, $29.99
It is only because truth can be stranger than fiction that fiction can get away with being so downright strange. Gravity Well is Melanie Joosten's second novel, following her 2011 debut, Berlin Syndrome, which has just been made into a film. Berlin Syndrome was intriguing and unusual but Joosten has stepped up a notch here, writing with more clarity, complexity and emotional breadth.
Author Melanie Joosten wrote Gravity Well.Credit:Teagan Glenane
The strength of this story begins with its construction. We know that something calamitous has happened but not precisely what, and anyway we get waylaid by the sheer drama of the everyday lives of the main characters, Eve and Lotte. The story flashes backwards and forwards gently, leading to a point that marries the strands of narrative. Along the way, a lot of complicated life gets lived, but somehow Joosten manages to bring it all together without it seeming neat.
For years, writers have asked us to consider what we would do if we could find out our own fate. Now, science is catching up; a standard pregnancy test involves screening for the likelihood of Down syndrome. New tests allow applicable adults to find out whether their genes carry a specific disease. For some, that information is too significant to ignore. Others would rather not know.
Gravity Well by Melanie Joosten.
But what if you aren't the person with this particular genetic flaw, and instead it's a loved one – and what if they don't want to find out? Joosten doesn't do simple. Her characters are faced with all the complexity of the modern world, and sometimes the decisions they make turn out to be wrong. Watching them face the consequences makes for riveting reading.
Real friends are few and far between, and loyalty counts. Lotte and Eve know each other so well that they can take advantage – at times, it is almost impossible not to. But how much can a friendship withstand? Joosten tests it out. Their world grows larger and then deflates: boyfriends become husbands, jobs become careers, a pregnancy becomes a baby. But there is nothing routine about it, and life has some heart-rending surprises, not least of which is Len, who plays a small but pivotal role, showing just how far things can be from how they seem.
In the first half, sentences sometimes try too hard and get tangled up in excessive description. This is a problem only because it causes the reader to notice the language too much, and it's an unwelcome distraction. As the book moves on, it loosens up; language falls away, and there is only story, at which Joosten shines.
She is exceptionally engaging on the subject of friendship and how it can endure. Turning those passionate affairs of youth into lifelong friendships requires a set of skills that not everyone has in their quiver. Her attention here, too, is finely tuned to the influence of parents. Lotte has a particular perspective on her mother; she sees her only from a certain standpoint and, of course, in critical ways, she misses out on the full story.
Throughout Gravity Well, Joosten shows the different angles of the self, pressing us to consider how much can be revealed to another person, what secrets to keep, what sides to show, and through what filter. She is not only interested in the big themes: identity, death, momentous change. Small matters, domestic, and of the heart, matter a lot. This is the work of an elegant and vital novelist, someone fully engaged and grappling with the multitude of difficulties involved in the way we live now.
Melanie Joosten is a guest at Sydney Writers Festival. swf.org.au
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