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Gravity Let Me Go, the latest novel from superstar Australian author Trent Dalton, is narrated by impecunious freelance journalist Noah Cork – husband to Rita, and father to two delightful daughters, Erin and Clem, both of whom I would adopt instantly if I didn’t already have two delightful daughters of my own.
Dalton brings his characters to life, largely through dialogue but also through Noah’s observant and self-deprecating eyes. From the way policeman neighbour Jim asks Noah what he does for a living but neglects to ask Rita the same question, to the specificity of another neighbour not just parking their car, but parking their Hyundai Tucson, the novel hums with seemingly trivial details that mosaic into a complex and satisfying big picture.
Dalton: evidence of a crime
Having recently published a potential bestseller revealing evidence of a crime – the victim is a woman whose body he himself discovers – Noah becomes obsessed with finding her killer. His single-minded, relentless quest drives the novel, but the very qualities that make him a successful investigator increasingly cause him to neglect and alienate his family; at heart, he is a journalist who can’t let go of a story, no matter the cost.
Set in present-day suburban Brisbane, the book is rich in community colour. Noah’s modest home on Gecko Street – the best street in the best suburb of Brisbane, according to the locals – is the hub of his domestic life. Around him orbit a cast of sharply evoked neighbours, including dog Hercules, who has an unfortunate habit of fouling Noah’s lawn.
Dalton: easy poetry
There is an easy poetry to Dalton’s writing:
Rita says the only reason the endless trees don’t speak in this place is because they don’t like to brag. Rita says Claude Monet turns up in Jubilee every day at 5pm to paint us a pink-orange sunset over Mount Parsons. Rita says Boreas, Greek god of the north wind, turns up at 5 a.m. in winter to blow crystal-coloured dew across the park grass so that 6-a.m. kids in quality leather soccer boots can write messages with their heels …
Dalton: expectations
What more can you expect from this novel? There are episodes of conflict, moments of suspense, and a pace that makes it hard to put down. The warmth and tension of Noah’s family life – his love for Rita and the girls – act as a poignant counterpoint to his ceaseless detective work.
Noah himself comes across as a likeable person with a penchant for self-criticism; he is a realistically complex character who, like many of us, gives himself good advice he then fails to follow.
Dalton: the boy who swallowed a universe
Dalton, an award-winning journalist whose previous five books have sold over 2 million copies, will inevitably be compared to … himself. Boy Swallows Universe was a phenomenon and his subsequent novels have all found large audiences.
Such comparisons, however, are unnecessary. Gravity Let Me Go is a witty, heartfelt mystery in its own right – one that gleams with wit and wisdom.
It isn’t Boy Swallows Universe, and it doesn’t try to be. It stands proudly on its own as a crime story beautifully told and far too good to miss.
Gravity Let Me Go by Trent Dalton is published by HarperCollins Australia.
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From ArtsHub’s review of Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton:
This novel is quintessential Dalton in that his detractors will find much to cast a withering eye over, while fans will celebrate his signature style of meshing real life and fanciful, imaginative flights. The protagonist is an unnamed 17-year-old on the run with her mother, after the older woman has become tired of doing ‘the Tyrannosaurus Waltz’ with her partner and left him with a paring knife in his neck.
Home for the nameless fugitives for the time being is a 1987 Toyota HiAce van with flat tyres parked in a scrapyard besides a river that smells ‘like a fish fart’. They prevail in straitened circumstances, thanks to the company and help of a stitched-together motley crew of other down-and-outers, “floaters” who are both poor and desperate, and some of whom are economic victims on waitlists for public housing. The postcode here is struggletown. Read more …
