Meg Leder

When I got this book, it was mostly for the cover. The synopsis sounded good enough, but I was expecting this to be a quirky, cute, charming, funny book.
It is full of endearment, a relatable main character, three dimensional supporting characters, humanness, and several lines and passages that resonated, warranted annotating, or just plain sounded pretty.

I was not prepared for so many emotions.
It was supposed to be fluff, perfect for the summer. It was not supposed to make me cry. It was not show more supposed to change me. It was not supposed to be a looking glass disguised as a book.
But I'm so glad it was. show less

Parker stands in the middle of an invisible tornado. It's fueled by her feelings of guilt and obligation, her brother Charlie's thus far recovery from leukemia, her feelings for Finn, the boy she first met in early elementary school who then vanished, but has returned with baggage of his own, and parental sacrifices due to Charlie's medical bills.
When she has a panic attack on the first day of a prestigious internship that will help her hope of going to medical school after Harvard, she show more bolts and ends up helping with a ceramics class for senior citizens. What follows involves trying to save other people until Parker crashes and burns, realizing in the process that the person she really needs to save is herself. Reading how she does that is an extremely satisfying experience. show less

"That's what friends do- they remind you of who you are underneath all the stuff people believe about you, all the stuff you believe about yourself."

Charlie and Parker are twins. During childhood, they always had each other's back. However, they were always two different people; Charlie is extroverted, loud, popular and easily makes friends, Parker is introverted, guarded and needs approval. One other difference arose when Charlie and Parker were in fourth grade, Charlie got leukemia. As show more medical bills rose and their parents lived in fear, Parker vowed to become a doctor and help kids with leukemia. Now it is coming true, as Parker graduates valedictorian of her class with an internship at a hospital and an acceptance to Harvard, and Charlie is in remission for a second time. When it's time to begin the internship, Parker feels overwhelmed and panicked at even being in the hospital. She quits, reconnects with an old friend and finds a job at a pottery shop and the weight lifts. Now, if she could only tell her parents.

Letting go of gravity is an epic coming of age tale that so many teens will be able to connect with. It is not only Parker's story either, it is also Charlie's. For so much of Parker's life she has strived to be what her parents expect that she has lost herself. For Charlie's life, he has been the boy with cancer that people have given up their lives to help. They both just want to stop being people's expectations for them and learn to be themselves, but they will need each other to do it. I could easily relate to Parker and was swept up in her story, eagerly turning the pages to see how she would manage the twists and turns in her life. Even though I have never had to deal with cancer, Charlie was also intriguing. His journey in and out of remission while being a teen is very sincere and heart wrenching, even when he is ok. Charlie and Parker's journey took me through emotional highs and lows that reminded me of the transitional time after high school. In addition to this, the romances were very sweet and realistic. Overall, a roller-coaster of a story about self-realization and being able to become who you truly are.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. show less

Main character Parker and her twin brother Charlie as well as their father are pretty hard to take at times. I had moments where I found them borderline intolerable, I could see some readers DNF-ing because of that, however, the author does dig deep, setting the scenes emotionally, giving you enough backstory of what they’ve been through so that you understand that there’s pain and fear (Parker’s anxiety is palpable) behind their actions. There are several instances where you do feel show more for them, just maybe not right in the moment where they’re being a tattle-tale or saying hateful things or whining about their job when their kid is obviously old enough to realize he’s the reason you’re stuck in that job.

I liked the romance, particularly the beginning via the childhood flashbacks, actually all the flashbacks in the book not just those between Parker and Finn were effective and necessary rather than momentum killing as flashbacks sometimes feel.

The senior citizen group came off as a little more exaggerated than I would have preferred still there were some nice moments there and overall I
was interested in how those scenes lent themselves to Parker finding a path for her future.

The one character I did totally fall in love with is Ruby. Her role isn’t huge yet I felt like the arc of the novel, of the relationships, wouldn’t have been as believable without Ruby bringing her light to them and to the book overall. I know it’s probably unlikely but I would love to see a sequel/companion novel featuring Ruby and her relationship with her mother.

With Parker and Charlie the way they sometimes are in this book, I think enjoying this and staying with it does require a bit more patience than some other books, but it really is well-written and worth seeing these sometimes challenging characters through to the next stage in their lives. show less