Gravity

by Leanne Lieberman

[Angie]

Gravity is the interesting story of fifteen year old Ellie as she figures out how to fit her new found sexuality into her Orthodox Jewish upbringing after a summer at her grandmother's lake cottage. It's also set in the 80s, which is awesome. But anyway, Ellie meets Lindsay and cannot stop thinking about her (especially her boobs). Things might be over when they leave the lake, but the girls don't live too far from one another. Now Ellie is terrified of being caught due to the mixed messages her religion sends about homosexuality.

Ellie's parents are very, very, very religious. The Torah is everything, so there's no way she can talk to them about what's going with her. Luckily, her older sister is sick of the sexism and restrictions placed on them by their faith and is letting it go. Ellie doesn't want to stop being religious, she just wants to figure out how to make it work for her without being like those hypocrites who pick and choose which scriptures should be followed literally and which are out of date. I really enjoyed going on this journey with Ellie. There was a great balance between her being totally lost and her finding her own way. She asked questions even if she remained vague so her parents wouldn't know exactly what she meant.

The only thing that kind of annoyed me about Gravity was the romance. At least in the beginning. Lindsay is not a very nice girl. Ellie likes her at first because she's hot (duh) and confident, like how she wants to be. But Lindsay toys with her a lot. I would also describe her as a manic pixie dream girl. She has all of the qualifications, including getting Ellie to open up and be herself. Ellie also stalks Lindsay for several weeks before making contact. It's kind of weird. Like, she's super obsessed with her and at times it made her feel younger. I'm sure you can all remember lingering around places to get a glimpse of your crush then giggle back to your friends about it. It was like that, so it was weird to see Ellie like that, but then she's also having a sexual relationship later. If that makes any sense at all.

In the end, I did like Gravity. I found it really interesting to learn more about Judaism, which I'll admit I didn't know much about at all. I also thought that Ellie discovering her sexuality felt very realistic. She noticed that she never thought about boys the way she thought about Lindsay, did some research, discovered it wasn't the end of the world, and accepted it. I do kind of wish there had been a coming out scene though. I would have liked to know how her parents reacted. I'm sure Bubbie would have been 100% supportive though.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.