The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper 🚀 Book Review ⋆ Wonderfully Bookish

Genre: YA Contemporary, Romance
Date Published: February 4, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, seventeen-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.

Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another “Astrokid,” and finds himself falling head over heels—fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.

Expertly capturing the thrill of first love and the self-doubt all teens feel, debut author Phil Stamper is a new talent to watch.

Title: The Gravity of Us
Author: Phil Stamper
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Date Published: February 4, 2020
Genre: YA Contemporary, Romance, LGBTQ+

Note: The links below are affiliate links, meaning I get a small commission on any purchase you make. Thanks!

Find out more or buy the book:

📝 My Thoughts

The Story

This book includes all of the specific things I love: marketing—especially revolutionary new forms of viral marketing, as we see with Cal’s popularity on the video streaming app FlashFame—and space travel, particularly Mars exploration!

It was clear that the author did a lot of research into space exploration and how astronauts prepare for it – it all felt like it could really happen right now.

I really enjoyed the story and thought it was unique and exciting. I was hooked and always wanted to know what happened next. The best kind of book for me is one that has a mix of developed characters and exciting stories, and this one nails that.

The LGBTQ+ Romance

I did struggle a bit when it came to the romance plot because it was very insta-love-y, and they fell head over heels in just a few short weeks. I love a book that doesn’t have any romance at all, but if there is a romantic subplot, I’m definitely a slowburn kinda gal.

However, I appreciated how Cal and Leon treated each other and they really cared about each other’s feelings, especially when it came to looking out for each other’s mental health.

I also massively appreciated that fact that the characters being gay wasn’t its own plot point. They’re not ostracised by their families or the world around them, and this is something I desperately want to see more of.

A teen story with a gay relationship in it doesn’t have to be about the struggle of not being straight.

The Characters

The main character Cal kind of annoyed me. His dad has just got his dream job as a NASA astronaut, but Cal doesn’t seem to have a scrap of excitement on his behalf; he’s only interested in his life and how it’s going to be affected.

But then, at the same time, I thought Cal’s parents also weren’t thinking about how uprooting their lives would affect their son, either. They didn’t seem to have any serious discussions about how their lives were about to change or what it would mean for them; it was just like, “this is happening and you are moving and you will be happy about it.” I did, however, appreciate the family dynamics, the portrayal of Cal’s mum’s mental illness, and how they grew closer as a family as time went on.

I enjoyed the range of side characters: characters I could root for and love, characters that I really didn’t like, and others that seemed fishy or mysterious and had the power to flip the whole story on its head.

Overall

I really enjoyed The Gravity of Us for its natural inclusion of an LGBTQ+ relationship, the well-researched space travel, and the unique twist with a TV reality show following the astronauts’ every move. It explores complicated friendships, family dynamics, and mental illness. The main character might not be the most likeable and he made some decisions that drove me mad, but if you can cope with that, The Gravity of Us is a fun read with some important themes blended in.

💬 What Other Readers Thought

“The Gravity of Us focuses on real issues teenagers face, especially in the digital age, like mental illness, how social media creates the illusion of “the perfect life”, and how that influences our lives and those around us. The book really hits on a lot of great points and delivers many important lessons in an easily digestible way.”
Lauryn’s LGBTQ+ Bookshelf

“There is a lot happening in this book. It touches on family dynamics, a sense of community, complicated friendships, the power of the media, death and mental illness, all wrapped up in a story about young love. Some of it was done really well and other parts were glossed over a bit, but all in all, Stamper created a believable, interesting world that you don’t often see in literature.”
The Modest Reader