“See, the thing is that happiness is a whore. I’ve never met a more disloyal emotion in my life. Nothing like misery, which proposes to you on the first date. Yet, like a mistress I swear off every time, all happiness has to do is peek it’s head around the corner, contrite and apologetic, and I give myself over to it completely. It’s transient and fleeting, and I know it won’t still be in my bed the next morning, but while I have it, it’s everything.”
This book. Gah. I finished it over a week ago and have struggled to write anything even close to a review. Would a couple of videos of me suffice. There could be one of me casually enjoying my read, one of my heart breaking for Ash and his suffering, there would even be a photo of me with butterflies exploding out of my heart, maybe another chewing my finger nails seemingly on edge, there could be a slomo action sequence of my heart shattering and one looking super confused. Not necessarily in that order.
I don’t think it’s a book that needs me to give an in-depth review on it, because 1. I can’t do those and 2. going in with less information is probably a good thing.
Synopsis from Goodreads –
Told from multiple viewpoints, James seeks answers about his boyfriend Ash’s suicide but the one most likely to have the answers, Ash’s brother, Elliot, left town the day of Ash’s funeral.
The writing is amazing. The book deals with some very heavy topics, it’s not a light-hearted read. There is mental illness, drug use, self harm, and while it doesn’t delve right into issues in the foster care system, the parents in this fail spectacularly. Consider this a trigger warning, which I rarely put in a review.
The author captures the feelings of the characters so well. The way she has written Ash is phenomenal. When Ash felt joy, you were right there with him, when he felt uncertainty, fear, helplessness, you were right there with him. When he was in the shower with blood running down his legs you were watching him from just out of reach, all you want to do is hug him and love him, help him. The excitement and curiosity Ash felt when he first kissed James was contagious. His chapters were written with such depth and insight, they were easily my favourite.
“While at home, my every instinct told me to duck , whisper, tiptoe. To be the cobweb in the corner, not the blowfly begging to be exterminated. If I was going to have any relationship with Sue and Dom, I desperately needed them to knock down the wall. Or at least give it a hard kick. Anything. But by all appearances, they didn’t have time for that nonsense.”
We also get James perspective and a couple of others which gives us a complete picture of the events before and after Ash died. This has a great mystery element to it, with James just wanting to know what happened to his boyfriend. I read this book in two sittings because I needed to know. What happened to Ash?
All in all, this is a beautifully written story about a boy who is being crushed by the weight of existence and those that love him. I highly recommend.
I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Title – The Law of Inertia
Author – S. Gonzales
Released – 16th October 2018
Publisher – Amberjack Publishing
You can get your own copy from – Amazon / Book Depository
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