Jessica
The book starts with a simple but unusual premise. Jesse, a college professor, wakes up to the house shaking. He notices that his husband Norman isn’t lying next to him. Scared and confused, Jesse looks throughout the house for him. However, he sees a strange light. He follows the light outside and sees his husband standing next to a beam of radiating light. Norman walks into the light and begins to beam up into the sky. Jesse tries to grab onto Norman and bring him back to the ground. However, Jesse loses his grip, and Norman vanishes into the night sky. What did Jesse just witness, and how will he survive without Norman?
The novel deals a lot with the concept of abandonment. Jesse has always felt a sense of abandonment because he never knew his father. His father had gone missing during the war. He believes that is the reason why he initially gravitated to Norman because he was older and seemed more put together. He never imagined a life without Norman by his side. Now that Norman chose to walk away, Jesse is not sure what to do with himself. Norman had always taken the lead, and now Jesse is faced with a life where he has to make decisions by himself, which seems rather daunting since he has taken a passive role in their relationship for 30 years. It is heartbreaking to watch Jesse discover who he is without Norman by his side and grow into his own person.
The novel is also an exploration of relationships. A lot of times, we don’t evaluate things in a relationship until something terrible has happened. This is the situation Jesse finds himself in. When Norman leaves, he takes stock of their relationship and realizes that things haven’t been right between them for a while. Norman had installed an app on his phone to help him communicate with the universe. Jesse would watch Norman as he had his arms outstretched to the sky with his phone for hours, waiting for something. Jesse tried to engage Norman in this, but ended up being pushed out. Not only that, but they were no longer intimate with each other and often traded barbs with each other instead of just talking with one another. It is a scary feeling seeing the person who is the closest to you start to slowly become a stranger. Jesse tries to fight these feelings, but it is too late.
I was very surprised at the twist of Norman returning as if nothing had actually happened. To him, his day-to-day hadn’t changed. However, to Jesse and the world around him, a year had passed. As Norman looks around at his house and his life in general, he sees how everyone has moved on without him. That is the thing with time, though. Things do not stay the same when you leave. Everything gradually moves along with or without you. It is a hard pill that Norman has to swallow because his choice has lasting consequences that he couldn’t have dreamed of.
Overall, I liked the book. It is a beautiful exploration of a relationship. A marriage is often viewed through rose colored glasses, but in this novel, we see how relationships are messy and take work. It isn’t something that is simple. It also explores becoming your own person and that you can’t reinsert yourself into a life you left so easily without any consequences. It is interesting to see how the relationship with Jesse and Norman ebbs and flows throughout the novel and see if they can resolve things not just between each other, but themselves as well. In the spirit of the book, I have the following question: Would you allow yourself to be beamed up by supernatural forces, or would you stay behind?
Originally posted at jdavismallory.substack.com.
The book starts with a simple but unusual premise. Jesse, a college professor, wakes up to the house shaking. He notices that his husband Norman isn’t lying next to him. Scared and confused, Jesse looks throughout the house for him. However, he sees a strange light. He follows the light outside and sees his husband standing next to a beam of radiating light. Norman walks into the light and begins to beam up into the sky. Jesse tries to grab onto Norman and bring him back to the ground. However, Jesse loses his grip, and Norman vanishes into the night sky. What did Jesse just witness, and how will he survive without Norman?
The novel deals a lot with the concept of abandonment. Jesse has always felt a sense of abandonment because he never knew his father. His father had gone missing during the war. He believes that is the reason why he initially gravitated to Norman because he was older and seemed more put together. He never imagined a life without Norman by his side. Now that Norman chose to walk away, Jesse is not sure what to do with himself. Norman had always taken the lead, and now Jesse is faced with a life where he has to make decisions by himself, which seems rather daunting since he has taken a passive role in their relationship for 30 years. It is heartbreaking to watch Jesse discover who he is without Norman by his side and grow into his own person.
The novel is also an exploration of relationships. A lot of times, we don’t evaluate things in a relationship until something terrible has happened. This is the situation Jesse finds himself in. When Norman leaves, he takes stock of their relationship and realizes that things haven’t been right between them for a while. Norman had installed an app on his phone to help him communicate with the universe. Jesse would watch Norman as he had his arms outstretched to the sky with his phone for hours, waiting for something. Jesse tried to engage Norman in this, but ended up being pushed out. Not only that, but they were no longer intimate with each other and often traded barbs with each other instead of just talking with one another. It is a scary feeling seeing the person who is the closest to you start to slowly become a stranger. Jesse tries to fight these feelings, but it is too late.
I was very surprised at the twist of Norman returning as if nothing had actually happened. To him, his day-to-day hadn’t changed. However, to Jesse and the world around him, a year had passed. As Norman looks around at his house and his life in general, he sees how everyone has moved on without him. That is the thing with time, though. Things do not stay the same when you leave. Everything gradually moves along with or without you. It is a hard pill that Norman has to swallow because his choice has lasting consequences that he couldn’t have dreamed of.
Overall, I liked the book. It is a beautiful exploration of a relationship. A marriage is often viewed through rose colored glasses, but in this novel, we see how relationships are messy and take work. It isn’t something that is simple. It also explores becoming your own person and that you can’t reinsert yourself into a life you left so easily without any consequences. It is interesting to see how the relationship with Jesse and Norman ebbs and flows throughout the novel and see if they can resolve things not just between each other, but themselves as well. In the spirit of the book, I have the following question: Would you allow yourself to be beamed up by supernatural forces, or would you stay behind?
Originally posted at jdavismallory.substack.com.