When Gravity Fails (1986)

by George Alec Effinger

When Gravity Fails ticks all of the checkboxes that are usually left unchecked in science fiction novels and misses the mark on the one box that usually isn’t — the plot.

The characterization of the first-person protagonist, Marîd Audran, is superb. His actions and outlook are influenced strongly by emotions he doesn’t fully control or comprehend. His personality revolves around the deferral of responsibility and he adheres strictly to only that principle and waffles on everything else.

The story from his perspective has the texture of one that was lived, replete with the irrelevant details that naturally lodge in one’s mind with equal or greater strength than the important facts. There are no bird’s-eye view moments nor premonitions of scenes to come. We see the central murder mystery just as he sees it: hazy and anticlimactic and solved largely by luck and the unconscious mind.

Technology is introduced tastefully and relied on only to amplify existing thematic undertones. There are no fundamental differences between the future depicted and the reality we live in, only new ways to escape it and to indulge in our vices.

In a way that I would never have predicted before reading, Islam is the glue that holds When Gravity Fails together. It grants the story its color and nuance and without it, the Budayeen does not make sense and the characters lose their compelling luster. Effinger captures and relays what it means to be both a believer and a lowlife in a way that does not make his characters seem merely naive or hypocritical. The most important relationships in the story are between a character and Allah rather than between two people of flesh and blood. Each human interaction is commenced and concluded with his name, ensuring he is always present in any given scene, a mutual friend with whom each has his or her own relationship and between whom the interaction is filtered. Viewed as such, Marîd’s guilt-ridden conscience and intentionally irresponsible demeanor click into focus. Somewhere buried in his repressed mind he is a believer and he lives his life in rebellion against this incorrigible truth.

All of this is to say that When Gravity Fails is a standout science fiction novel that represents the depth of human storytelling that can be attained within the genre. The rich texture of the characters and setting make up for the meandering and slipshod plot if you’re open to a decidedly unconventional character-driven SF novel.