Review:FALLING BODIES by Andrew Mark
Harriet Klausner
Putnam April 1999; $21.95 hardcover 259 pp; ISBN 0-399-14447-1
In Illinois, physics professor Jackson Tate fully comprehends the modern
theories on the workings of the universe. He understands the systematic
natural laws that govern everything. However, he can not grasp the
random act of a drunken driver killing his spouse and children.
Unable to cope with the trauma, Jackson tries to run away from his grief
by hitting the highways. He eventually ends up in Maine where he meets a
fellow sufferer, Olivia Faraday, whose husband has been lost to
Alzheimer's. Jackson accepts a job as her handyman and soon they fall in
love with one another. However, with all the grief, guilt, and rage this
couple carries around, chances of a happy ending seem remote.
FALLING BODIES is overwritten, extremely melancholy, and at times very
depressing. However, anyone who enjoys an old fashioned tear jerker
(like LOVE
STORY) will take great pleasure from this novel. The lead protagonists'
struggles with their losses are real and the audience will grieve along
with them. Has Andrew Mark pulled all the strings of a major cry?
Absolutely! That is what makes the novel so poignant and worth reading
by the soap crowd.
Harriet Klausner