Robert's Reviews > Phases Of Gravity

This slender, largely understated and unpretencious novel shows Simmons at his best; it's not bloated, doesn't have irrelevant lit. crit. essays stuffed into it and quietly grips despite mostly pretty low stakes.

You go to the moon; you walk on the moon; you come back. Now what? Richard Baedecker did it as part of the Apollo programme. Years later he's drifting, divorced, estranged from his son, unable to understand the personal significance of what only 12 people have ever done. Enter the Manic Pixie Dream Girl - except she does defy the cinematic trope in a couple of significant ways.