Relativity by Antonia Hayes

Relativity by Antonia Hayes is one of those books about which you NEED to talk to someone. It's one of those books about which you are not sure how you feel or how the author pulled you in the way she did. Relativity orbits around twelve-year-old Ethan, his mother Claire, and his father Mark. Ethan doesn't know his father, who lives on the opposite side of Australia from him and his mother, but he does know far more about physics than most non-graduate level students. Claire is working hard to hold life together as a single mother, but when Ethan suddenly begins experiencing a relapse of medical problems his mother thought had passed she becomes alarmed. Coinciding with this shock, Mark is back and wants to get to know his son.

There is so much I wish I could say about this book, but I hesitate to give any clues about the storyline. When I began it, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue reading. I really didn't like where I thought it was headed. As I read, however, I realized I was wrong and I was really loving it. Claire is a fierce mama bear, Ethan is a budding genius, and Mark is hurting with the recent loss of his father and the realization of everything else he has lost as well. Alternating between the three points of view, the reader is given access to each character's thoughts, memories, and motivations, but they aren't always reliable. This is part of what makes this book so interesting.

I really liked this book, though some of it was hard to take. It was heart-wrenching at times and heart-warming others. I had very complicated feelings about many of the characters and I think that is what makes for a good book. Characters should be complicated. They should make bad choices for good reasons. They should make us wonder if we would make similar decisions if we were in their place or at least give us an opportunity to empathize with them and their situation. That is what I like about reading and Hayes does her job well.