The Empathy Problem

by Gavin Extence
403 pgs

The Empathy Problem is Gavin Extence's third book. He's not well known, but he has quickly become one of my favorite authors. It follows The Universe Versus Alex Woods and The Mirror World of Melody Black; two fantastic books that I can't recommend strongly enough. This one is another great one.

Gabriel Vaughn is a 32-year-old hedge fund manager in London. He makes millions of pounds every year, drives a Ferrari, cares about no one but himself, and he just found out he has an inoperable brain tumor and has only a few months left to live. He has no intentions of telling anyone of his condition, and with the exception of his boss and coworkers, there's no one in his life to tell.

But either the tumor or the realization of his own mortality begins to change Gabriel. He starts to feel emotions for the first time in his life. He begins to feel empathy and a disturbing sense of compassion for those he previously considered with a sense of revulsion--if he even considered them at all.

I've found it interesting that Extence's books, while each very different, have each had a common element--the brain. Alex Woods was struck by a meteorite in the head, which had a significant impact on the rest of his life. Melody Black is bipolar (the same condition I believe Extence himself lives with), and Gabriel's brain is being slowly changed by the tumor.

I can't wait for whatever Extence decides to write next. I've become less and less patient with getting my hands on his books as each subsequent book has come out. I don't think this one has been published by his US publisher yet, I had to order it from a store in London, where he lives, and where I think he's more well known than he is here in the States. I hope that that changes soon, and that more people here pick up one of his books and find out just how great of an author he is.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Mirror World of Melody Black

by Gavin Extence
294 pgs

The sequence of events that ended with Abby, a twenty-something freelance writer, being committed to a psychiatric hospital began with her discovering a dead body. She went across the hall to her neighbor Simon's apartment to borrow a can of tomatoes and discovered him dead in his chair.

Surprisingly, Abby didn't exhibit any emotions when she found Simon. She even smoked one of his cigarettes before she returned to her own apartment to tell her boyfriend Beck that she didn't get the tomatoes because Simon was dead. But shortly afterwards, Abby begins spiraling out of control. For the next few days Abby is extremely manic, followed by weeks of extreme depression.

Diagnosed as bipolar, Abby begins the slow road back to recovery with the help of her doctor and Melody Black, another patient in the hospital whom Abby forms a quick friendship with, and who shares with Abby a theory that gives Abby a unique perspective into her mental health and an explanation for her recent behavior.

As a sufferer himself of manic depression, I can't imagine anyone else better qualified than Gavin Extence to tell this story. It's a story that immediately draws you in and entertains. You quickly begin to care about Abby, and you feel for her as her behavior and decisions go from mere quirkiness to outright dangerous. Gavin Extence is a young writer, and this is only his second book. Based on it and its predecessor, I'll be reading books by him for many years to come.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Universe Versus Alex Woods

by Gavin Extence
409 pgs

Gavin Extence's first book The Universe Versus Alex Woods was an unexpected and very rewarding surprise. It's a funny and heartwarming story told by Alex Woods himself, the second known person to ever be injured by a meteorite.

The book begins with 17 year-old Alex driving off the ferry in Dover, England. He's stopped by the authorities, who discover an urn containing human remains in the passenger seat and a large bag of marijuana in the glove box. From there the story goes back in time and Alex recounts the peculiar set of circumstances that led up to that point in his life.

Alex gained widespread notoriety at the age of ten when a small meteorite crashed through the roof of his and his mother's home and hit him in the head. Already possessed of a less-than-normal childhood--his mother, a tarot-card-reading spiritualist conceived Alex with a stranger near Stonehenge--the additional notoriety and brain injury that resulted from said meteorite led to what he describes as less-than-ideal interactions and relationships with his peers growing up. It was while being chased by bullies from his school that Alex first meets Isaac Peterson, an old man who would leave an indelible impact on the rest of Alex's life.

The story becomes more and more gratifying as Alex eventually wins over Mr. Peterson and forms a relationship with him. It's a relationship that demonstrates mankind's most vulnerable and humane qualities.

I highly recommend this book. It reminded me of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Reif Larsen's The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. All three books are told from the perspective of a young narrator who doesn't fit the traditional mold, and who gives you an insight into what most of us should aspire to be more like.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★