As she climbed across the table
By: Jonathan Lethem.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 212
Subjects: Physicists -- Fiction; Discoveries in science -- Fiction; Occupational neuroses -- Fiction; Black holes (Astronomy) -- Fiction; California -- Fiction
Description: What if your lover left you for, well, nothing? Literally nothing. Particle physicist Alice Coombs and her colleagues are on the cusp of an extraordinary discovery. They have created a void, a hole in the universe, a true nothingness that they have named "Lack." Philip Engstrand, a professor who studies other professors, has made a breakthrough of his own - he now understands how deeply he loves Alice.

Lack, though, is no ordinary black hole: It swallows certain things - a pomegranate, argyle socks, mirrored sunglasses - but displays no appetite for a bow tie, an ice ax, or scrambled duck eggs. This is a void that displays the outlines of a personality: a nothingness that, as Philip comes to realize, utterly obsesses his beloved. Alice, it becomes apparent, has fallen out of love with Philip and in love with Lack.