THE CAUSATIVE FACTOR

An accident links the lives of two lovers in Staffel’s novel.

Rachel Goodwin first sees Rubiat Elsayem when they attend a New York college together and meet in a performance art class called Body Expression. They’re partners on a project in which each must define the other’s essential quality. They fall in love over a 24-hour period before finding themselves on a long hike at Stony Brook State Park. Rachel watches Rubiat impulsively dive from a cliff and assumes (incorrectly) that he’s dead. She tries desperately to move on from the shock. The novel is split into two halves: The first follows Rachel through the aftermath as she builds her career as an artist and language teacher in Queens, eventually meeting someone new. The second follows both Rachel and Rubiat. Rachel unpacks her deep feelings for Rubiat, and he explores his issues with impulse control and pressure in the wake of leaving Rachel in such a spectacularly weird way. Staffel also incorporates perspectives from Dusty, Rachel’s boyfriend, whom she meets through her friend Angela, who’s Chinese American. The book movingly depicts the complexity of human psychology, such as Rachel’s inability to forget Rubiat. Other weighty themes, like Angela’s exoticization by her German boyfriend, are glossed over—a missed opportunity. Ultimately, the novel becomes a fascinating portrayal of identity, expanding on the moment that brought Rachel and Rubiat together (which lends its name as the title), explained by their teacher as an exercise that would guide the participants toward finding “their deepest motivation, the hidden foundation of their character, that quality that makes them the person they are.” A suspenseful plotline, sometimes slowed by flat secondary characters, continues to investigate the cast’s motivations, and Staffel probes Rachel’s and Rubiat’s personalities right until the final page.

A gripping, unusual romance fueled by an ongoing mystery.