He allows Alice to take over research into Lack after she shows Lack has a preference for certain particles which he thought was impossible. Garth Poys: A blind man who has blindsight. This allows him to get past the observer problem. Evan Robar: Garth's friend who is also blind but amaurotic. Carmo Braxia: An Italian physicist who is interested in studying the physics behind Lack. He is the one who finally cracks the mystery. Cynthia Jalter: A therapist who studies coupling. She gets to know Philip through Evan and Garth whose relationship she is studying. She tries to help Philip understand that Alice no longer gives him the attention he needs because of lack and that she is bad for him. Georges De Tooth: A professor that Philip convinces to research Lack by treating it as a self-contained text. Reception Reviewers considered the book a light read that was entertaining. Steven E. Alford says "It embodies a distilled, gentle, silly look at the world". Another common agreement is that Lethem defies the boundaries in traditional genres. Glen Engel-Cox points out that instead of like a traditional science fiction, focusing on a "driven scientist in that endless pursuit of knowledge", As She Climbed Across the Table focuses on "someone like us [a science fiction reader], intrigued by the type but not one of them himself." It received some criticism for inaccuracies in scientific principles. Eric Weeks compares it to The Tao of Physics with its "muddled attempts to be philosophical about quantum mechanics which fail to get the physics correct." He also talks about how it contains bad physics jokes that he finds distracting. Film adaptation On June 23, 2010, David Cronenberg is set to direct the film adaptation of the novel. On November 12, 2020, Michel Gondry is set to direct the film adaptation with Joe Penhall writing the script for Amazon Studios. References 1997 American novels 1997 science fiction novels Novels by Jonathan Lethem American science fiction novels Novels set in California Doubleday (publisher) books