Gabriel and Corban, fellow graduate students, former lovers, and childhood friends, have drifted apart and find themselves at an unbearable crossroads: they must unravel the past and, in doing so, themselves. Both men are haunted by their shared past and its indelible values. When Gabriel disappears from his teaching position and Corban falls ill, uncertainty surrounds Gabriel's absence and Corban's future. Their journeys, past and present, may reconcile the two or form an unbridgeable chasm. To Lessen a Rise is a novel of longing told in a series of vignettes, a narrative in which each character privately pursues his or her own values in opposition to the normative. Set in the suburbs of Southern California, To Lessen a Rise examines an unspoken questions often repressed or consciously ignored-are we as egocentric beings, or are we able to and worthy of love?