I had to pick this book up, if only because I found the title fascinating. Though I am by no means a mathematician, in fact, I’d go as far as to say that I have some sort of number blindness and even struggled with the basics (words are my thing), I love the idea of the answer to everything being somewhere.
So, when this book was offered up I knew I had to go for it. I read it in a single sitting and even though it was nearing 2 am when I finished, I needed to know what happened. I guess that’s the sign of a good book, right?
So, what’s it about?
Naomi (known as Mimi to close friends and family) Brotherton, feels like she’s not going anywhere. She’s turning 30, single, no children, no prospects and working in a museum where she’s unhappy. There are two bright spots in her life, her brother Art and her best friend Rey. Now, Art is special, he’s a genius mathematician, a professor and obsessed with the Millennium problem, N = NP, so much so that he’s perhaps just a little bit paranoid that someone is after his work. Rey is a Foley (something I had to look up for more information even after it was explained in the book as someone who works on the sound effects for TV and film. Anyway, that’s less relevant…
Despite being super-intelligent, Art can’t care for himself and he’s grown accustomed to the way that Mimi runs the more mundane parts of his life, cooking, cleaning, and being there for him when he needs her. But this has left little room in Mimi’s life for anything else. So when she tells him that she wants to find someone he sets about trying to help her – or rather run the project for her, with mathematical precision.
Things never work out how you expect them to, however, and at a maths event she is attending with her brother, she meets Frank. He’s another mathematician, but he seems to have a better grasp on life than her brother does.
For Mimi, it’s pretty much instant attraction, but there is something hovering beneath the surface that’s sure to bite everyone involved on the derriere when it comes to light.
The whole story is one shrouded in grief and the mystery of what really happened to Mimi and Art’s father, who died with their mother in what has always been believed to be a suicide pact almost 15 years previously.
I really enjoyed the story, and, as I have already mentioned, I read it in one sitting. I kept on telling myself I needed to put the book down and go to sleep, but I needed to know what happened. I had to find out what they discovered about their father. I desperately wanted to find out if Mimi and Frank got their happy ever after or if Art was right and he wasn’t the man he portrayed.
Art was a complicated character. All the way through the book I got the feeling that there was something just under his skin that he was fighting against…and while it does get revealed, I can’t help wondering if that was only because he nearly died, and the concept of mortality finally hit him.
Before I picked the book up I saw several reviews that stated the story was rather slow going and to a point, I would agree with that statement. The first half of the book moves incredibly slowly, building on the multiple plot threads that are established very early on. But the knowledge that revelations were coming, some that were indeed heartbreaking, pushed me to read through the earlier chapters.
As a character Mimi is fascinating. She seems to depend on her brother and the fact that he relies on her more than she initially realises. The fact that she still puts him first even when Frank is trying to get her to move on with her life, proves that she has built so much of her life around her brother and his existence that it’s difficult to pull back and live for herself.
I have to admit that the revelation he was the older sibling somewhat surprised me because of the way their relationship worked. Often in a state of grief, it is the older sibling who takes on the carer role. The fact that it was reversed here was interesting.
Of course, while Mimi and Art are the central characters of the story, it wouldn’t be a romance without Frank…who felt somewhat peripheral for some reason. He was well-written but I didn’t get a true sense of who he was.
Mimi’s best friend Rey was like a blast of sunlight. She was the one who helped Mimi to find a new job (gave her the new job). She’s the one who took charge when Mimi started to fall apart, frustrated with Art’s behaviour and his need to control her, and she’s the one who was there for them when everything collapsed.
I enjoyed the book, I loved the story, and the characters were human in that they had faults and were oblivious to them in the way that humans often are.
Pros
- Strong character development
- Intriguing secondary plotline
Cons
- Slow start
