The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer

The Mathematician's Shiva

by Stuart Rojstaczer

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DEBUT FICTION

For readers of This Is Where I Leave You and Everything Is Illuminated, “a brilliant and compelling family saga full of warmth, pathos, history and humor” (Jonathan Evison, author of West of Here)
 
When the greatest female mathematician in history passes away, her son, Alexander “Sasha” Karnokovitch, just wants to mourn his mother in peace. But rumor has it the notoriously eccentric Polish émigré has solved one of the most difficult problems in all of mathematics, and has spitefully taken the solution to her grave. As a ragtag group of mathematicians from around the world descends upon Rachela’s shiva, determined to find the proof or solve it for themselves—even if it means prying up the floorboards for notes or desperately scrutinizing the mutterings of her African Grey parrot—Sasha must come to terms with his mother’s outsized influence on his life.

Spanning decades and continents, from a crowded living room in Madison, Wisconsin, to the windswept beach on the Barents Sea where a young Rachela had her first mathematical breakthrough, The Mathematician’s Shiva is an unexpectedly moving and uproariously funny novel that captures humanity’s drive not just to survive, but to achieve the impossible.

Reviewed by Lianne on

5 of 5 stars

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I won a complimentary copy of this book courtesy of the publishers. My full review of the novel can be found on my blog, eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2014/12/28/review-the-mathematicians-shiva

I have to say, this is one of the maddest funeral/family/collective gatherings I’ve ever read. What’s crazier than a dysfunctional family getting together? A bunch of mathematicians showing up. No joke, even the main character, who was raised by mathematicians and is a scientist in his own respect, find them to be quite mad, lacking in common sense, and prone to strange behaviour. But it’s also really funny because Sasha’s experience in dealing with the mathematics department is pretty much the microcosm of academia, with its intense rivalry and work ethic. It’s pretty goofy to watch them deal with mundane stuff.

On a personal level, Sasha’s journey in mourning his mother and go through changes with the rest of his family was an interesting one. They’re a rather curious and colourful group of people, many having survived the war and Soviet rule, and their interactions are utterly fantastic as they navigate through their grief over Rachela’s death, organising the funeral and shiva, dealing with the mathematicians who’ve come to join them in the process, and deal with some long-standing issues amongst them and from their past. It’s quite a pondering on family life, the closeness of family, the influence of family in our lives.

There’s also a really nice development that happens midway for Sasha, but I won’t mention it here because it was interesting to see how that affects Sasha’s journey over the course of the seven days sitting shiva. Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Mathematician’s Shiva, it’s funny (there were some really funny bits of dialogue and character interaction throughout–my type of humour, too!) and poignant (lots of great quotes and thoughts to ponder about). I highly recommend this book, definitely a favourite read of mine from 2014!

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 20 December, 2014: Finished reading
  • 20 December, 2014: Reviewed