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The Mathematician's Shiva
A comic, bittersweet tale of family evocative of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Everything Is Illuminated
Alexander "Sasha" Karnokovitch and his family would like to mourn the passing of his mother, Rachela, with modesty and dignity. But Rachela, a famous Polish émigré mathematician and professor at the University of Wisconsin, is rumored to have solved the million-dollar, Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem. Rumor also has it that she spitefully took the solution to her grave. To Sasha’s chagrin, a ragtag group of socially challenged mathematicians arrives in Madison and crashes the shiva, vowing to do whatever it takes to find the solution — even if it means prying up the floorboards for Rachela’s notes.
Written by a Ph.D. geophysicist, this hilarious and multi-layered debut novel brims with colorful characters and brilliantly captures humanity’s drive not just to survive, but to solve the impossible.
Alexander "Sasha" Karnokovitch and his family would like to mourn the passing of his mother, Rachela, with modesty and dignity. But Rachela, a famous Polish émigré mathematician and professor at the University of Wisconsin, is rumored to have solved the million-dollar, Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem. Rumor also has it that she spitefully took the solution to her grave. To Sasha’s chagrin, a ragtag group of socially challenged mathematicians arrives in Madison and crashes the shiva, vowing to do whatever it takes to find the solution — even if it means prying up the floorboards for Rachela’s notes.
Written by a Ph.D. geophysicist, this hilarious and multi-layered debut novel brims with colorful characters and brilliantly captures humanity’s drive not just to survive, but to solve the impossible.
370 pages, Paperback
First published September 2, 2014
About the author
Stuart Rojstaczer
5 books174 followersStuart Rojstaczer is an American writer, scientist and musician. Raised in Milwaukee, he received degrees from the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and Stanford University. He is a former Duke University geophysics professor, and has lived in Israel, Italy and throughout the United States. His parents were Polish-Jewish, post-WWII immigrants. He has written about education for the New York Times and the Washington Post, and has written research articles in hydrology, ecology, geophysics and geology for Science, Nature and many other scientific journals. His academic memoir, Gone for Good (OUP, 1999), was widely praised. His novel, The Mathematician's Shiva (Penguin, 2014), was an American Booksellers Association bestseller. He received the National Jewish Book Award for Outstanding Debut Fiction (2014) and has been a National Science Foundation Young Investigator. He has lectured at universities worldwide and appeared on CNN, ESPN, NPR and, briefly, in the Academy Award-nominated movie Moneyball. His work has been cited in Supreme Court briefs and congressional laws, and has been used to champion the launch of NASA environmental satellites. He lives with his wife in northern California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 502 reviews
November 7, 2016
Update: $1.99 Kindle special today! This is a seriously great deal. A very intelligent -funny as hell- sparkling novel.
REALLY really fantastic!!! One of the best books of 2014
I know Stuart has a new novel out soon --- If you have been considering reading this 'award' winning novel -- now might be a good time to grab it. The price will go back up. You can be certain.
pDv/Dt = Vp + V . T + f
"Yes, OK, reader, I know you are probably sweating almost instantly at the site of such a thing.
You are probably thinking perhaps, "Why does this author show us such opaque symbolism?
Forget this book by this middle-aged man raised by eccentric mathematicians (as if there
are any other kind). One of his parents is already dead in the story and was probably the
most interesting character of the lot."
"Why am I making your life difficult? Because while maybe math is shit to you, it isn't to me, and it wasn't to my mother or father. It is like breathing to us, and to ignore math in this story would be like akin to listening to Frank Zappa without ever having taken hallucinogens, an incomplete experience."
""We do not come from stupid people," my grandfather would sometimes say to me when he sensed that I was showing signs of 'being an American', which to him was any sign that I was relaxing my mind and resolve.""
Whether you like math or not, belong to a close knit academic, or Jewish family, the dialogue,
humor, and warmth throughout Stuart Rojstaczer's debut novel is terrific!
Rachela was 70 years old ...ill, taking medications that made her vomit several times a day,
she was weak....and in no condition to concentrate to solve the 'Navier-Stokes' equation...
but since no one young and healthy had solved this problem either, she thought,
"perhaps someone old and sick, by sheer will, could." So, it was rumored, Rachela solved the Navier Stokes equation and by doing so, cheated her death.
ONCE AGAIN ....OLD FARTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!
This book is about a Russian Jewish immigrant, through a Poland family, math, the Jewish ritual of Shiva, growing up, family & friends, (biological and adoptive children including a Ballet dancer, ), marriage, loss, grief, privacy, obligations, ideal love, and love.
Sasha, Rachela's son, ( a science Professor - A Hurricane Chaser ) is a colorful narrator.
He's funny - witty - and wise!
This would make a fantastic book club discussion pick. Other topics include religious & cultural issues -- family values passed down from generation to generation --criticism from parents ...( when to listen and when not to)....struggles not only being from the Soviet Union-
to the United States ... but being a Jewish female in an almost male world with other mathematical prodigies.
Very creative - entertaining - thoughtful - extremely well written novel for the
intellectuals....and 'non' intellectuals. It's impossible not to laugh - smile - and feel a little
warm all over!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!
REALLY really fantastic!!! One of the best books of 2014
I know Stuart has a new novel out soon --- If you have been considering reading this 'award' winning novel -- now might be a good time to grab it. The price will go back up. You can be certain.
pDv/Dt = Vp + V . T + f
"Yes, OK, reader, I know you are probably sweating almost instantly at the site of such a thing.
You are probably thinking perhaps, "Why does this author show us such opaque symbolism?
Forget this book by this middle-aged man raised by eccentric mathematicians (as if there
are any other kind). One of his parents is already dead in the story and was probably the
most interesting character of the lot."
"Why am I making your life difficult? Because while maybe math is shit to you, it isn't to me, and it wasn't to my mother or father. It is like breathing to us, and to ignore math in this story would be like akin to listening to Frank Zappa without ever having taken hallucinogens, an incomplete experience."
""We do not come from stupid people," my grandfather would sometimes say to me when he sensed that I was showing signs of 'being an American', which to him was any sign that I was relaxing my mind and resolve.""
Whether you like math or not, belong to a close knit academic, or Jewish family, the dialogue,
humor, and warmth throughout Stuart Rojstaczer's debut novel is terrific!
Rachela was 70 years old ...ill, taking medications that made her vomit several times a day,
she was weak....and in no condition to concentrate to solve the 'Navier-Stokes' equation...
but since no one young and healthy had solved this problem either, she thought,
"perhaps someone old and sick, by sheer will, could." So, it was rumored, Rachela solved the Navier Stokes equation and by doing so, cheated her death.
ONCE AGAIN ....OLD FARTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!
This book is about a Russian Jewish immigrant, through a Poland family, math, the Jewish ritual of Shiva, growing up, family & friends, (biological and adoptive children including a Ballet dancer, ), marriage, loss, grief, privacy, obligations, ideal love, and love.
Sasha, Rachela's son, ( a science Professor - A Hurricane Chaser ) is a colorful narrator.
He's funny - witty - and wise!
This would make a fantastic book club discussion pick. Other topics include religious & cultural issues -- family values passed down from generation to generation --criticism from parents ...( when to listen and when not to)....struggles not only being from the Soviet Union-
to the United States ... but being a Jewish female in an almost male world with other mathematical prodigies.
Very creative - entertaining - thoughtful - extremely well written novel for the
intellectuals....and 'non' intellectuals. It's impossible not to laugh - smile - and feel a little
warm all over!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!
November 27, 2016
Sometimes I'll walk past my old house with my stepsons or my grandchildren when we're on our way to Vilas Park and I'll just stop, look up, and reminisce, and try to think how I could possibly explain all that happened inside to these people who are so utterly American. I can't do it. Maybe when they'll read this book they'll understand just a bit of what it was about.
Yes, they will understand better. Even though this is fiction, it feels so real. It's we who'll understand more.
The book has a character whose talent is knowing who's sleeping with whom. And another character who has the talent of recognizing fake rabbis. Do people have talents like that? It feels real and made me think about what my talent is.
The characters are real people. You fully enter into this world. I read this book under distracting circumstances, to say the least: our recent election. A holiday and visit with my children and grandchildren followed. Yet I wasn't shaken out of the world of this book.
At first I had to be studying another book when beginning this one. I was just a little bit thrown off when a plot detour into the past followed my break in reading it. I often don't like that. But the technique wasn't used routinely, and I got used to it. The good came back and stayed.
Speaking of the election, the author of this 2014 book seemed to have peered into future concerns:
To Americans, the outward display of intelligence is considered unseemly. The Donald Trumps of the world can boast about their penthouses and Ferraris, their women can wear baubles the size of Nebraska, and no one says boo. If you have money, you're almost always expected to flaunt it. But intellect? This is something else entirely. Women, especially, are supposed to play dumb. One of the richest men in America has said publicly tht if your SAT score is too high, find a way to sell 200 points. Supposedly you don't need them.
The inability of Americans to value intellect is, to me, maddening. If someone possesses physical beauty, they will not be cloistered or hidden in dark shadows. No, they are expected to be the source of pleasing scenery to others. We are not frightened in this country by beauty. We celebrate it, as we should. But what about beautiful brains, the kind that can create amazing worlds out of nothing but thoughts, that can find a way to intricately bond elements of our lives and our ideas that conventional wisdom tells us are inert? Why should anyone hide this intellect ever? ... There is no such thing as unnecessary beauty, whether it be physical or intellectual.
The narrator and main character is the child of mathematician parents, one a Jew, who escaped Stalin's Russia. They are not a dumb family. His mother is the math genius. Or was. The premise is that during her shiva--a period of seven days of formal mourning after the funeral--mathematicians from all over descend on the family in search of a world-class proof she may or may not have completed.
As a child, his own survival while escaping and that of his father depended on his speaking perfect American-sounding English.
Most of the audio came from American radio dramas. The way the children on these shows interacted with their parents, free of shouting and so polite, seemed as foreign to me as the language of English itself. "Are people in America really like this<" I remember asking my father.
"Yes, of course. They are all like this."
"Will we have to be like this when we move?"
"No. We can be like we are."
The answer had been reassuring. For while I was certain that I could master English, mastering American culture seemed both impossible and undesirable. To this day I don't understand this country well. The cheery optimism. The lack of concern about the past. The openness to strangers who simply show a smile and give a firm handshake. ... Where does this blithe strength come from?
Okay, so there's the plot, and there's the view from an unusual angle.
This book is worth a read by anyone. Unfortunately, by the title it's a Jewish book, which usually means a limited readership. But that shouldn't be the case for this one. As you can see, it's about America.
And it's about math. First of three books on that subject for me.
If you can, get the paperback rather than kindle. This book feels just right: the right degree of flexibility, the right weight, and a velvety aspect to the cover.
It's a good one all around.
May 24, 2015
What a sparkling novel- it jumps with life. And it is unique too, IMHO. Beautiful World tells us about a Mathematician. This is different than just the biography of an intellect. It details not only the world of Academia in Mathematics (seated in Midwest America), but also the story of an immigrant Russian Jewish through Poland family. Our narrator is the single son telling of his Mother's death and shiva. There are at least 10 characters of excellent reveal in this novel. The writing is multi-language nuance so accurately similar to multi-language family protocol who INSIST that their children speak an English with no accent. I do know.
This is not only a joy to read but an absolutely intense tribute to intellectual excellence. And not in the sense of literary and word skill excellence, either. How rare is that! Rare.
You do not have to be a numbers person or Jewish, or Midwestern, or Polish to enjoy this read to the max. But seriously, it sure doesn't hurt.
And I totally agree with Rachela Karnokovitch about almost everything, but especially that nothing worth the brain work ever came out of a warm climate. That best conceptual thinking comes while moving through cold. That this is a first work, or nearly so in pure fiction range, has completely bowled me over.
Highly rec.
This is not only a joy to read but an absolutely intense tribute to intellectual excellence. And not in the sense of literary and word skill excellence, either. How rare is that! Rare.
You do not have to be a numbers person or Jewish, or Midwestern, or Polish to enjoy this read to the max. But seriously, it sure doesn't hurt.
And I totally agree with Rachela Karnokovitch about almost everything, but especially that nothing worth the brain work ever came out of a warm climate. That best conceptual thinking comes while moving through cold. That this is a first work, or nearly so in pure fiction range, has completely bowled me over.
Highly rec.
July 12, 2015
This book has received substantial critical acclaim, and the 2014 National Jewish Book Award for best debut novel. It's a shame that it is not more widely read. It's well written, funny, heart-wrenching, and intellectual. A wonderful book club choice. Rachela Karnokovitch is one of the greatest math geniuses in history. Born in the USSR, her life is shaped by the harsh life in a Soviet gulag in Siberia, where her mother dies and she and her father starve. Rachela is convinced that hardship and deprivation sharpen senses and open minds, and she is lucky to have teachers, who recognize her unique talents. As soon as she can, she defects at a Berlin conference, abandoning her husband and young son. She solves major problems in math, but is frustrated by the male-dominated academic community's refusal to provide her with the recognition she deserves. When she dies, rumors about that she has solved the famed/fictional “Navier-Stokes equation” – one of the great unanswered conundrums and hidden the solution, drawing a curious mix of friendly and opportunistic mathematicians to her funeral and shiva.
So what's so interesting here? The story of Rachela's larger than life personality, her disjointed family (estranged husband, biological and adopted children, including a talented Russian dancer defector, estranged daughter-in-law and her brilliant progeny) is awfully compelling. Narrated by her son, himself a professor of atmospheric science (hurricane chaser), the novel is basically an ode to his mother, but is very funny as it touches on various subjects from religious beliefs to cultural issues (especially Russian) to academia (recognition, competition) to love and friendship.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Speaking to President Clinton at an award ceremony where she is being honored,
Another:
In describing Russian emigrant men's attempts to help the beautiful adopted daughter/dancer Anna:
A last one:
So what's so interesting here? The story of Rachela's larger than life personality, her disjointed family (estranged husband, biological and adopted children, including a talented Russian dancer defector, estranged daughter-in-law and her brilliant progeny) is awfully compelling. Narrated by her son, himself a professor of atmospheric science (hurricane chaser), the novel is basically an ode to his mother, but is very funny as it touches on various subjects from religious beliefs to cultural issues (especially Russian) to academia (recognition, competition) to love and friendship.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Speaking to President Clinton at an award ceremony where she is being honored,
Clinton begins to tell my mother of a recurring dream. He is in an elevator of an impossibly tall building. He keeps rising higher and higher alone in the elevator, the numbers signifying what floor he is on getting bigger and bigger. "What do you think it means, Doctor K?"Hillary finally bursts out laughing, recognizing it as a joke.
"Well, I'm a mathematician, not a psychoanalyst," my mother says, "But, it would seem that your subconscious is telling you that you are in over your head in your present job."
Another:
Besides it is not a Russian thing to follow rules, unless of course not following them will likely mean prison or worse. Many rules are in fact inherently stupid.
In describing Russian emigrant men's attempts to help the beautiful adopted daughter/dancer Anna:
She swatted them away without any pretense of being polite. If they persisted, she'd roll out the insults. "Da poshel ty na kher so svoin utiugom [Get the hell out of here and don't forget to take your dick with you.]"
A last one:
If there is one hardship Russians can endure, even celebrate, it's cold and the deprivation associated with that cold. Every hundred years or so another country forgets about this special Russian talent, declares war and pays dearly for their naivete and hubris.
December 21, 2020
I always have the creeping suspicion when reading novels that focus heavily on family relationships that they are more autobiographical than they lead the reader to believe, and to a certain point that puts a damper on my enjoyment. It feels dishonest. The author’s writing skills aren’t powerful enough to turn the raw material into a novel that shines. So, being that the case, what is wrong with a good old essay? Or a memoir? I guess he just really wanted to write a novel. Which is fine and all, but it leaves us with a book that feels a lot more invested in the author’s reflections on growing up in a family of intellectuals and emigrés than in the actual plot.
And the plot is certainly amusing! I wish there had been more of it. Essentially it’s about growing up in the shadow of genius. It begins with the death of the protagonist’s mother, arguably the most important mathematician of her time. But rumour has spread that she has solved one of the most enduring problems in mathematics and taken the secret to the grave. Hence, during the shiva (the traditional Jewish week of mourning) the protagonist’s house fills with mathematicians who have come allegedly to mourn but are actually on the hunt for the proof.
So it’s a great idea, but the way it played out was lacking. The author (yes, I will keep calling him that, have you even seen his surname?) keeps pointing out how odd and quirky all these mathematicians are, when in point of fact they seem to be behaving quite normally most of the time. A shiva house filled with Jewish Russian mathematicians is great comedy material. But it was missing a bit of show-don’t-tell. Almost like a joke delivery without a punchline.
It is a good read, nevertheless. It flew by. It has got a dry humour that I quite enjoyed. And its strengths are certainly the aforementioned parts that focus on family and growing up in the midst of towering intellectuals.
One last caveat: the author is too respectful of the intellectual way of life portrayed to be uproariously funny, if that makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, it is funny. But it isn’t critical. It’s more of an endearing kind of funny. At times it feels like he’s out to ridicule his subjects, but his heart’s not in it. He loves these people too much. And there’s something touching about that.
And the plot is certainly amusing! I wish there had been more of it. Essentially it’s about growing up in the shadow of genius. It begins with the death of the protagonist’s mother, arguably the most important mathematician of her time. But rumour has spread that she has solved one of the most enduring problems in mathematics and taken the secret to the grave. Hence, during the shiva (the traditional Jewish week of mourning) the protagonist’s house fills with mathematicians who have come allegedly to mourn but are actually on the hunt for the proof.
So it’s a great idea, but the way it played out was lacking. The author (yes, I will keep calling him that, have you even seen his surname?) keeps pointing out how odd and quirky all these mathematicians are, when in point of fact they seem to be behaving quite normally most of the time. A shiva house filled with Jewish Russian mathematicians is great comedy material. But it was missing a bit of show-don’t-tell. Almost like a joke delivery without a punchline.
It is a good read, nevertheless. It flew by. It has got a dry humour that I quite enjoyed. And its strengths are certainly the aforementioned parts that focus on family and growing up in the midst of towering intellectuals.
One last caveat: the author is too respectful of the intellectual way of life portrayed to be uproariously funny, if that makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, it is funny. But it isn’t critical. It’s more of an endearing kind of funny. At times it feels like he’s out to ridicule his subjects, but his heart’s not in it. He loves these people too much. And there’s something touching about that.
September 15, 2014
"…smart people do stupid things far more often than most people realize."
This beautifully conceived novel revolves around the death of a world-class mathematician and the resolution of a proof about turbulence, or the chaotic movement of air and water in the atmosphere during a hurricane.
"Actually, it is more than this. The big D in the Navier-Stokes equation is called the material derivative, and it refers to watching velocities of fluids change not from a fixed reference frame but from one in which you are riding with the storm. When I think of Navier-Stokes, sometimes I imagine myself as a Lilliputian in a tiny canoe that has been lifted up and tossed high in a fun-house mirror. I watch as the fluids careen against and flow around me."Wouldn’t it be great if the turbulence in our lives could be described and defined and nailed down with scientific precision? We could coolly assess a situation and recognize just when things are going to fly out of control, in which direction, and with what force.
"Tornados are a good metaphor for how bad things happen in our lives. They build from small disturbances that usually don’t mean a thing and almost always dissipate. But somehow one particular random bad event attracts others, and all of them together grow and attract more nasty stuff. Once it gets to a critical size, the odds of it growing even larger are no longer remote."
Rachela Karnokovitch was the stuff of legend--a brilliant mathematician immigrant to the United States. Born in Poland and raised in Siberia, she escaped to the United States in advance of her husband and her child and was welcomed with open arms into the IV League academic community. However, she preferred the chill of Wisconsin rather than the warm Princeton climate. She hated and derided any modifier to her genius, e.g., female mathematician, though the rarity of that made her even more precious, at least in the eyes of her husband and son.
Could there be a more unique premise for a novel than the funeral of a genius mathematician rumored to have held off dying in order to solve a major problem? This funeral gathers to itself a constellation of weird but bright individuals all circulating about that star of genius to see if the here-to-fore unannounced solution to the problem is anywhere apparent in Rachela’s papers. They sit shiva in her house for seven days. They search the office, walls, and floorboards of her house. They eat the food offered by neighbors, and drink continually. They generally make themselves a nuisance, though not without mathematician jokes, academician jokes, and a gradual but reluctant acceptance of reality.
In searching for the solution to the math problem, her son comes across Rachela’s diary. Rachela’s remembrances interspersed with shiva-sitting prompt her son to consider the big social questions that face us as humans:
"Our capacity for love isn’t like a gallon jug that you fill up from a rest stop as you take a drive across the country. It can swell, and sadly, it can shrink. Less is not more. Less is less, and more is better, although I can’t say that I fully understood that at the time of my mother’s death. I’m a whiz at science and math. In matters of people, I am indeed a slow learner."
This is a first novel, though it does not read like one. It is a profound meditation on life’s large questions, on math, on academia, on love and marriage. It is told with humor, pathos, honesty, and the understanding that long experience and large intellect can bring. The writing is mature, assured, and graceful, and the author instinctively seems to understand the requirements of fiction. We readers can follow anywhere, even to a funeral, as long as it has passages like the mathematician Rachela as a child in Siberia encountering a bear as she scoured the woods for lily bulbs to supplement her inadequate diet.
I was offered a copy of this book by Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.
May 19, 2023
Burgoine Review
The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: A comic, bittersweet tale of family evocative of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Everything Is Illuminated
Alexander "Sasha" Karnokovitch and his family would like to mourn the passing of his mother, Rachela, with modesty and dignity. But Rachela, a famous Polish émigré mathematician and professor at the University of Wisconsin, is rumored to have solved the million-dollar, Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem. Rumor also has it that she spitefully took the solution to her grave. To Sasha’s chagrin, a ragtag group of socially challenged mathematicians arrives in Madison and crashes the shiva, vowing to do whatever it takes to find the solution — even if it means prying up the floorboards for Rachela’s notes.
Written by a Ph.D. geophysicist, this hilarious and multi-layered debut novel brims with colorful characters and brilliantly captures humanity’s drive not just to survive, but to solve the impossible.
I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.
My Review: Perfectly adequate prose telling a meant-to-be funny story about the strongly coded as autistic geeks in the mathematics universe. Not remotely amusing to someone, like me, who has actually autistic relatives.
YMMV, of course.
The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: A comic, bittersweet tale of family evocative of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Everything Is Illuminated
Alexander "Sasha" Karnokovitch and his family would like to mourn the passing of his mother, Rachela, with modesty and dignity. But Rachela, a famous Polish émigré mathematician and professor at the University of Wisconsin, is rumored to have solved the million-dollar, Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem. Rumor also has it that she spitefully took the solution to her grave. To Sasha’s chagrin, a ragtag group of socially challenged mathematicians arrives in Madison and crashes the shiva, vowing to do whatever it takes to find the solution — even if it means prying up the floorboards for Rachela’s notes.
Written by a Ph.D. geophysicist, this hilarious and multi-layered debut novel brims with colorful characters and brilliantly captures humanity’s drive not just to survive, but to solve the impossible.
I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.
My Review: Perfectly adequate prose telling a meant-to-be funny story about the strongly coded as autistic geeks in the mathematics universe. Not remotely amusing to someone, like me, who has actually autistic relatives.
YMMV, of course.
November 18, 2017
Although the word Shiva conjures a Hindu deity, it is also a term used for the seven days of mourning following the death of a loved one, a Jewish coda for they who practice the faith.
'Shiva' is also a word that New Yorkers use to describe the intense cold they feel. At least it sounds that way. But I digress. Apologies.
The Mathematician in the title is a literary device to demonstrate the reactions to a death by people who are personally unfamiliar with the newly deceased family member. The conduit to this person is her son, who perceives the passing of his mother differently than through the eyes of colleagues.
It is also a transparent abstract into the experiences of people, many who tolerate life and its’ chronic yet undefined ennui, by overvaluing their work, their professions. A sort of individuated map to anywhere, until the road ends.
The family that mourns and the people enamored with numbers are corralled together in one house. They share one thing in common: the unparalleled grandmother mathematician who passed, the mother of the protagonist and the icon of the academics.
It is also an homage to women, in general, and ladies who have surpassed their male counterparts, in professions that were once uniquely male dominated.
'Shiva' is also a word that New Yorkers use to describe the intense cold they feel. At least it sounds that way. But I digress. Apologies.
The Mathematician in the title is a literary device to demonstrate the reactions to a death by people who are personally unfamiliar with the newly deceased family member. The conduit to this person is her son, who perceives the passing of his mother differently than through the eyes of colleagues.
It is also a transparent abstract into the experiences of people, many who tolerate life and its’ chronic yet undefined ennui, by overvaluing their work, their professions. A sort of individuated map to anywhere, until the road ends.
The family that mourns and the people enamored with numbers are corralled together in one house. They share one thing in common: the unparalleled grandmother mathematician who passed, the mother of the protagonist and the icon of the academics.
It is also an homage to women, in general, and ladies who have surpassed their male counterparts, in professions that were once uniquely male dominated.
June 25, 2019
Math was certainly never one of my subjects. While I scored well on some qualifying exams years later in adulthood, I could barely pull a C in high school without a lot of interference run by friends. Perhaps it was a strong instinct in spacial relations. My brother on the other hand has a master’s in applied mathematics and I’m guessing used all kinds of acoustic related equations in his development of a software program that predicts weather underwater - current direction and speed. His co-authored paper was presented a few years back at the NATO Underwater Research Center. That being said, the title is deceptive. Don’t shy away, as any math discussed in the book does not necessarily require understanding on the part of the reader. Only an understanding of its place in their family. I could substitute music.
“Why am I making your life difficult? Because while maybe math is sh*t to you, it isn't to me, and it wasn't to my mother or father. It is like breathing to us, and to ignore math in this story would be akin to listening to Frank Zappa without ever having taken hallucinogens, an incomplete experience.”
This is not a plot driven book but a character study. There are so many layers to their personalities, none of which need explaining, conclusion or resolution. They all play into the family dynamics that are the heart of the novel. The other piece being a look at anti-intellectualism and how knowledge is not appreciated in this country. Something still true as evidenced in some analyses of the latest political trends. The main character Sasha is preparing to bury his mother, a Russian Jew who was a renowned mathematician. She was never adequately recognized for some of her accomplishments because she was a woman in a male dominated field and a defector. She was supposed to have spent her career on the Navier Stokes equations and not revealed her proofs before she died.* Mathematicians from all over the US converge on her funeral and shiva seeking answers. Sasha is conflicted about their relationship, a profound love as well as a sense of disappointing her. Obviously the deprivations of war, immigration, cultural identity, and gender inequities played a big part in who his mom was. As the book progresses, he comes to terms with the pieces of her he inherited or tried to escape and his deep sense of loss.
There’s more power in previous generations’ experiences than we want to admit sometimes. This was one of those books that hit home. I’ve been playing a LOT of funerals recently and it has given me a whole other peek into families. Some are profoundly sad and emotional events. Others are an inspiration and a joy because the family tells stories, sometimes really long stories, that are an appreciative and fun look at the deceased. Both forms of grief sweep you into their fold for a brief moment. It can be absolutely overwhelming in and of itself or as a reminder of the huge hole I still feel at the loss of my own parents and their depth of influence.
*I have seen some reviewers who didn’t realize Navier Stokes is a real equation. Please see link: https://www.comsol.com/multiphysics/n... It is the Boussinesq problem that is fictional, although the name is not.
“Why am I making your life difficult? Because while maybe math is sh*t to you, it isn't to me, and it wasn't to my mother or father. It is like breathing to us, and to ignore math in this story would be akin to listening to Frank Zappa without ever having taken hallucinogens, an incomplete experience.”
This is not a plot driven book but a character study. There are so many layers to their personalities, none of which need explaining, conclusion or resolution. They all play into the family dynamics that are the heart of the novel. The other piece being a look at anti-intellectualism and how knowledge is not appreciated in this country. Something still true as evidenced in some analyses of the latest political trends. The main character Sasha is preparing to bury his mother, a Russian Jew who was a renowned mathematician. She was never adequately recognized for some of her accomplishments because she was a woman in a male dominated field and a defector. She was supposed to have spent her career on the Navier Stokes equations and not revealed her proofs before she died.* Mathematicians from all over the US converge on her funeral and shiva seeking answers. Sasha is conflicted about their relationship, a profound love as well as a sense of disappointing her. Obviously the deprivations of war, immigration, cultural identity, and gender inequities played a big part in who his mom was. As the book progresses, he comes to terms with the pieces of her he inherited or tried to escape and his deep sense of loss.
There’s more power in previous generations’ experiences than we want to admit sometimes. This was one of those books that hit home. I’ve been playing a LOT of funerals recently and it has given me a whole other peek into families. Some are profoundly sad and emotional events. Others are an inspiration and a joy because the family tells stories, sometimes really long stories, that are an appreciative and fun look at the deceased. Both forms of grief sweep you into their fold for a brief moment. It can be absolutely overwhelming in and of itself or as a reminder of the huge hole I still feel at the loss of my own parents and their depth of influence.
*I have seen some reviewers who didn’t realize Navier Stokes is a real equation. Please see link: https://www.comsol.com/multiphysics/n... It is the Boussinesq problem that is fictional, although the name is not.
July 22, 2017
4 stars. This was different, but totally captivating. I first spotted this book on Goodreads somewhere, and later saw it had been a Book of the Month pick for the Jewish Book Club awhile back. I don't know if anyone reviewed it, but I will add my review to the list. I also picked it as one of my four choices for my personal prosperity challenge. This was a good solid read. Its just interesting to note. When my prosperity books were ordered by rating, highest to lowest, this ended up almost at the bottom at Book Six. Yet, when I clicked on it to announce I was reading it, I saw all my friends had rated it 5 stars. Every single one, except for a couple of fours. That made me wonder to whom this book appeals. Let me describe my impression of it.
A prominent mathematician dies. This is not a spoiler, its in the title, as Shiva refers to a jewish mourning period, where people come to mark and celebrate a life recently passed. The mathematician is a russian woman, who (factiously) is one of the most eminent brilliant mathematicians ever in history, and one of the only women. The story is written from the point of view of her son, and we get to meet her ex-husband, his father, her brother, heir nephew, and an adopted daughter. And an unexpected surprise or two. And 400 eminent mathematicians who have shown up to honor her, but also see if she left clues to a brilliant math enigma that they are sure she has solved. They mourn and they try to "complete" her work, by solving a difficult postulate. The story, written from the point of view of the son, tries to understand both his brilliant mother, and the impact of her loss on all those left behind. There are pieces of it written by the mother herself. And interactions amongst the family and the mathematicians. Its was actually a beautiful read about what we leave behind, and about how we move forward when someone, brilliant or not, leaves a hole, a puzzle, and a mystery in their midsts. It was quite good. I deeply enjoyed it.
A prominent mathematician dies. This is not a spoiler, its in the title, as Shiva refers to a jewish mourning period, where people come to mark and celebrate a life recently passed. The mathematician is a russian woman, who (factiously) is one of the most eminent brilliant mathematicians ever in history, and one of the only women. The story is written from the point of view of her son, and we get to meet her ex-husband, his father, her brother, heir nephew, and an adopted daughter. And an unexpected surprise or two. And 400 eminent mathematicians who have shown up to honor her, but also see if she left clues to a brilliant math enigma that they are sure she has solved. They mourn and they try to "complete" her work, by solving a difficult postulate. The story, written from the point of view of the son, tries to understand both his brilliant mother, and the impact of her loss on all those left behind. There are pieces of it written by the mother herself. And interactions amongst the family and the mathematicians. Its was actually a beautiful read about what we leave behind, and about how we move forward when someone, brilliant or not, leaves a hole, a puzzle, and a mystery in their midsts. It was quite good. I deeply enjoyed it.
January 29, 2016
Those who regularly read my Goodreads updates know I rarely give 5 star reviews. But I not only greatly enjoyed reading this book [a debut novel, no less], I found no flaws worth mentioning. Funny, poignant, clever, delightful, and exciting, with an amazing array of fascinating and fabulous characters. Nice to read a book with a heroic Jewish mother who's a genius and feminist for a change. Most authors are lucky to manage one flashback well, but Stuart Rojstaczer succeeded at taking me back and forth between past, present, and future without ever losing me along the way. I salute his writing skill and hope he won't be a one-book-wonder.
I finish by mentioning that this novel meets the foremost criteria for a book I want to read/write [small spoiler alert] - a happy, or at least satisfying, ending. Only caveat: you don't need to be Jewish or know Yiddish to appreciate this novel, but it doesn't hurt.
I finish by mentioning that this novel meets the foremost criteria for a book I want to read/write [small spoiler alert] - a happy, or at least satisfying, ending. Only caveat: you don't need to be Jewish or know Yiddish to appreciate this novel, but it doesn't hurt.
September 10, 2014
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It has everything in it: Soviet prison camps, World War II sagas, Holocaust survival, immigrant experiences growing up in the US, Soviet defection of artists to the U.S., mathematical geniuses and child prodigies, Jewish and Christian religious activities, Yiddish, Polish and Russian spoken by a parrot, hidden treasures and secret solutions to grand mysteries. And that's barely scratching the surface of a book filled with so much life even as it depicts the weeklong mourning for a celebrated mathematician. It is impossible to put this book down. Highly recommend!
September 21, 2014
This story is narrated by Alexander (“Sasha”) Karnokovitch, whose famous mathematics-prodigy mother died when Sasha was 51. It is now ten years later, and he is recalling the circus created by her death. Rachela Karnokovitch was a Polish Russian Jew who had studied under the great Russian mathematician Kolmogorov. [Kolmogorov is famous for many advances in mathematical theory, including some related to random processes and the effects of turbulence.]
It had been rumored that Sasha’s mother, under the initial direction of Kolmogorov and later on her own, had done some breakthrough work on the famous Navier-Stokes equation, which describes the motion of fluid substances. [In real life, one million dollars was offered in 2000 to anyone who could prove that in three dimensions solutions always exist, or that if they do exist, then they do not contain any "singularity" (smoothness). Such solutions would give terrific insights into the phenomenon of chaotic flow. To date, this has not been accomplished, although in January, 2014, a Kazakh mathematician claimed he had done it. Mathematicians have not yet been able to substantiate his proof.]
Back to the story, a large group of top mathematicians descend on Madison, Wisconsin to attend the “shiva” or seven-day-long ceremony held by Jews in honor of the loss of a loved one.
Their agenda was not only to honor Rachela Karnokovitch, but to root through her papers if possible, and see if the desired solution to Navier-Stokes was among them. And in fact, during the seven days of the shiva, the mathematicians congregate at Rachela’s house during the day, and work on solving the equation in the evenings.
As the shiva continues, we go back in time, occasionally hearing the voice of Rachela herself as Sasha reads through the memoir she recently sent him. We also get to know Sasha’s family, and some of the mathematicians gathered there. And at the end, we learn what really happened with Rachela and the Navier-Stokes equation.
Discussion: I got the impression that the author wanted to share thoughts about things he was passionate about, but I didn’t think they all came together into a very satisfying story. He wants us to know what Jewish intellectuals had to endure under Stalin, and he wants us to experience what the Polish-Russian-Jewish immigrant community in America is like. He also wants to share his impressions of mathematicians as a group, and his thoughts about the very big difference between “numbers” and “mathematics.” All of this is not uninteresting, and yet I don’t think the plot he devised transcended the anecdotal level. I didn’t feel like I got to know what drove these characters, and even when provided with a hint to their interior lives (as with the case of Rachela), I only felt partially illuminated. Moreover, I felt the final word from Rachela on what drove her to do the things she did sort of contradicted her behavior that preceded it.
Evaluation: I liked this book but didn’t love it. To me, it seemed like the author didn’t go into enough depth about the human aspects of his characters.
Note: You do not have to understand either math, Russian, Polish, or Yiddish to read this book - translations are provided for all when necessary.
It had been rumored that Sasha’s mother, under the initial direction of Kolmogorov and later on her own, had done some breakthrough work on the famous Navier-Stokes equation, which describes the motion of fluid substances. [In real life, one million dollars was offered in 2000 to anyone who could prove that in three dimensions solutions always exist, or that if they do exist, then they do not contain any "singularity" (smoothness). Such solutions would give terrific insights into the phenomenon of chaotic flow. To date, this has not been accomplished, although in January, 2014, a Kazakh mathematician claimed he had done it. Mathematicians have not yet been able to substantiate his proof.]
Back to the story, a large group of top mathematicians descend on Madison, Wisconsin to attend the “shiva” or seven-day-long ceremony held by Jews in honor of the loss of a loved one.
Their agenda was not only to honor Rachela Karnokovitch, but to root through her papers if possible, and see if the desired solution to Navier-Stokes was among them. And in fact, during the seven days of the shiva, the mathematicians congregate at Rachela’s house during the day, and work on solving the equation in the evenings.
As the shiva continues, we go back in time, occasionally hearing the voice of Rachela herself as Sasha reads through the memoir she recently sent him. We also get to know Sasha’s family, and some of the mathematicians gathered there. And at the end, we learn what really happened with Rachela and the Navier-Stokes equation.
Discussion: I got the impression that the author wanted to share thoughts about things he was passionate about, but I didn’t think they all came together into a very satisfying story. He wants us to know what Jewish intellectuals had to endure under Stalin, and he wants us to experience what the Polish-Russian-Jewish immigrant community in America is like. He also wants to share his impressions of mathematicians as a group, and his thoughts about the very big difference between “numbers” and “mathematics.” All of this is not uninteresting, and yet I don’t think the plot he devised transcended the anecdotal level. I didn’t feel like I got to know what drove these characters, and even when provided with a hint to their interior lives (as with the case of Rachela), I only felt partially illuminated. Moreover, I felt the final word from Rachela on what drove her to do the things she did sort of contradicted her behavior that preceded it.
Evaluation: I liked this book but didn’t love it. To me, it seemed like the author didn’t go into enough depth about the human aspects of his characters.
Note: You do not have to understand either math, Russian, Polish, or Yiddish to read this book - translations are provided for all when necessary.
October 25, 2014
I am not a numbers person at all. So, when I received my Goodreads Giveaway copy of Stuart Rojstaczer’s The Mathematician’s Shiva, I was a little skeptical. Luckily, I found this novel thoroughly entertaining.
Told with self-deprecating humor and warmth, this is the story of Sasha’s mother Rachaela, her defection from the Soviet Union to the United States, and her struggle as a Jewish female in the field of mathematics. Though she dies early in the book, we get to know her through her journal chronicling her childhood years. This book also speaks to family bonds, inferiority and looking back on one’s life. Sasha's eclectic family members steal the show with their dialogue and vodka devouring.
And, as someone who’s very recently moved to The South, I appreciated the constant jabbing from Sasha’s bewildered family members after he moved to Alabama:
“I don’t understand how you can live in bumblefuck Alabama when you could live here…”
Recommended.
Told with self-deprecating humor and warmth, this is the story of Sasha’s mother Rachaela, her defection from the Soviet Union to the United States, and her struggle as a Jewish female in the field of mathematics. Though she dies early in the book, we get to know her through her journal chronicling her childhood years. This book also speaks to family bonds, inferiority and looking back on one’s life. Sasha's eclectic family members steal the show with their dialogue and vodka devouring.
And, as someone who’s very recently moved to The South, I appreciated the constant jabbing from Sasha’s bewildered family members after he moved to Alabama:
“I don’t understand how you can live in bumblefuck Alabama when you could live here…”
Recommended.
March 31, 2018
This book is very original as others have noted. I loved it. It's a big story, or rather several stories layered or woven together. I wish I had paid more attention to it when it came out as I would have gone out of my way to attend a book event with Stuart R (check out his website/blog where he acknowledges few people can spell his last name, let alone pronounce it). I wish Stuart R would finish that second novel he keeps promising but he is a busy guy. I am "following" him now on GR and see that he just sent in a video to NPR's Tiny Desk song writing competition, a very charming tune about things getting better with age.
I liked this book so much I would consider reading it again. Highly recommended.
I liked this book so much I would consider reading it again. Highly recommended.
August 8, 2017
Loved it. So much fun. I confess, one look at the cover and I knew I was in. This is a smart, smart book that doesn't make you feel dumb, even in the real mathematical sections. Maybe I didn't understand every technical word, but the narrator never lost me on emotion. Great writing (remember I'm not a fan of first-person POV, but I can't see this written any other way). Great characters, a story that shouldn't have interested me but totally did. Fascinating look at the Jewish culture and the Jewish immigrant experience. Funny, poignant, thoughtful. Not everyone's cup of tea but man, it sure was mine.
January 8, 2020
The Mathematician’s Shiva has the unique position of being the last book I picked up in 2018 and the first book I finished in 2019. It is also the second of the four books I received on Christmas. More trivia? it’s also the second comic novel I read (the first one being Less), a genre which doesn’t come my way often.
Rachela, one of the greatest mathematicians in the world has died. Her son Sasha, a scientist , who is narrating the story as an old man, has to hold a Shiva as per custom. There lies some problems in this. One is that Sasha’s family (divorced mathematician father,business minded uncle and his eccentric cousin) are dysfunctional so living together will bring back tensions. Second a group of world renowned mathematicians also want to sit Shiva as a sign of respect (and to discover if Rachela has hidden a solution to a tough mathematical problem in the house) AND if things get more complicated Sasha’s long lost daughter, with a child also turn up.
As one can guess, the comedy lies in how academics behave in conjunction with an already crazy bunch of family members. This leads to a lot of hilarious situations. The cross country ski trip, the identical triplets who confuse Sasha and the general odd habits of professors (as two my uncles were academics, these habits were quite close to the truth)
Like all good comedy, the laughs are disguised with serious undertones and The Mathematician’s Shiva true inner message is about emigration. The majority of the characters are Russian Jews so there’s a lot of backstory consisting of suffering and the eventual freedom the U.S. allows for educated foreigners to thrive. There’s also a feminist aspect, detailing Rachela’s struggles with academia within the Russian educational system only to find out that in the U.S. a woman mathematician can approach the same problems.
Sasha’s family relations are another core aspect of the book. With the arrival of his daughter Sasha wonders if he capable of loving or if it being an Russian Jew bent on academia which prevents him from forming a long term relationship. Personally I felt that these sections of the book were poignant as Rojstaczer delved deep into his character’s psyche, something I find a bit rare in novels.
The final leg of the novel is wrapped up neatly but at this point plot loses it’s importance. The focus really is on Sasha trying to make sense of the world around him; Coping with the loss of his mother and her legacy, coping with growing up as an US citizen and a Russian Jew and coping with being thrust into the world of academia. The book concludes with an undiscovered piece of writing from Rachela stating that, ironically, through her death everything she fought and struggled for when she was alive will be implemented. Despite the negative outlook it actually is a fitting conclusion.
The Mathematician’s Shiva is a wonderful read. I laughed, shed a metaphorical tear and, at some points I felt like I was a part of the shiva as a casual observer. Whether if this was Rojstaczer’s aim, I don’t know, but he’s good at creating realistic dialogue so that helped in making the settings concrete.
I have a small superstition that if one starts the reading year on a high note, it’s an indication of the quality of books that will come your way. Hopefully this small superstition will ring true for The Mathematician’s Shiva is an excellent read and i urge those who like some humor in their writing to read the book as well.
Rachela, one of the greatest mathematicians in the world has died. Her son Sasha, a scientist , who is narrating the story as an old man, has to hold a Shiva as per custom. There lies some problems in this. One is that Sasha’s family (divorced mathematician father,business minded uncle and his eccentric cousin) are dysfunctional so living together will bring back tensions. Second a group of world renowned mathematicians also want to sit Shiva as a sign of respect (and to discover if Rachela has hidden a solution to a tough mathematical problem in the house) AND if things get more complicated Sasha’s long lost daughter, with a child also turn up.
As one can guess, the comedy lies in how academics behave in conjunction with an already crazy bunch of family members. This leads to a lot of hilarious situations. The cross country ski trip, the identical triplets who confuse Sasha and the general odd habits of professors (as two my uncles were academics, these habits were quite close to the truth)
Like all good comedy, the laughs are disguised with serious undertones and The Mathematician’s Shiva true inner message is about emigration. The majority of the characters are Russian Jews so there’s a lot of backstory consisting of suffering and the eventual freedom the U.S. allows for educated foreigners to thrive. There’s also a feminist aspect, detailing Rachela’s struggles with academia within the Russian educational system only to find out that in the U.S. a woman mathematician can approach the same problems.
Sasha’s family relations are another core aspect of the book. With the arrival of his daughter Sasha wonders if he capable of loving or if it being an Russian Jew bent on academia which prevents him from forming a long term relationship. Personally I felt that these sections of the book were poignant as Rojstaczer delved deep into his character’s psyche, something I find a bit rare in novels.
The final leg of the novel is wrapped up neatly but at this point plot loses it’s importance. The focus really is on Sasha trying to make sense of the world around him; Coping with the loss of his mother and her legacy, coping with growing up as an US citizen and a Russian Jew and coping with being thrust into the world of academia. The book concludes with an undiscovered piece of writing from Rachela stating that, ironically, through her death everything she fought and struggled for when she was alive will be implemented. Despite the negative outlook it actually is a fitting conclusion.
The Mathematician’s Shiva is a wonderful read. I laughed, shed a metaphorical tear and, at some points I felt like I was a part of the shiva as a casual observer. Whether if this was Rojstaczer’s aim, I don’t know, but he’s good at creating realistic dialogue so that helped in making the settings concrete.
I have a small superstition that if one starts the reading year on a high note, it’s an indication of the quality of books that will come your way. Hopefully this small superstition will ring true for The Mathematician’s Shiva is an excellent read and i urge those who like some humor in their writing to read the book as well.
March 23, 2015
I've recently had an interesting experience reading three semi-related books,The Infinite Tides, The Mathematician's Shiva, and The Martian. I didn't choose to purposefully read them this way, but I have enjoyed reading them in succession and thinking about how they are related. The Infinite Tides has themes of both math and space; The Martian is clearly space-themed, while The Mathematician's Shiva is clearly math-themed. Reading them in this serendipitous order has led me to think about each of them in deeper and different ways.
The Mathematician's Shiva celebrates the life, family, and work of brilliant, fictional mathematician, Rachela Karnokovitch, told from the viewpoint of her son Sasha while he sits shiva after his mother's death. His father, uncle, cousin, some surprise family members, and a seemingly endless stream of fellow mathematicians are in attendance. Some of those mathematicians are there to pay their respects, but many show up because of the rumor that Rachela has solved the million-dollar Navier-Stokes Millenium Prize problem. The mathematicians want to go through Rachela's personal papers, pry up the floorboards, interrogate her parrot, and even try to summon her spirit, all in hopes of finding clues about the rumored Navier-Stokes proof.
What Sasha wants most is to mourn his mother privately and in peace, but while he is dealing with the gaggle of mathematicians (is a group of mathematicians called a 'proof'?), we do learn about his mother's struggles and how her genius and personality has impacted Sasha's life. He is a geophysicist who takes measurements in the eyes of hurricanes; he is applying the Navier-Stokes equations in the real world as opposed to the pure mathematics that his mother did. I'm always on the lookout for novels that include topics of interest to me, and The Mathematician's Shiva is one of the few well-written math novels I've come across. It is fitting that Navier-Stokes quantifies turbulence, which figures large in all aspects of family, fame, math, and giftedness, and this interesting, original, and unique book.
The Mathematician's Shiva celebrates the life, family, and work of brilliant, fictional mathematician, Rachela Karnokovitch, told from the viewpoint of her son Sasha while he sits shiva after his mother's death. His father, uncle, cousin, some surprise family members, and a seemingly endless stream of fellow mathematicians are in attendance. Some of those mathematicians are there to pay their respects, but many show up because of the rumor that Rachela has solved the million-dollar Navier-Stokes Millenium Prize problem. The mathematicians want to go through Rachela's personal papers, pry up the floorboards, interrogate her parrot, and even try to summon her spirit, all in hopes of finding clues about the rumored Navier-Stokes proof.
What Sasha wants most is to mourn his mother privately and in peace, but while he is dealing with the gaggle of mathematicians (is a group of mathematicians called a 'proof'?), we do learn about his mother's struggles and how her genius and personality has impacted Sasha's life. He is a geophysicist who takes measurements in the eyes of hurricanes; he is applying the Navier-Stokes equations in the real world as opposed to the pure mathematics that his mother did. I'm always on the lookout for novels that include topics of interest to me, and The Mathematician's Shiva is one of the few well-written math novels I've come across. It is fitting that Navier-Stokes quantifies turbulence, which figures large in all aspects of family, fame, math, and giftedness, and this interesting, original, and unique book.
November 10, 2014
I won this in a GR Giveaway for an honest review.
This is a warm, forgiving family story of loyalties, misunderstandings, togetherness. Woven in between is an immigration story of change, acceptance and fitting into one's world.
The humour is low key and wonderful. I loved the side comments and sarcastic remarks sprinkled throughout. I like that the characters accepted each other and realized that perfection is not a human trait and that this is okay.
Circling over everything is the math. There are no formulas or concepts that are required yet mathematics is on every page. The idea of solving the Navier-Stokes is as fantastical as solving relationship issues.....can it be done? :D It's all about the attempt, concentration, dedication, input and a whole lot of bull-shit luck thrown in.
This is a strong debut novel.
This is a warm, forgiving family story of loyalties, misunderstandings, togetherness. Woven in between is an immigration story of change, acceptance and fitting into one's world.
The humour is low key and wonderful. I loved the side comments and sarcastic remarks sprinkled throughout. I like that the characters accepted each other and realized that perfection is not a human trait and that this is okay.
Circling over everything is the math. There are no formulas or concepts that are required yet mathematics is on every page. The idea of solving the Navier-Stokes is as fantastical as solving relationship issues.....can it be done? :D It's all about the attempt, concentration, dedication, input and a whole lot of bull-shit luck thrown in.
This is a strong debut novel.
September 24, 2014
I spent part of today, the day I finished this book, putting in some time at a local hospital. One of the staff I worked with was Katie D., from Wisconsin. How often do I meet someone from that far cold flat state? Not at all.
But here I was, reading "The Mathematician's Shiva", set mostly in Wisconsin, full of Russians, Jews, mathematicians and people who know the difference between mathematics and arithmetic. Full also of warmth, humor, ethnicity and observations on the American character which ring so true and are so often overlooked.
A story of love, courage, revenge, second chances, food, genius, the gift of cold weather (I've often said, on a cold day, "Mankind rose to civilization in weather like this".) Many among these characters believe that cross country skiing in sub-zero temperatures is conducive to better thinking, greater creativity: one of many amusing foibles foisted off one to another in this group.
Family plays strongly here, as does the price of giftedness, both the price of realizing it and of having it, as well as the satisfaction of being near it and the joys available to those spared the onus of greatness.
Thanks to Sheldon Kelly who attended the signing and led me to this book.
Highly Recommended.
But here I was, reading "The Mathematician's Shiva", set mostly in Wisconsin, full of Russians, Jews, mathematicians and people who know the difference between mathematics and arithmetic. Full also of warmth, humor, ethnicity and observations on the American character which ring so true and are so often overlooked.
A story of love, courage, revenge, second chances, food, genius, the gift of cold weather (I've often said, on a cold day, "Mankind rose to civilization in weather like this".) Many among these characters believe that cross country skiing in sub-zero temperatures is conducive to better thinking, greater creativity: one of many amusing foibles foisted off one to another in this group.
Family plays strongly here, as does the price of giftedness, both the price of realizing it and of having it, as well as the satisfaction of being near it and the joys available to those spared the onus of greatness.
Thanks to Sheldon Kelly who attended the signing and led me to this book.
Highly Recommended.
April 24, 2017
I was so excited about this book because I found it in the CS Theory Lab, so I assume one of my colleagues in grad school read it. Sadly, I couldn't enjoy it at all.
The set-up is tantalizing - a world famous mathematician dies, leaving behind the mystery of whether or not she proved a famous problem, and if so, where she left the proof, leaving her family to cope with the grief of her loss while trying to deal with the madness of enthusiastic mathematicians who fly down to their house from all over to world to try and get their hands on said proof.
However, I felt the book was tedious - every chapter seems to repeat the fact that the narrator, who is this mathematician's son, feels disappointed in himself for lacking his mother's mathematical prowess and being a 'disappointment' in comparison to her.
But what I felt was the book's weak point was the ending - I thought there were too many red herrings for such a disappointing ending.
Overall I feel the book could have been so much better, with a lot more math. I feel the author tried to cover too much ground - the sexism in mathematics, the Holocaust era, some family drama, etc, but left out mathematical details which is what an average reader of this book would want.
The set-up is tantalizing - a world famous mathematician dies, leaving behind the mystery of whether or not she proved a famous problem, and if so, where she left the proof, leaving her family to cope with the grief of her loss while trying to deal with the madness of enthusiastic mathematicians who fly down to their house from all over to world to try and get their hands on said proof.
However, I felt the book was tedious - every chapter seems to repeat the fact that the narrator, who is this mathematician's son, feels disappointed in himself for lacking his mother's mathematical prowess and being a 'disappointment' in comparison to her.
But what I felt was the book's weak point was the ending - I thought there were too many red herrings for such a disappointing ending.
Overall I feel the book could have been so much better, with a lot more math. I feel the author tried to cover too much ground - the sexism in mathematics, the Holocaust era, some family drama, etc, but left out mathematical details which is what an average reader of this book would want.
October 31, 2014
Rachela Karnokovitch, the world's greatest female mathematician (and why just female? she wants to know) is dying in Madison, Wisconsin, where she taught for so many years. Her only child, her son Sasha, is at her bedside. She has a small family, which wants to mourn her quietly, but half the mathematicians in the world descend on her funeral and decide to stay for the Jewish ritual seven day mourning period, the shiva. Oh, they're grieving, too, Sasha knows--but they also think that Rachela may have solved a (real) math problem, one that has, moreover, a million dollar prize attached to the solution. From the chapters of the memoir she was writing, which she sent to Sasha to translate from her native Polish, he knows that she had been working on this problem for every. Don't think you're interested in math? There's also Sasha's gay cousin Bruce, the reappearance of Sasha's long-lost daughter, the breakup of his uncle's marriage (but a new romance is in the offing), a seance, and a walk-on by Dolly Parton. This is a superb novel, but I can't even verbalize (in English, Russian, Polish, Hebrew or Yiddish--the most frequently used languages in it) why.
March 16, 2015
This book was not what I was expecting. That said, the more I read the more I was pulled into the story ~ the more it moved up in stars. Getting to know the characters, especially Rachels Karnokovitch, through the eyes of other built a relationship with the reader that takes time. I felt as if I have known these people much longer that the time spent reading the book. The world of mathematicians can be a bit crazy at times, but there is a bond that keeps them together ~ a bit of a love-hate relationship!
It is also the story of family, dealing with the hardships, the move to America, and not losing one's self in a new culture, then to live with no regrets.
Appreciating the beauty of the mind is something that needs to move up in priority. Stuart Rojstaczer states in the book that we celebrate physical beauty, not hide it. He asks, "But what about beautiful brains, the kind that can create amazing worlds out of nothing but thoughts, that can find a way to intricately bond elements of our lives and our ideas that conventional wisdom tells us are inert?" This is a question that one should ask, and wonder how we can all appreciate this beauty ~ and begin at an early age!
It is also the story of family, dealing with the hardships, the move to America, and not losing one's self in a new culture, then to live with no regrets.
Appreciating the beauty of the mind is something that needs to move up in priority. Stuart Rojstaczer states in the book that we celebrate physical beauty, not hide it. He asks, "But what about beautiful brains, the kind that can create amazing worlds out of nothing but thoughts, that can find a way to intricately bond elements of our lives and our ideas that conventional wisdom tells us are inert?" This is a question that one should ask, and wonder how we can all appreciate this beauty ~ and begin at an early age!
December 5, 2014
REVIEW THE MATHEMATICIAN' S SHIVA
When I was a young child reading (elementary-age), I suddenly determined I detested literary fiction, and would never again try to read any. I am ashamed to say this unwarranted conclusion was based on a single book, John Steinbeck' s THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT, which I found unbearably depressing. So I missed out on such authors as Thomas Pynchon, John Updike, Mr. Steinbeck, Norman Mailer, John Irving. In 2013I bought Mr. Pynchon' s long-awaited comeback, BLEEDING EDGE--and I TOTALLY LOVED IT!! Then a few months ago, I reviewed Garth Stein' s A SUDDEN LIGHT--inarguably one of THE BEST of 2014--and "suddenly" I find myself searching out Literary Fiction, which is how I came to this excellent 5-Star novel, THE MATHEMATICIAN' S SHIVA.
Normally I would shy away from anything to do with Math, a subject which I admire but which troubles me. However, not the case here. So full of three-dimensional and deep characterization, and intriguing plotting, high recommendation goes to this book. In fact, I'm soon going to read it once again.
When I was a young child reading (elementary-age), I suddenly determined I detested literary fiction, and would never again try to read any. I am ashamed to say this unwarranted conclusion was based on a single book, John Steinbeck' s THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT, which I found unbearably depressing. So I missed out on such authors as Thomas Pynchon, John Updike, Mr. Steinbeck, Norman Mailer, John Irving. In 2013I bought Mr. Pynchon' s long-awaited comeback, BLEEDING EDGE--and I TOTALLY LOVED IT!! Then a few months ago, I reviewed Garth Stein' s A SUDDEN LIGHT--inarguably one of THE BEST of 2014--and "suddenly" I find myself searching out Literary Fiction, which is how I came to this excellent 5-Star novel, THE MATHEMATICIAN' S SHIVA.
Normally I would shy away from anything to do with Math, a subject which I admire but which troubles me. However, not the case here. So full of three-dimensional and deep characterization, and intriguing plotting, high recommendation goes to this book. In fact, I'm soon going to read it once again.
January 26, 2018
I kept thinking about all the possible worlds we might inhabit while I was reading this warm and engaging novel - an overarching world described by mathematics, an academic community, a family, a midwestern town, and most poignant, the lost world of Eastern European Jews. I wasn't always sure where the book was going, but I enjoyed the characters and the mixture of intellect and emotion.
June 15, 2015
At times a very funny book and at others a very reflective book about life in Russia during WW II and while Stalin ruled. There are two stories within the book. One is the present: the death of Rachela, a brilliant Jewish/Russian mathematician at the University of Wisconsin. As a result her son has to deal with all her co-mathematicians and family wanting to attend the Jewish ceremony of Shiva. This part of the book is hilarious as the mathematicians are there to solely honor Rachela but to discover whether she had solved a mathematical equation. The family on the other hand is there to reflect on their relationships. The other part of the book, which I found insightful, was Rachela’s life in Russia during WW II and the Stalin era. The book can drag in parts and this is especially true when the author tries to explain the intricacies of “turbulence” mathematics and the writing in places leaves a little to be desired. Overall it is a captivating story and in some places extremely funny and insightful.
Some people have compared it to Chabon’s book on the Yiddish Police Union. Since I have not read that book, I cannot comment. I did find some similarities to Herman Wouk’s: “Inside Outside” as it has that same sense of humor and insight as to Jewish life. So if you enjoyed Wouk’s book, you will find this one to your liking.
Some people have compared it to Chabon’s book on the Yiddish Police Union. Since I have not read that book, I cannot comment. I did find some similarities to Herman Wouk’s: “Inside Outside” as it has that same sense of humor and insight as to Jewish life. So if you enjoyed Wouk’s book, you will find this one to your liking.
October 3, 2014
I really loved this book…probably the best new novel since Lahiri's "The Lowland," and the best debut novel I've read since…I don't even know. It's ballsy, asking literary-minded people to read about mathematicians, but if you can get past that bias (tough, for me), then there's so much to like about this book, not the least of which is exactly that issue: the creative vs. the analytical mind, and the idea that there's not nearly as much mutual exclusivity as we sometimes think. I'll admit, I picked this up off at table at B&N mainly because it had a Jewish word in the title…but I was intrigued by the description on the back cover, and it surpassed my initial expectations. Yes, this is somewhat about math. But it's also about people, family, grief, writing, celebrity, privacy, and deeply held personal conviction. It's almost ironic that the table I found this on said, "What the world is reading," because it makes the point that a work of art (or math) matters not because anyone other than its creator is reading it, but rather because it exists, it happened, it was created to begin with.
November 28, 2014
This is a book about people, about families (blood and found) and family rituals, about the ties that bind and the wedges that separate. It's steeped in eastern-European Jewish culture, and math and physical science as metaphor, but I think it would be enjoyable by anyone - but especially enjoyable to those, like me, with links to both the culture and the science.
There are a lot of partial parallels with my own life and family, but none precise; for example, my father is a (retired, now) physicist, and though a European Jew he is Czech rather than Polish, and although our house seemed to have an endless stream of Russian and Israeli physicists passing through, his peers and co-workers were a lot less uniformly ethnic. In that respect (the very ethnic feel), this book does definitely echo The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which is in the Goodreads blurb, but actually it kind of makes me think of what Lake Wobegon would have been like if Garrison Keillor had been Garry Keilorovich. (And a physicist or mathematician.)
There are a lot of partial parallels with my own life and family, but none precise; for example, my father is a (retired, now) physicist, and though a European Jew he is Czech rather than Polish, and although our house seemed to have an endless stream of Russian and Israeli physicists passing through, his peers and co-workers were a lot less uniformly ethnic. In that respect (the very ethnic feel), this book does definitely echo The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which is in the Goodreads blurb, but actually it kind of makes me think of what Lake Wobegon would have been like if Garrison Keillor had been Garry Keilorovich. (And a physicist or mathematician.)
January 17, 2015
This is not my typical style of reading but every once in a while I do like to branch out and try no books and I love checking out new authors.
So glad that I did take a chance on this book. It is a gem. Like finding a friend. Instantly I formed a bond with Sasha, his mother, and the other mathematicians. Each of the mathematicians were different in their own way but this uniqueness brought dimension to the story as a whole. As the story progressed I felt like a close member of the circle of friends with Sasha and his mother. As more details emerged about her, I was more and more impressed. The author brought life to the characters, Also I was impressed that with the author's background of being a professor of geophysics that he was able to bring the story into an understandable level for me the reader without using big words or trying to show his intelligence. A great showing for Mr. Rojstaczer's debut novel.
So glad that I did take a chance on this book. It is a gem. Like finding a friend. Instantly I formed a bond with Sasha, his mother, and the other mathematicians. Each of the mathematicians were different in their own way but this uniqueness brought dimension to the story as a whole. As the story progressed I felt like a close member of the circle of friends with Sasha and his mother. As more details emerged about her, I was more and more impressed. The author brought life to the characters, Also I was impressed that with the author's background of being a professor of geophysics that he was able to bring the story into an understandable level for me the reader without using big words or trying to show his intelligence. A great showing for Mr. Rojstaczer's debut novel.
May 27, 2015
Man Oh Manishewitz.... It was a relief to finish this book in which the most interesting character was the dead one, but whose story was relayed by such a stilted narrator that it made the seven days a real trial. Too many minor characters crowd what could have been a very interesting generational story with a complicated heroine at the core. Even Pascha the Parrot deserved more attention, and it was one of the two reasons I continued to read this book hoping the Parrot conceit would evolve more fully. There were several missed opportunities to turn this story around, which I will not relay to avoid spoilers, but the author did not consider any direction other than shiva. You also might want to have a Yiddish dictionary by your side should you wish to read this book even though the narrator tries to provide context for most of it, which further bogs down the reader, so why even include so much of it in the first place?
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