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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Quality women’s lit. Seems to be about a girl growing upon the 1950’s who loves math, but is about much more. I listened to the book on audio, which is an excellent format for this book.
The first half is a bit sluggish at times, but in reflection it’s necessary to set up the second half. Then the intrigue and WWII legacy and gender politics really comes into play. I believe the Xi Ling/ Schieling conflation is a bit of a plot hole. Why would Cao publish under the name Xi Ling? His family name is Cao.
I read this utterly absorbing tale in one sitting -- recommended if you enjoy historical fiction, Asian American (or biracial) narratives, or math! I do not enjoy math but that didn't stop me from appreciating this beautiful novel.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫. Full review on instagram @yellowbrickreads1. 🌈
As a love letter to mathematics and the unsung women mathematicians of the 20th century, this novel was wonderful. As a work of fiction, I had some problems. I liked the overall story/mystery, but most of the characters never came alive for me and often seemed to exist only to further the plot - especially the characters Katherine met in Germany. Likewise there were a few small plot elements that were jarringly unrealistic (a provost is not going to go to great lengths searching university archives for a visiting grad student) but were needed for the story to work. But there was another small detail that just delighted me. Early in the novel a mathematical riddle is posed, about a boy and a girl on separate islands, a ferryman and a ring. I hoped that the author would wait till the very end of the novel to solve the riddle - and she did!
So many conflicted feelings about this one... It's about a mathematician named Katherine, who has a Chinese mother (who left her when she was 10) and a white father. Katherine has to face the many wrongdoings of her male classmates and colleagues. Then a third of the way through the book, her dad reveals he's not her dad and her "mother who left" was not her mother! So it becomes a lost origin story, too. So I'm like, alright, math, Asian female characters, and "adoption." Seems like this is pretty much right up my alley. Here are my thoughts:
1. This reads like a soap opera. It relies on revelation and characters emotionally telling their backstories. Katherine just randomly meets her long-lost cousin who tells her about her biological parents. And then his best friend marries him which creates conflict. There are secrets to be kept, backs to be stabbed. In this way, it was entertaining enough to read, but the characters are not that deep. Think of this as Asian "Jane the Virgin" where it's a big deal if someone stole your theorem proof before you because, you know, math drama. I find math drama fun, you might not.
2. This story might as well have been about white people. The entire book is about being female in mathematics, not Asian.
3. Katherine has an affair with her professor which is a major plot point. There are some steamy scenes (like 1.5 scenes, don't get too excited)! But it reminds me of an annoyed Goodreads reviewer from the Hannah Arendt graphic novel I read (where Hannah Arendt also had a relationship with her professor). The reviewer was annoyed that women's stories were only interesting if there was some kind of scandalous relationship. Women shouldn't have to sleep with their professors in order for their stories to be told or to have a stake in the math community. At the end of the book, Katherine in her old age is unmarried without children and basically is like, yeah, I'm sorta famous, but I had to do a lot of unpleasant things to get here. I'm not really asking for a happy ending, but it's not a feel good book.
4. Origin stories are often unrealistic. This is one of them. Her biological mother was working on the same problem Katherine just so happened to devote her life to. I'm only thankful there was no cheesy reunion scene (the parents had died). This isn't really a book to reflect or introspect deeply about anything. It's action-based, which I appreciate because it didn't get dragged into the emotion. I'm fairly bitter about origin stories and rarely find them any good. The last one I liked was "Lion."
5. The writing is nothing special. I read this in a few days reading at a fast pace with good comprehension so the writing was easy to follow. The dialogue was nothing like how real people talk. Again, think of this as a soap opera.
6. So you might be thinking... do you like anything about this book? Maybe not... Catherine (the author) incorporates some math elements into it but I have heard that lore so many times it wasn't particularly interesting to me. I can tell Catherine did a ton of research to base this book in the math world, which I appreciate, but I'm not convinced she has deeply interacted with what it feels like to do math and be in that community.
Overall, I was intrigued enough to keep reading till the end. It's a fun page-turner. On the face of it, there was a lot more potential. It's a plot-based book with weak characters and a "math," "Asian," and "origin story" filter on it.
1. This reads like a soap opera. It relies on revelation and characters emotionally telling their backstories. Katherine just randomly meets her long-lost cousin who tells her about her biological parents. And then his best friend marries him which creates conflict. There are secrets to be kept, backs to be stabbed. In this way, it was entertaining enough to read, but the characters are not that deep. Think of this as Asian "Jane the Virgin" where it's a big deal if someone stole your theorem proof before you because, you know, math drama. I find math drama fun, you might not.
2. This story might as well have been about white people. The entire book is about being female in mathematics, not Asian.
3. Katherine has an affair with her professor which is a major plot point. There are some steamy scenes (like 1.5 scenes, don't get too excited)! But it reminds me of an annoyed Goodreads reviewer from the Hannah Arendt graphic novel I read (where Hannah Arendt also had a relationship with her professor). The reviewer was annoyed that women's stories were only interesting if there was some kind of scandalous relationship. Women shouldn't have to sleep with their professors in order for their stories to be told or to have a stake in the math community. At the end of the book, Katherine in her old age is unmarried without children and basically is like, yeah, I'm sorta famous, but I had to do a lot of unpleasant things to get here. I'm not really asking for a happy ending, but it's not a feel good book.
4. Origin stories are often unrealistic. This is one of them. Her biological mother was working on the same problem Katherine just so happened to devote her life to. I'm only thankful there was no cheesy reunion scene (the parents had died). This isn't really a book to reflect or introspect deeply about anything. It's action-based, which I appreciate because it didn't get dragged into the emotion. I'm fairly bitter about origin stories and rarely find them any good. The last one I liked was "Lion."
5. The writing is nothing special. I read this in a few days reading at a fast pace with good comprehension so the writing was easy to follow. The dialogue was nothing like how real people talk. Again, think of this as a soap opera.
6. So you might be thinking... do you like anything about this book? Maybe not... Catherine (the author) incorporates some math elements into it but I have heard that lore so many times it wasn't particularly interesting to me. I can tell Catherine did a ton of research to base this book in the math world, which I appreciate, but I'm not convinced she has deeply interacted with what it feels like to do math and be in that community.
Overall, I was intrigued enough to keep reading till the end. It's a fun page-turner. On the face of it, there was a lot more potential. It's a plot-based book with weak characters and a "math," "Asian," and "origin story" filter on it.
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a beautiful novel. I can't believe it tackled so many ways of looking at identity as successfully as it did--I feel like Chung did all the story lines justice.