A review by enbyemu
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut

2.5

I am not a person who is easily baffled by books, but this one threw me for a loop. This was partially due to a poorly written synopsis that I read which made it sound like a book about the psychology of so-called geniuses - perhaps with a bit of science regarding the structure of the brain thrown in. That is not what this book is. This is a book about scientific breakthroughs - specifically in the realm of quantum physics and the mathematics used to prove specific theories - and the stories of the men who came to realize those leaps in understanding. The style of this book reads like a beautiful piece of nonfiction, so that's what I next concluded that it was. It was only after I had read a significant chunk of the book that I looked more into it and discovered that it is classified as historical fiction. Which lead me to question a great many things about the narration. The author seems to romanticize an "idealized" version of genius that is exemplified by hyper-fixation and over-work to the point of mental breakdowns that lead to inexplicable (even on the parts of the geniuses) scientific discovery - an unhealthy perspective, to say the least, not to mention the hyper creepy romanticizing of pedophelia in one of the chapters. When I thought these stories were entirely nonfiction, I felt the romanticizing of these things to be unsettling, but something I could work with. However, now knowing that this book is historical fiction, I am severely unnerved by the idea that these elements were added in simply due to the author's obsessions and desires. I wish I knew more about where the lines between fiction and nonfiction could be drawn. The writing is engaging and well-crafted, I will admit, and I wish that I had the proper impression of the book going into it because that may have greatly changed my perspective of it. As it is, I found the book to be disturbing. Not disturbing in a way that roils the mind and electrifies the soul (that is to say, disturbing in the best way possible), but disturbing in a way that makes you worry for the mental state of the author and for the health of those around him. I cannot say I enjoyed this book and I won't be recommending it to anyone, but I think it WILL stick in the mind for a long while yet...
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