The title of this novel matches the author's education and background: physics. Paolo Giordano was working on his doctorate in particle physics and decided he needed a little more challenge, so he wrote a captivating novel that was translated into more than thirty languages and was awarded Italy's Premio Strega award, the youngest person to ever win that prestigious prize. Some people are clearly a lot more talented than others.
To quote the inside cover-page from the book, " A prime number is a lonely thing. It can be divided only by itself or by one; it never truly fits with another." Applying this idea to people Giordano has written a very powerful work about how childhood traumas continue to affect people throughout their lives.
Alice Della Rocca, at a young age, is pushed by her overbearing pompous father to become a world-class skier, but a serious skiing accident leaves her scarred and with a permanent limp. She sorely wants to fit in, but she is taunted by other classmates, she engages in self-loathing behavior, and detests her father for the life she seems faced with.
Mattia Balossino is a twin. He is brilliant, his twin sister Michela's brain is unusual, dysfunctional. Despite this the twins are placed in the same class at school, and Mattia finds himself constantly trying to shelter his sister from the taunting and the laughter of other students. He is forced by his parents to take his sister everywhere. When an incident occurs that results in his sister's disappearance, and for which Mattia rightly feels responsible, his life becomes full of guilt and self- disapproving behavior.
In high school his new teachers are not sure how to handle the gifted, but socially withdrawn Mattia. Alice and he meet but, in spite of Alice's interest in Mattia, it takes some time for anything resembling a friendship to begin. "They had formed a defective and asymmetrical friendship, made up of long absences and much silence, a clean and empty space where both could come back to breathe when the walls of the school became too close for them to ignore the feeling of suffocation."
But Mattia's genius leads to him leaving his home after graduation where he finds a new life in academia but remains who he is; a solitary and tormented figure. Alice finds a new man in her life but her life remains troubled. When the two are re-united the result is not a happy resolution but a continuation of the loneliness and struggle that the two have endured from their childhood traumas.
Many parents can profit from the lessons imbedded in this book. Anorexia and self-mutilation play a part, but the lesser signs of social discomfort and alienation experienced by children and teens are openly discussed.
In spite of the darkness of the over-all message the book is a smooth, engaging read. Giordano has set the bar very high for himself with this first novel. He gives the reader a true feel for the solitude experienced by these two damaged people. The understanding comes from within the characters and not from an outsider gawking at them. Both people are struggling to survive but they go about it differently. And, as with much literature from Europe, the ending is realistic in nature, not a perfectly happy ending but more logical in structure. |
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