Goldman's Theorem by R.J. Stern

I have a suspicion that Ron Stern is a great guy to hang out with. A full-time mathematics professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Prof. Stern decided to write a novel a few years back. According to the 2009 press release from Concordia,  "Stern's goal was to write something satirical and over-the-top, but that still spoke truth about academia. The 'feel' of the story might be described as The Big Lebowsky meets Sideways in a campus novel."

My take? This is the work of an interesting academic who likes to push his personal boundaries, which explains why a mathematician is dabbling with fiction. As for the final product? Well, the novel leaves much to be desired, even if it is funny in parts.

Goldman's Theorem tells the story of Simon Goldman, a mathematics professor in the fictional University of Northern Vermont near the Canada - United States border. After years of apparent inactivity, Goldman announces that he has cracked the P versus NP Problem, which is one of the millennium problems. The news sparks a flurry of activity from the university's administrators who are eager to capitalize on this breakthrough. Yet amidst this joy from the university community, doubts begin to emerge on whether the proof is accurate.

This book left me with mixed feelings. When I first started reading it I thought it was terrible. It's true that Stern wanted to write a comedic book that poked fun at academic administrators, and that the slapstick humour was presented on purpose. This desire for high comedy, however, seemed to me like a veiled attempt to hide literary naivety. Stern is an accomplished mathematician, but an experienced fiction writer he is not, which comes across clearly in this book.

Nevertheless, things picked up about half-way through the story. Certain passages were quite funny and the writing significantly improved. My thoughts are that Stern got better as an author as he practiced writing fiction, which is why the second-half is much better than the first. As a result, by the end of the book, I become quite interested in the characters and the final outcome. That being said, if I had to do it again, I probably would not have picked up this book.

2 1/2 out of 5 stars

Body of Intuition by Claire Daniels

I read this novel by accident. While logging onto my online library account, I noticed that there was an interlibrary loan book on hold for me. Not recognizing the title, I called the library to make sure there hadn't been a mistake. I was told that there was no error and that I had reserved the book.

I then went to the library to pick up the book and immediately saw that someone else's name was on the interlibrary loan reservation sheet. Instead of returning the book, however, I decided to read the plot summary on the back cover. The story revolves around a character called Calypso Lazar ("call me Cally") who is a former lawyer turned new-age healer. After one of her clients describes how her husband died in an apparent suicide at an intimacy workshop, Cally decides to investigate and soon discovers that the death was the result of murder.

This oddball plot was so corny I had to give it a shot. I don't know what I was expecting, but I soon discovered that this is a terrible novel. The writing is atrocious, the characters one-dimensional, the dialogue so cheesy I could barely believe it, and the narrative pace very choppy. In fact, at times I felt that this was the work of a high school student rushing through an English assignment instead of the work of a professional author. The only positive thing I can say about this book is that the story idea is highly imaginative and the main character is a quirky, if implausible, creation.

1 out of 5 stars

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

Quebec City-born animator Guy Delisle spent two months in North Korea working for a French animation company. During his stay in Pyongyang, the capital of this isolated and remote country, he experienced first-hand its Stalinist-state.

In this excellent graphic novel, the reader is presented with a portrait of a country that lives in a completely different reality from the rest of humanity. In one particularly chilling section, Delisle is reading George Orwell's 1984 while staying in a creepy, run-down hotel built for foreigners. The juxtaposition between the fictitious dictatorship described by Orwell and the real-life horrors of North Korea (e.g. constant state control; prison camps; outrageous state propaganda that would be funny if not so tragic) was particularly disturbing.

This is a good work that provides a rare picture of this hermetic communist state. Overall, the animation is pretty good and the story captivating. If I had one criticism, however, it would be that Delisle's doesn't address the role that some Western countries have played in North Korea. For instance, on several occasions, the reader is told about how a French company worked on a certain project in the country. While critical of China's role in North Korea, the book does not comment about France's business relationship with Pyongyang. Given that this book is meant to be a personal memoir of his trip, perhaps this criticism is a bit unfair. Nevertheless, this thought did cross my mind after I finished the book which, overall, is quite good.

4 out of 5 stars

The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt

I am not sure how to react to this novel. Although it is beautifully written, impeccably researched and filled with several fascinating details, (the world painted here is so rich it could be an epic movie), this book still made me feel, "blah".

This novel is based on the incredible true story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematical genius who worked as a clerk in India, before being invited to Cambridge University after writing a letter to the famous English mathematician G.H. Hardy. In the ensuing pages, a vivid portrayal of England just prior and during World War I is presented, while a cast of famous characters (such as the renowned philosophers Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as the British mathematician John Littlewood) are scattered throughout the book.

So why am I so blasé about this story? The main problem is that Ramanujan, who is supposed to be the central focus of this book, comes across as an afterthought, playing second fiddle to Hardy's life. In fact, on various occasions, I had the sense that I was reading a literary biography of Hardy, rather than a novel about Ramanujan. As a result, after reading 478 pages, I still had no clear sense of who this brilliant Indian mathematician was, and instead was left with the sensation of having been given a long, generic sketch that could have been gathered by reading a Wikipedia entry.

The second problem with the novel is that it comes across as wooden in many parts. To use an image, the book reminded me of those stodgy, British-dramas that one only sees on TVO or PBS, and which despite looking interesting you never watch, because you know deep down inside that they will bore you. Coming to this realization after completing this book really upset me for I was really looking forward to reading it.

3 out of 5 stars