The Mathematician's Shiva

June 23, 2014
High math, Eastern European history, and American culture converge in this hugely entertaining debut from geophysicist Rojstaczer. After Rachela Karnokovitch, a Polish émigré and University of Wisconsin professor regarded as her generation’s leading mathematician, dies from cancer in 2001, her middle-aged son, Alexander, a meteorologist also known as Sasha, is tasked with organizing the shiva for her. Though his family is challenging enough, Sasha’s real difficulties begin when dozens of his mother’s colleagues descend on Madison to pay their respects. Brilliant, awkward, lovable, and selfish, these superstar mathematicians prove to be less interested in mourning Rachela than in uncovering her secrets—particularly her rumored solution to one of math’s most famous enigmas, the Navier-Stokes problem. The ostensible mourners rip up floorboards, hold séances, and even read meaning into a 40-year-old parrot’s squawks, all the while discussing the charms and pitfalls of Eastern European identity and the perpetual shock of life in America. Counterbalancing their antics are flashbacks to Rachela’s childhood flight from Poland during WWII. These passages, presented as excerpts from her memoir, add depth to an already multilayered story of family, genius, and loss. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow Carlson & Lerner.

September 1, 2014
Following the death of his eccentric mother, the famous mathematician Rachela Karnokovitch, a meteorologist must deal with a flock of her colleagues desperate to lay their hands on her rumored masterpiece. As we learn in excerpts from her unpublished memoir, Rachela was a Polish native who discovered the wonders of math as a child living in the Soviet work camp where her father served time. Schooled in Moscow, she defected to the U.S., where her star quickly rose at the University of Wisconsin. Her middle-aged son, Sasha, has made his own mark, albeit in a quieter way, as head of a research program at the University of Alabama. A low-key sort who has never quite overcome his mistake of a marriage, Sasha is unprepared for the onslaught of his mother's old friends-and enemies-at her home in Madison. While ostensibly paying their respects by sitting shiva, the Jewish mourning ritual, they go through drawers, rip up floorboards and even listen intently to the family's aged parrot for clues to where Rachela has hidden her solution to the Navier-Stokes equation. Though Rojstaczer doesn't have the spikey wit of Gary Shteyngart or the inventiveness of Michael Chabon, his steadiness and empathy are appealing in their own ways. A geophysicist, he brings an added dimension to the book's discussions of scientific matters. He's very good at exploring the apparent divide between genius and happiness as well as the intersection of cultures. An enjoyable debut, the book is distinguished by a fluid, lyrical style that is equally at home with serious and comic matters.

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September 15, 2014

Rachela Karnokovitch, queen of the world of mathematics, has died. Her family wants a dignified funeral and period of mourning, but her quirky colleagues have something else in mind. Rachela is rumored to have solved the million-dollar Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem and secreted the solution somewhere, perhaps even in her coffin. The mathematicians descend on Madison, WI, to pay their last respects and to vie in their search for the missing answer. The Karnokovitch family, not without its own eccentricities, strives to manage the crowd, the rumors, and their personal space while sitting shiva and coping with their grief. VERDICT Rojstaczer, a PhD geophysicist, has created a complex and chaotic rainbow of characters that makes his first novel both comedic and compelling.--Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2014
There are rock stars; then there are math stars. Apparently, both have their groupies, and this debut novel may win Rojstaczer a few. But fictional Rachela Karnokovitch's math groupies don't show up until she dies; then they run roughshod over her grieving but wacky family. Sure, in life, they all admired her. In death, they are mostly trolling for the solution to a confounding math problem she is rumored to have solved and kept secret. And the family, particularly son Sasha, who wants nothing more than a family-only shivah, or period of private mourning, must referee the intruding geniuses. Hilarity ensues as these Mensa poster children descend upon the family home and Rachela's office in search of said solution. Of course, what would a proper Jewish funeral be without the sudden appearance of an estranged relation? And what social graces may exist among the dysfunctional Karnokovitch brood are stretched to the limit by the ever-maddening horde. Interspersed with Rachela's recollections of growing up under Russian anti-Semitism, Rojstaczer's tale maintains a satisfying balance between humor and warmth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2015

Following the death of Rachela Karnokovitch, a famous Polish emigre mathematician and professor at the University of Wisconsin, a group of ragtag mathematicians from all over the world descends on Madison in the middle of winter to crash the family's small, private shiva. They hope to discover the solution to the million-dollar Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize Problem, which Rachela was rumored to have solved and taken to her grave. This 2014 National Jewish Book Award winner for outstanding debut fiction also received a 2015 Sophie Brody Award "Honorable Mention." (LJ 9/15/15)

READ-ALIKES FOR BOTH TITLES Yelena Akhtiorskaya's Panic in a Suitcase, Boris Fishman's A Replacement Life, Talia Carner's Hotel Moscow, and Ellen Litman's Mannequin Girl.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.