The Solitude of Prime Numbers: A Novel - Hardcover

Giordano, Paolo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670021482 ISBN 13: 9780670021482

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books, 2010

Synopsis

A bestselling international literary sensation about whether a "prime number" can ever truly connect with someone else

A prime number can only be divided by itself or by one—it never truly fits with another. Alice and Mattia, both "primes," are misfits who seem destined to be alone. Haunted by childhood tragedies that mark their lives, they cannot reach out to anyone else. When Alice and Mattia meet as teenagers, they recognize in each other a kindred, damaged spirit.

But the mathematically gifted Mattia accepts a research position that takes him thousands of miles away, and the two are forced to separate. Then a chance occurrence reunites them and forces a lifetime of concealed emotion to the surface.

Like Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, this is a stunning meditation on loneliness, love, and the weight of childhood experience that is set to become a universal classic.

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About this title

About the Author:

Paolo Giordano was born in Turin in 1982. He is working on a doctorate in particle physics. The Solitude of Prime Numbers is his first novel.

From AudioFile:

Luke Daniels's calm, measured narration provides balance for the intense story of two protagonists who were traumatized in their youth. Mattia, who is consumed by guilt for causing the disappearance of his developmentally disabled twin sister, cuts himself off from the world. Daniels's flat tones evoke his icy remoteness. In contrast, Daniels portrays anorexic Alice, who was crippled in an early skiing accident, with a more heated tone. Bursts of emotion convey her loneliness and self-loathing. As the two teenagers form an awkward bond, Mattia sees the two of them as "twin prime numbers," similar but separated. Daniels's dispassionate reading serves as emotional ballast for this strong story and accurately represents the heroes' fruitless attempts to connect. S.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0670021482
• ISBN 13: 9780670021482
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288