Stuart Rojstaczer

I loved this book. It's a very Jewish book and has a probably limited audience for Jews working in academia, but that would be me. The story is about a Jewish scientist whose mother who is a Jewish Russian dissident and world-renown mathematician. She dies leaving the main character to deal with her funeral, as well as his depressed uncle and his father. As soon as her death is announced, the family is swarmed by mathematicians from all over the world that want to take over the funeral, and show more attend the shiva (whether they are Jewish or not). The swarm finally set up a lottery where eight of them are chosen to attend the shiva. This story reads like it was written by Larry David, and would make a great comedy film. I can see Jewish comedians coming out of the woodwork to star in it. Anyway, welcome done Professor Rojstaczer! show less

A complete delight start to finish -- full of humor, pathos, and universal human truths. Stuart Rojstaczer's narrative is both inventive and quirky.

At its center are Rachela Karnokovitch, a Polish emigre and world-renowned mathematician, and her grown son, Sasha, a professor of meteorological studies. At the beginning of the novel, Rachela is on her deathbed, refusing to reveal whether she has solved an illusive mathematic problem she has worked on all her life.

After her death, show more mathematicians from across the world descend on the small family home in Madison, Wisconsin -- ostensibly to pay respects but mostly to resolve the mystery of Rachela's mathematical proof. Sasha, his father, Rachela's brother, and others must deal with the onslaught while processing their own personal grief.

The result is an exploration of everything from familial love to professional envy, from the personality quirks of mathematicians to the differences between immigrants and home-grown Americans. The book is full of surprises, each one adding new dimensions to the story. Thoroughly enjoyable read. show less

A complete delight start to finish -- full of humor, pathos, and universal human truths. Stuart Rojstaczer's narrative is both inventive and quirky.

At its center are Rachela Karnokovitch, a Polish emigre and world-renowned mathematician, and her grown son, Sasha, a professor of meteorological studies. At the beginning of the novel, Rachela is on her deathbed, refusing to reveal whether she has solved an illusive mathematic problem she has worked on all her life.

After her death, show more mathematicians from across the world descend on the small family home in Madison, Wisconsin -- ostensibly to pay respects but mostly to resolve the mystery of Rachela's mathematical proof. Sasha, his father, Rachela's brother, and others must deal with the onslaught while processing their own personal grief.

The result is an exploration of everything from familial love to professional envy, from the personality quirks of mathematicians to the differences between immigrants and home-grown Americans. The book is full of surprises, each one adding new dimensions to the story. Thoroughly enjoyable read. show less

Most novels ostensibly about math feature math as a Dan Brown-ian McGuffin, approximately equivalent to magic: we take these numbers and then Do Math and then the secret to the universe pops out-style. That is not the Mathematician's Shiva. This is a book written by someone who clearly loves and understands math. The whole novel is basically a love poem to math, and cold Wisconsin winters, supported by knowing winks at academic culture and a heavy dose of Madison in its setting. Out of that show more comes a charming family story, staring all middle-aged+ protagonists (shout-out to Jon, who's into that sort of thing), as well as some thoughtful exploration of the meaning of religion, and specifically Judaism to a bunch of hard-nosed skeptics who don't literally believe but still gain value, the difference between intelligence and genius and the areas of the world where gender discrimination is alive and well.

I'm not totally sure who this novel was actually for, but as an academic Eastern-European Jewish math-enthusiast, cross-country-skiing-enthusiast who was born and raised in Madison, I enjoyed it largely as a "hey, look at that, someone wrote a book just for me!" I'm not sure whether a broader audience would appreciate it. show less