Author:  Paolo Giordano
Title:  The Solitude of Prime Numbers
Publisher:  Pamela Dorman Books

Two unique souls find themselves growing up in a world where they hardly fit. At least they have each other. Or do they? Paolo Giordano, a professional physicist in Italy, has written a stunning debut novel (winning the Premio Strega, Italy's prestigious literary award) about loneliness and love.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers is an equation composed of the lives of Alice and Mattia, two children from odd families, who struggle with how to find their place in the world, how to express themselves, and how to relate to others.

Alice's story starts when she is seven years old and her father drops her off on the ski slopes so she can learn to meet his expectations. What she discovers instead is how to hide the mess that she is feeling inside. She gets separated from the rest of the ski school and finds herself with a broken leg lying in the snow, not knowing if anyone will show up to help her. It is a metaphor for her life.

Mattia was born with a twin sister, Michela. Both children suffered from autism, though the book never uses that specific diagnosis. Mattia is more mentally adaptable in school than Michela, who never learns to speak. Though she is treated as an outcast, she exists in her own world in a way that she doesn't really acknowledge being ostracized. It is more painful for her brother so Mattia tries to protect Michela from the other students, sitting next to his sister in class, and walking her to and from school. But being so intricately connected to Michela means Mattia shoulders the social rejection for both of them. One day it is too much and he abandons his sister in a playground while he attends a classmate's birthday party. When he returns, she is gone, and his world becomes an even darker, grayer hue than it already was.

Giordano weaves Alice and Mattia's stories around each other, alternating chapter by chapter, until their lives become intertwined as teenagers and on into adulthood. This isn't the typical love story as neither child is attractive and neither knows how to give or receive affection. Yet even with their disorders, Giordano makes Alice and Mattia the hero characters by exposing all of the brokenness in the ‘normal' people in the story as well. Alice's bulimic habits and Mattia's tendency to cut himself seem somewhat mild responses to the actual world they live in.

If this was a Hollywood, blockbuster movie, the two characters might find peace in their pairing, their dysfunctions would be recast as quirks, and the bit players around them would be rewritten for comic relief. But this is more the type of novel that is written to expose a slice of life that isn't as pleasant. Not as many people would see this film, but those who played the main characters would most certainly be nominated for acting awards if they could capture the souls that Giordano has created.

Content wise there was very little in this story I could cheer about—as a Christian I missed the themes of redemption and healing and I found myself feeling appalled by some of the actions and the despair. Yet as a human, I was deeply moved by this book and found it to be a worthwhile, incarnational journey into loneliness.

If you chose to read this book, do so not to be entertained or inspired, but to further understand.


**This review first published on