Fiction Pick of the Week: The Solitude of Prime Numbers

The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano 2010

I read this brilliant story not really knowing anything about prime numbers. These curious numbers are a metaphor for the two main characters Mattia and Alice.
Prime numbers are a mathematical oddity only divisible by one and themselves. They often appear in pairs. Twin primes are pairs that are close to each other but between them there is an even number that prevents them from truly touching.
We first meet Mattia and Alice at eight years of age and follow them through to adulthood. Each child is traumatized by an event that leaves them psychologically scarred. Mattia, a mathematical genius, suffers guilt after he abandons his twin sister and she tragically dies. Alice, a photographer, suffers a ski mishap as a child, that left her alone in the snow and renders her emotionally frozen. Mattia and Alice are like twin primes, alone and lost, outcasts in society living parallel lives like two peas in a pod but unable to connect or really touch each other.
This is truly an extraordinary read by a very accomplished author. Giordano is a 27 year old physicist, and this is his first book. Given his background one can see why he chose to use prime numbers as his jumping off point. The book has been translated into 30 languages worldwide and won Italy’s prestigious Premio Strega Prize. This is an original and unique story that will resonate long after you have read it.