It is often hard to tell the difference between math and physics, both in reality and in fiction. The title implies connections to both. The "gut" in the title is a pun on GUT=Grand Unified Theory, and attempt to unify the forces of particle physics. That is really not mathematics. "Symmetry" in particle physics really has an entirely mathematical meaning, it is not a symmetry in a geometric sense but rather in the sense of abstract algebra. However, the author never really goes into this aspect anywhere in the book. So, it is not for these reasons that I list this here as mathematical fiction.

Instead, this is mathematical fiction because of the frequent -- but occasionally wrongheaded or misleading -- geometric analogies. She uses non-Euclidean geometry as one of the most frequent metaphors throughout the book. Though she sells it short by making it sound as if nobody had thought of the idea of curved surfaces before Riemann (whose name is mispelled in the edition of this book that I read), the analogies still worked for me. For instance, the connection between the idea that "parallel" lines could meet (MUST meet in projective space) is somehow connected to the wife and mistress meeting...this is a non-Euclidean love affair!

The book probably starts being more "literary" when the canibalism comes into it....yes, one character eats part of another...but that was a bit much for me. I'm not able to be very positive about this book, which I thought was merely okay, but the critics seem to have loved it. (There's no accounting for taste, as they say.)