MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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The Geometry of Sisters (2009)
Luanne Rice
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Young Beck hopes her mathematical skills will somehow bring back her dead father. Other reviewers have mostly complained that this novel does not work as the serious family drama it intends to be. From the mathematical point of view, I'm afraid it fares no better.

Rice seems to have some vague concept of what a limit is:

(quoted from The Geometry of Sisters)

"Okay," Lucy was saying to Beck, pushing her papr closer. Beck glanced down, saw a series of six thick, fat columns about a half-inch wide. "Limits and infinity, right? That's what we're dealing with. These big, ugly, clunky columns are limits"

"And these," Beck said as beside them she drew six elegant, thin lines, "are infinity."

But most of the mathematical content involves mention of "proofs of infinity" (whatever those are) or insipid and nonsensical lines like:

(quoted from The Geometry of Sisters)

Words get in the way. Numbers don't lie. We are two sisters add us up. Carrie + Beck = Us.

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And now my mother's taking me away from them. Away from Carrie. Without Carrie, I'm less than a person. It's like subtracting one from one. That equals zero. Except, as all mathematicians know, there's really no such number as zero.

Thanks to Barry Cipra for bringing this book to my attention.

More information about this work can be found at www.amazon.com.
(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.)

Works Similar to The Geometry of Sisters
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Gifted: A Novel by Nikita Lalwani
  2. The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell
  3. The Solitude of Prime Numbers [La Solitudine dei Numeri Primi] by Paolo Giordano
  4. An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender
  5. Long Division by Buzz Mauro
  6. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
  7. Long Division by Michael Redhill
  8. Cliff Walk by Margaret Dickson
  9. The Golden Mean by Matthew Baker
  10. Geek Abroad by Piper Banks
Ratings for The Geometry of Sisters:
RatingsHave you seen/read this work of mathematical fiction? Then click here to enter your own votes on its mathematical content and literary quality or send me comments to post on this Webpage.
Mathematical Content:
2/5 (1 votes)
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Literary Quality:
2/5 (1 votes)
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Categories:
Genre
MotifProdigies, Female Mathematicians, Math Education,
Topic
MediumNovels,

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Where are the new works of mathematical fiction?: As you can see from this chronological listing, this database includes many works of mathematical fiction for each year from 1990 to 2025. Strangely, only two are listed for 2026, so far. Either less mathematical fiction is being published than in previous years or I'm just having more trouble finding it. If you know of any works of fiction that should be added to this list, especially recently published ones, please let me know. (Keep in mind that I do not include self-published works or children's fiction that just covers elementary mathematical concepts.) Thanks!

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)