MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Amy and Isabelle (1998)
Elizabeth Strout
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Contributed by "William E. Emba"

A highly praised mother-daughter novel, selected by Oprah, and recently produced by Oprah as a made-for-TV movie.

Set in 1971 Maine, a 16-year-old girl has an affair with her high school math teacher. The attraction begins when the teacher gets frustrated with his class's lack of interest, and chides them for not responding to the inherent beauty, and the girl spontaneously quotes the first line of "Euclid alone".

(Unread/unseen by me, but there seems to be no mathematical content beyond the one bit, gleaned from bookstore skimming.)

Contributed by Stephen Meskin

The book is an easy read. I read it only because the book club I belong to selected it. It is a "woman's book." I don't mean that as a pejorative but only as a description. It deals with emotions and feelings; there is not much plot. The mathematics is limited to the humane but lecherous HS math teacher upon whom a shy student has a crush.

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 Amy and Isabelle
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender
  2. The Mirror Has Two Faces by Barbra Streisand (director) / Richard LaGravenese (Writer)
  3. Stand and Deliver by Ramon Menendez
  4. Mean Girls by Tina Fey (screenplay) / Mark S. Waters (director)
  5. The Witch of Agnesi by Robert Spiller
  6. Arithmetic Town / Arithmetic by Todd McEwen
  7. Alone with You in the Ether: A Love Story by Olivia Blake
  8. Pascal's Wager by Nancy Rue
  9. Long Division by Michael Redhill
  10. The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am [Jo Fortere Jeg Gar, Jo Mindre Er Jeg] by Kjersti A Skomsvold
Ratings for Amy and Isabelle:
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:
1/5 (1 votes)
..
Literary Quality:
3/5 (1 votes)
..

Categories:
Genre
MotifRomance, Math Education,
Topic
MediumNovels,

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Exciting News: The 1,600th entry was recently added to this database of mathematical fiction! Also, for those of you interested in non-fictional math books let me (shamelessly) plug the recent release of the second edition of my soliton theory textbook.

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)