The Mathematician's Shiva

The Mathematician's Shiva is a book with many layers.  On the surface this is the story of family loss.
It is also a study in the relationship of mother and son.  The pride and driving force of parents who are intelligent and driven to push their children to their vision of success.  It is also a story of the immigrant experience, coming to America from Russian following WWII.


Right at the beginning we meet Sasha as he is preparing to sit shiva for his mother, who has died of cancer. Rachela Karnokivitch was a famous mathematician, who it is rumored has solved the million dollar Navier-Stokes Millennium prize problem, a mathematical problem that has something to do with the elusive phenomenon of turbulence.  As Sasha and his father also a prominent mathematician prepare to privately mourn the death of their loved one, rival mathematicians and fans of Rachela descend on their house.

The book then divides into chapters that look back at Sasha's relationship with his mother growing up, the present situation and journal entries Sasha finds that his mother kept about her life.  Rachela is a Russian emigre whose life has been directed toward math she writes because of her experiences during World War II.  Not being respected as a mathematician in Russian brought her to the United States where she has been able to be recognized as a mathematical genius but has also bumped into a glass ceiling.

Now after her death we meet the other mathematicians, a group of social misfits, who either looked up to her as a inspiration or were in competition with her to reach the goal of discovering the answer to the Navier-Stokes problem and win the prize.  They come to the funeral and to sit shiva.    They take up residence in the Karnokivitch's living room, looking for clues that Rachela may have hidden that will help them solve the problem.  They search her house and her office at the local college.  They even listen to her pet parrot, Pascha hoping that some of his mutterings may be a key to solving the formula.

While the mathematicians are searching, Sasha is working through the relationship he had with his difficult but loving mother.  As the author, Stuart Rojstaczer says in an interview, "...she is the sun around which all the others orbit."  Sasha looks back over his childhood and how her input and parenting have led to his lonely adulthood.  It is a time for him to reflect and move on with his life.  He is able to see his father for who he really is and fulfill his mother's wish that they end their estrangement.  In the end Sasha even connects with a daughter he has never known.

The whole story takes place in the seven days Jews spend sitting to mourn the passing of a loved one.