The Solitude Of Prime Numbers
Paolo Giordano
Black Swan pp 379
ISBN-10: 0552775479
ISBN-13: 978-0552775472

Though I am a bookworm by nature, given a choice I would always opt for a small book rather than the big tome. I find that small books can be powerful vehicles for big ideas.

One has only to read any book by J.M. Coetzee to realise what I mean. Taut perfection, often lacking in sprawling novels, is one of the hallmarks of a good novel. In The Solitude of Prime Numbers I came across such a novel. It has only 379 pages and yet it won the prestigious Premio Strega in 2008.

What brought this book to my attention was that the prize was won by a young author, Paolo Giordano, who does not come from the literary world but from the world of science. A physicist by profession he is a living demonstration how the scientific world and the literary world can be reconciled.

The novel focuses on the loneliness of childhood in an affluent society and shows how events that happen during childhood have a lasting impact on one’s development in later life. Two young people who had traumatic experiences in their childhood are left psychologically impaired. Alice bears the scars of a horrible skiing accident while Mattia bears the scars of abandoning his disabled sister in a park and her consequent disappearance. This is the story of two lives in pain, who inflict self-abuse in an attempt to get some control over their lives. Mattia turns his emotional pain into physical pain by cutting and burning himself. Alice conscious of her damaged body lives in the grip of anorexia. It is this that draws them to each other and creates a bond despite that they lead separate lives which run parallel and never really meet. Together they pass into adulthood, needful of each other and yet unable to connect fully, surrounded by others who played significant roles in their lives, particularly their parents.

Mattia, who finds refuge in mathematics and finds it easier to relate to numbers than to humans, thinks of Alice and he as twin primes, solitary, lonely individuals, forever linked but forever separated.

Mattia sees the two of them as “alone and lost, close but not too close to really touch each other”. Readers who are averse to numbers should not let the title keep them away from this book. There is little reference to mathematics in the story. Mr Giordano only uses prime numbers as a metaphor for the sad and lonely situation in which the protagonists find themselves.

In mathematics twin primes are couples of prime numbers such as 11 and 13, or17 and 19, namely two primes separated by a single even number. Like prime numbers which are divisible only by one and by themselves, between Alice and Mattia there is always an even number which prevents them from touching. They try desperately to get closer to each other but they are destined to failure. Neither are they able to combine with any other person. Any attempt ends in solitude. Originally the title for this book was In and Out of Water, water being an important element in the story, however the editor came up with the title it has now which is more apt.

As to be expected from a man of science, the novel is symmetrically structured and has two intertwined stories moving from one to another. Page after page, Mr Giordano involves emotionally the reader with the protagonists’ damaged lives and provides a deep insight into the human psyche.

His style is minimalist. Descriptions and dialogue are brief and terse. If the characters are disturbing at times, they also evoke our sympathy. Mr Giordano does not fall into melodrama or offers any comfortable solutions. Interesting that the ending is abrupt and he refuses to answer the questions which were imposed all along. The characters are left free to work out their own future.

Originally written in Italian, it has been beautifully translated into English by Shaun Whiteside. It has also been turned into a film by Saverio Costanzo which was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice Film Festival. This debut novel coming from a young author who won Italy’s most prestigious award has acquired cult status in Italy and Europe. It has a distinctive original voice which raises important issues about the fears and pains of adolescence, the burden of guilt and about the responsibility of parents towards their children. It is a story not easily forgotten.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.