From the critically acclaimed award-winning author of The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre comes this moving story of a boy trapped in the shadow of his father's genius.
Nathan Nelson is the ordinary son of a brilliant physicist. From an early age, his father has doggedly prodded him toward greatness, enrolling him in whiz kid summer camps and teaching him college algebra. By the time Nathan is seventeen, hopes for a late-blooming prodigy seem dashed. Then, in the summer of 1987, everything changes. A tragic accident and ensuing coma leave Nathan with a profoundly altered mind that allows him to memorize vast amounts of information. Nathan's father, seeking an application for the new talent, sends him to a research institute where, amid misfits and savants, Nathan tries to find a purpose for the new way he perceives the world.
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"A coming-of-age story of the intellect, this was one of the best books I have ever read. Nathan is the son a genius, and is raised with the expectation that he will also have a great mind, if only he applies himself. He is a good kid and very, very smart, but not brilliant. This is a character study of the father, a quantum theory physicist, a son who lives in the shadow of expectation, a mother who believes that by cooking spectacular meals and having family games of rummy will make them all normal, and the third-wheel best friend of the Dad's who is a former astronaut. They all manage to hold it together until there is a terrible accident, and Nathan has a brain injury that changes the family's trajectory in profound ways. The writing is lyrical, the plot tightly paced, and the characters full, flawed, and believable. I loved every moment."
— Robin (5 out of 5 stars)
“With an exquisite ear not just for language but for emotional truth as well, Dominic Smith has written an ambitious and strikingly unusual tale about what it’s like to grow up in the shadow of a brilliant father and under the force of his expectations. I finished this book in awe of Smith’s imagination—and of his enormous heart.”
— Julia Glass, New York Times bestselling author of Three Junes and The Whole World Over“[Smith] conjures Nathan’s colorful, mysterious new existence with vivid detail. The real story in this touching, gracefully wrought novel lies around the edges of the plot. It is really about the weight of family dreams and expectations.”
— Boston Globe“Fantastic…an utterly fresh look at how a child can grow beyond parental expectations and find the genius of being himself.”
— People“Garcia, a stage actor by training, treats Smith’s novel as an extended monologue to be performed, summoning the moods and sensations of its prose via subtle shifts of emphasis. The result is a performance-driven audiobook, rendered in minimalist fashion.”
— Publishers Weekly“This unusual, gorgeously written novel is filled with pleasures.”
— Booklist (starred review)“[A] finely modulated second novel…a luminous addition to novels about fathers and sons.”
— Kirkus Reviews" Okay. The story was really good and really well written in the beginning, when the not-so-brilliant son of a genius was trying to stay real to himself and not let his genius father ruin him. I was really with him until the unfortunate incident involving his father. The story just seemed to jump around a lot without any real connection between plot points. I just basically gave up by two last chapters. "
— Erica, 1/14/2014" Great title, fun to read, interesting topic (boy whose father is a math/science genius, who wants his son to be one too--via an accident the boy acquires an extraordinary ability to remember things--relationship between the two--) "
— Kath, 1/8/2014" Parts of this book were clever and rich, but it is rather uneven and plodding. "
— Paula, 1/8/2014" So much potential here, but sadly the last third of the book is lacking. After the accident the story falls flat and the ending didn't fit. "
— melanie, 12/28/2013" Very predictable. It dragged a little for me, and at times his dialogue was choppy. I felt like he could have taken the book and shrunk it in size by almost half. But he did startle me occasionally with these little jabs of poetic wit, and I really liked that. "
— Hannah, 12/14/2013" One of the best books I've read in a while. Intricate yet delicate plot with a moving ending. "
— Addie, 12/13/2013" The father/son relationship really drew me into the book, even though the main character was a bit hard to figure. "
— Kate, 12/10/2013" The life of an ordinary kid surrounded by extraordinary people. Well written. "
— Daniel, 12/6/2013" An excellent book that addresses the big questions without trying to answer them. I thought the characters were all very interesting and realistic, and this made up for the lack of excitement in the plot. "
— Kelley, 11/18/2013" A bildungsromans for a synesthesiac. It's a slow moving book, with a cast of eccentric characters that never get too over the top--the protagonist's father is especially well done, as extremely introverted physics professor. By the book's ending, it's lost a lot of steam, but it's still a good read. "
— Mjhancock, 10/28/2013" A quick read. Interesting ideas, great for fiction lovers who like science. "
— Lisaleh, 10/21/2013" What everyone else that gave it 2 stars said... "
— Lesley, 10/3/2013" ok but I set it down and never picked it up again... "
— Natalie, 9/26/2013" Almost finished this book - stunning. "
— Zoe, 3/27/2013" This was an amazing read. A truly deep book, up there with a great like Bee Season. An intriguing, interesting, uniquely well-told story of a young man's unique life growing up surrounded by unique family and friends. A one-of-a-kind tale. "
— Joseph, 2/15/2013" Amazing. Beautiful. Random. And once more with the quantum theory theme that seems to keep cropping up in everything I read from fairy tales to mysteries to regular old fiction. "
— Rachel, 11/12/2012" The synopsis was very interesting. Nathan's father is a genius, and he tries to live up to his father's expectations. But what was disturbing is that the story changes when he discovered that he has this weird ability to see flying letters or numbers or what. Freaky "
— Louisse, 8/25/2012" A great read about a boy who suffers from sythesia after an accident, his relationship with his genius father, lots of physics, and a few questiona of the universe in general. Nice read. "
— Teja, 7/6/2012" Honestly, I read this book a few years ago. I remember that I enjoyed it but not the level to which I enjoyed it. Therefore, I gave it only 3 stars to be fair. "
— Shannon, 4/26/2012" I loved this book and the characters... "
— Marcia, 11/13/2011" I liked it. It's a typical coming of age story about characters with weird abilities. And there's physics, which, amazingly, wasn't boring. It was predictable, but I didn't mind. "
— Erin, 5/29/2011" I loved this book and the characters... "
— Marcia, 2/2/2011" A boy born to extraordinary talented parents, has to adjust to the fact that he is ordinary. "
— Susan, 2/1/2011" There aren't<br/> too many novels written about synesthesia. I enjoyed this. "
— Kathy, 11/26/2010" Stumbled upon this book repeatedly and was really impressed. <br/>Kind of a like a sleeper hit film. "
— Linda, 8/14/2010" Beautifully written, interesting from the first page. "
— Karen, 7/3/2010" Very predictable. It dragged a little for me, and at times his dialogue was choppy. I felt like he could have taken the book and shrunk it in size by almost half. But he did startle me occasionally with these little jabs of poetic wit, and I really liked that. "
— Hannah, 4/18/2010" The life of an ordinary kid surrounded by extraordinary people. Well written. "
— Daniel, 2/9/2010" Started out a bit slowly - it seemed that once the story really began, the book ended. However, well written and I would actually give it 3.5 stars. "
— Carrie, 4/14/2009" Great title, fun to read, interesting topic (boy whose father is a math/science genius, who wants his son to be one too--via an accident the boy acquires an extraordinary ability to remember things--relationship between the two--) "
— Kath, 4/3/2009Dominic Smith is the author of six novels, including The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, which was a New York Times bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and was named a best book of the year by Slate, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Kirkus Reviews. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and The Australian, among other publications.
Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory, and Bewilderment was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.