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An Equation of Almost Infinite Complexity
An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.
When the devil moves in next door to Cooper Smith Cooper's house, Cooper doesn't know what to make of him at first. But when the unexpectedly neighborly Scratch helps the unemployed actuary find a job at a local insurance company with the help of some inside information into the activities of Death, Cooper decides the old devil might not be so bad after all.
The only problem, Cooper thinks, is is how to conceal from his fellow actuaries his newfound ability to perfectly predict the time and place of people's deaths. And then, there is also the small matter of the screams of his recently deceased neighbor coming from Scratch's basement furnace to consider.
AN EQUATION OF ALMOST INFINITE COMPLEXITY is a sardonically funny debut novel from J. Mulrooney.
When the devil moves in next door to Cooper Smith Cooper's house, Cooper doesn't know what to make of him at first. But when the unexpectedly neighborly Scratch helps the unemployed actuary find a job at a local insurance company with the help of some inside information into the activities of Death, Cooper decides the old devil might not be so bad after all.
The only problem, Cooper thinks, is is how to conceal from his fellow actuaries his newfound ability to perfectly predict the time and place of people's deaths. And then, there is also the small matter of the screams of his recently deceased neighbor coming from Scratch's basement furnace to consider.
AN EQUATION OF ALMOST INFINITE COMPLEXITY is a sardonically funny debut novel from J. Mulrooney.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 14, 2016
26 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
J. Mulrooney
3 books23 followersJ. Mulrooney is a Canadian writer who was baptized by Father Breen and took piano lessons with Mr Pengelly. His earliest writing job was to print “I will not be disrespectful in class” fifty times on a sheet of paper. Since then, his plots have improved considerably.
Mr. Mulrooney is a finalist for the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. If he has not died he is probably still living in upstate New York.
Mr. Mulrooney is a finalist for the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. If he has not died he is probably still living in upstate New York.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 13, 2017
I admit it. I put this one off. And yes, it was wholly because it's published by Castalia House.
I started this book thinking the premise was actually pretty good: it was making me chuckle, and it had some amusing ideas, like Hell being a furnace in a suburban basement, and Death being a drunken redneck. The trouble is, by two-thirds the way through, the premise was getting boring. Moreover, earlier than that, I was also getting less and less impressed with the portrayal of women, with the only significant female characters (Thisbe and Abby) always thinking about men, or sex, or boyfriends, or possibly whether the main male character worked for the mafia (about 10% of her thought process).
My biggest problem, however, was that throughout, there seemed to be a nasty undertone where women are concerned, and a casual racism which made me uncomfortable. In the former case, it seems like the author’s intentionally gone for the anti-Bechdel approach, making women into barely-thinking objects, whoever they’re talking to. That said, I’ll admit that I'm not sure if either of these is really there, or if I assumed something like that would be there, given the general outlook/attitudes I've come to expect from Castalia House, and therefore found them.
I started this book thinking the premise was actually pretty good: it was making me chuckle, and it had some amusing ideas, like Hell being a furnace in a suburban basement, and Death being a drunken redneck. The trouble is, by two-thirds the way through, the premise was getting boring. Moreover, earlier than that, I was also getting less and less impressed with the portrayal of women, with the only significant female characters (Thisbe and Abby) always thinking about men, or sex, or boyfriends, or possibly whether the main male character worked for the mafia (about 10% of her thought process).
My biggest problem, however, was that throughout, there seemed to be a nasty undertone where women are concerned, and a casual racism which made me uncomfortable. In the former case, it seems like the author’s intentionally gone for the anti-Bechdel approach, making women into barely-thinking objects, whoever they’re talking to. That said, I’ll admit that I'm not sure if either of these is really there, or if I assumed something like that would be there, given the general outlook/attitudes I've come to expect from Castalia House, and therefore found them.
May 13, 2017
Being an actuary, I couldn't help picking up a book about an actuary being aided by the devil. Most people don't know what an actuary is and it's certainly rare to find them in a book! The author should have done a little more research, though. Unless things are different in Canada, there's no such thing as an "actuary school." You could major in actuarial science in a regular college, but there isn't a special school. Additionally, to get certified you have to pass many grueling exams, usually taken while you're working full time in an insurance company. Consequently, actuaries are pretty darn smart and well-read, not the bumbling idiot that's portrayed in this book. But I tried to look past the insult to my profession and discovered that almost all of the characters in this book were distasteful people in one way or another. Ironically, the only likable character was actually the devil. I'm sure that was done on purpose because the point of this book is that most people don't need the devil's help to get to Hell. Since he doesn't have to spend time finding ways to entrap us, he spends his time bettering himself and has decided his ready to retire. It's an interesting concept. I don't mind a story that's a bit far fetched, but this one went a little too far for my tastes.
July 2, 2020
As someone new to the modern Christian's perspective, I imagine this to be a wonderful starting point. Throughout the book, there is a spiritual pessimism in nearly every action taken- day to day life, even the very leaves on the street, has a mundane materialism and bureaucracy that can be inferred as being Satan's work on the world. Cooper Smith Cooper (lol) feels love for a woman that is nearly always made manifest not in her eyes, heart, or conversation, but in her legs! The pacing of the book was also quite to my taste. The multiple plot lines are introduced, maintained, and enlivened with tact reminiscent of a younger Stephen King. The author is aware of, and communicates, both the metaphysical importance and the very real tedium of theology, which invites an introspective eye to the post-Christian reader- if Cooper is this oblivious, what am I?
It's absolutely a book worth reading, but my critiques are thus: as some other reviewers have mentioned, the characters are- perhaps to the point- mundane, and at times interchangeable. I would have no issue with this if it were not for momentary transgressions of the author's eccentric narration into the character's speech. If the author wants to, for example, describe Gormley's howling as a cat being dragged by a horse through a cactus patch, let him! What courageously ridiculous use of imagery. If Julius, however, deviates from his usual skepticism of Jane Austen and shrewd wordplay to the Author's excessive style of description, I am left with the impression that not only are the characters interchangeable, but the author had spent so much time writing that his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he forgot to differentiate between his pointedly hopeless characters and himself! It is one thing for a character to be lost- it is another entirely for the author to be at the detriment of his character's consistency. I digress. My second critique, if I had to make one, would be that while for the better part of the book the dialogue is hilarious, well thought out, and frustrating in all the ways good satire deserves to be, the convergent points in which multiple characters are interacting seem... sloppy. These moments are not frequent, but when they occur, characters flip flop between emotions in a way that implies the author is conscious of what he wants to put INTO the situation and what he expects to pull OUT, but has really no clue how to get there. People will yell things for no discernible reason, the English teacher, at a strange time, place, and by god knows what logic, tries to create a hostage situation in the furnace- Cooper's emotional timeline, in these few moments, resembles my attempts at crayon cubism from behind the wooden bars of my crib- I was admittedly disappointed at this part. HOWEVER.
I really did enjoy the book. I spent a good amount of time scratching my head trying to discern who J Mulrooney was conceivably trying to imitate, and could only arrive on the conclusion that god had put it in his heart to maintain the wonderfully flippant satire of youth well into his novel-writing years. An Equation of Almost Infinite Complexity was a veritable CPR exercise on my novel reading habits, which, without this resuscitation, might have died and gone to hell to be tortured exclusively on Thursdays. Perhaps Alexander Pope...
It's absolutely a book worth reading, but my critiques are thus: as some other reviewers have mentioned, the characters are- perhaps to the point- mundane, and at times interchangeable. I would have no issue with this if it were not for momentary transgressions of the author's eccentric narration into the character's speech. If the author wants to, for example, describe Gormley's howling as a cat being dragged by a horse through a cactus patch, let him! What courageously ridiculous use of imagery. If Julius, however, deviates from his usual skepticism of Jane Austen and shrewd wordplay to the Author's excessive style of description, I am left with the impression that not only are the characters interchangeable, but the author had spent so much time writing that his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he forgot to differentiate between his pointedly hopeless characters and himself! It is one thing for a character to be lost- it is another entirely for the author to be at the detriment of his character's consistency. I digress. My second critique, if I had to make one, would be that while for the better part of the book the dialogue is hilarious, well thought out, and frustrating in all the ways good satire deserves to be, the convergent points in which multiple characters are interacting seem... sloppy. These moments are not frequent, but when they occur, characters flip flop between emotions in a way that implies the author is conscious of what he wants to put INTO the situation and what he expects to pull OUT, but has really no clue how to get there. People will yell things for no discernible reason, the English teacher, at a strange time, place, and by god knows what logic, tries to create a hostage situation in the furnace- Cooper's emotional timeline, in these few moments, resembles my attempts at crayon cubism from behind the wooden bars of my crib- I was admittedly disappointed at this part. HOWEVER.
I really did enjoy the book. I spent a good amount of time scratching my head trying to discern who J Mulrooney was conceivably trying to imitate, and could only arrive on the conclusion that god had put it in his heart to maintain the wonderfully flippant satire of youth well into his novel-writing years. An Equation of Almost Infinite Complexity was a veritable CPR exercise on my novel reading habits, which, without this resuscitation, might have died and gone to hell to be tortured exclusively on Thursdays. Perhaps Alexander Pope...
November 2, 2024
A weird world of the living and dead, saved and unsaved, hell and earth. I really liked this book. It pulled me in with its mix of strange and normal characters and a plot that was never obvious. Many memorable quotes along with pithy observations of modern life. Mulrooney's writing is excellent. I thought his telling of Thisbe's story before meeting Cooper was great. It had a slightly different feel to it than the writing in the rest of the book. I'm looking forward to his next one.
July 2, 2017
I got about 10% of the way through this example of Mr Mulrooney's work before deciding that it did not provide any evidence that the author was worthy of consideration for the Campbell Award (not a Hugo) for 2017.
Whilst allegedly the story of an actuary who acquires the devil as a neighbour, I could discern no evidence of plot or narrative in the 40 or so pages I endured. I was able to deduce the name of the actuary (Cooper), and the devil (Scratch), but of the promised sardonic wit, sadly none.
This is a dull mess, and not worth the time or effort.
Whilst allegedly the story of an actuary who acquires the devil as a neighbour, I could discern no evidence of plot or narrative in the 40 or so pages I endured. I was able to deduce the name of the actuary (Cooper), and the devil (Scratch), but of the promised sardonic wit, sadly none.
This is a dull mess, and not worth the time or effort.
July 14, 2017
A little slow at first, but it gets going about a third of the way in. Most of the main characters are annoying. The only one I really enjoyed was Scratch. I really enjoyed the way all the characters tied together with all of the ( sometimes humorous) coincidences that occurred. However, the ending wasn't really satisfying, nothing seems to get resolved, the only person who seems to reach an ending is the protagonist. A clever premise for a story that I don't believe was successfully fleshed out in this novel.
January 20, 2017
It took me a little while to get into it. Maybe I was 'just not in the mood' or something? Because once I got past the first third there was no way stopping me! Every time I thought for sure that I got it figured out, the plot took a new twist and I was back at the proverbial drawing board.
There are a ton of quotable lines in this book: I really should read it again with a notebook next to me.
There are a ton of quotable lines in this book: I really should read it again with a notebook next to me.
March 21, 2017
3.5 stars. I hit a point at 40% where I put the book down and was indifferent as to finishing it, but I resumed and at halfway through it really picked up at intertwining the pieces together. From that point I couldn't put it down. The author had a wry way of describing the modern world that I found delightful. Despite the presence of the devil, this book doesn't have any big religious overtures, and I liked that it jabbed at the generalized nonbelief of the West. It's not especially character driven, which is just as well because Cooper is the sort of sad sack that the plot needs but is utterly detestable in real life. I found Thisbe the most interesting character, in part because we are given more of her background and also that she is a locus for most of the other characters. The ending is truly charming (oh, World Council of Churches, you do not disappoint) and I hope to see future efforts from this author.
January 19, 2020
I[m conflicted on this. I didn't realize until after I had read this that it was published by Vox Day's publisher, and I felt a bit ill. I'm a little unhappy that a bit of my money went to support that.
But I adore the book. It's a moral farce, not as clever as Oscar Wilde or Douglas Adams, but still quite clever in its own way. I enjoyed it considerably. Mulrooney's quite talented, and I'd love to read more.
But I adore the book. It's a moral farce, not as clever as Oscar Wilde or Douglas Adams, but still quite clever in its own way. I enjoyed it considerably. Mulrooney's quite talented, and I'd love to read more.
May 28, 2017
A pretty quick read of a slightly dark tale of the infernal set in an almost present or just recent past. A bit more fantastical and not much sci-fi (IMO).
September 26, 2017
No idea what this was doing in my Campbell Award voters pack. The other contenders were all brilliant.
October 9, 2017
As the blurb says, "sardonically funny". But that's all it's got.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews