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Life After Genius

M. Ann Jacoby (Goodreads Author)

3.29 · Rating details · 427 ratings · 91 reviews

Theodore Mead Fegley has always been the smartest person he knows. By age 12, he was in high school, and by 15 he was attending a top-ranking university. And now, at the tender age of 18, he's on the verge of proving the Riemann Hypothesis, a mathematical equation that has mystified academics for almost 150 years. But only days before graduation, Mead suddenly packs his ba ...more

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Hardcover, 400 pages

Published October 29th 2008 by Grand Central Publishing (first published October 11th 2008)

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Dec 20, 2009 Gigi rated it did not like it

this is one of the rare occasions when i wish i could call the author and vent my frustration about devoting hours of my life to their craft only to be shoved down a literary trap door. i am flat out annoyed by how ridiculous this story became. ridiculous and lazy and negligent.

when you meet the main character mead, you are at first tempted to not go on his journey because you're sure you've heard it all before. ten year old boy, wildly smart and ostracized by his peers, somewhere-ville small to this is one of the rare occasions when i wish i could call the author and vent my frustration about devoting hours of my life to their craft only to be shoved down a literary trap door. i am flat out annoyed by how ridiculous this story became. ridiculous and lazy and negligent.

when you meet the main character mead, you are at first tempted to not go on his journey because you're sure you've heard it all before. ten year old boy, wildly smart and ostracized by his peers, somewhere-ville small town usa, parents with unrealized dreams who make all the wrong choices when trying to set it right for their kids. throw in a hearthrob older cousin who plays softball and a quarry where the kids make daring leaps all summer and you know where this story is going.

but you forge ahead, because in the opening chapters there is something compelling about the language and a hint of something new about this coming of age tale. and so you follow mead through incidents with bullies, puberty and embalming and then to college where he discovers girls, cd players and seduction at the hands of a wealthy, conniving elder classman who has problems of his own with old dad. blah blah blah. i am not going to talk about plot points because they're average at best.

and then, for no reason at all (although, perhaps, a feeble spin at holden caulfield's repeated use of "damn" or "and all"), mead starts saying "shit" every dozen sentences. literally. we're talking scores of "shit" littered all over the second half of the novel. standing alone or tossed in mid sentence. for instance: "time enough to get some work done, to finish mapping out that stupid outline for the dean. visiting mathematicans. shit. that's heady stuff." OR (not half a page later) "the dean has invited professional mathematicians, the most brilliant minds in the field, to come listen to me. me! shit i am going to look like a fool up there on that stage."

i struggled through the second half of the book (one must never put a book down once started), trying to avoid those "shits" like literary landmines. impossible. by the time i came to the end of the book (and to a finale that was actually more offensive than the landmines!), i felt like i had been pelted with cactus plants all afternoon.

in short: no go on Life After Genius. ...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Jennifer Defoy rated it liked it

Shelves: 2011-reads

This was a weird one for me. I liked the story, even though it was a bit odd, but I didn't really connect with the main character. But the mystery of why Mead came home was pretty engaging. I just wanted to know why. The story jumps around through different times in Mead's life. It got to be a bit confusing at times, as Mead also seems to be having a bit of a nervous breakdown throughout the story. But the jumping around really adds to the mystery of what happened and if Mead really is starting ...more

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Mar 07, 2009 Jeffrey rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: anyone who ever thought being a genius was easy

Shelves: literature, coming-of-age, read-in-2009

Mead Fegley is a genious and goes to college at a young age to study mathematics where he has a real aptitude, but his journey to college is waylaid and he rushes home a few days prior to his presentation of an important paper on a noted mathemician's theorem. Jacoby's tale is split into three separate time lines, which are her way of showing how Mead turned out the way he has, what happened in college and why he left. This non sequential story worked for me although I could see how it would not ...more

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Jul 27, 2013 Alice rated it it was amazing

Mead Fegley is a solitary 15-year-old prodigy who flees his oppressive, well-meaning family for the wilds of a prestigious university in Chicago.

I find the book intriguing and a wonder to read, thought provoking and conversational. With the structure of the suspense with Mead without reason stopping home, despite the fact that what he chooses to do after he returns home was never revealed, Jacoby provides readers with the urge to read page after page to find out what goes on next. For some that ...more

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Jul 28, 2008 Miriam rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Myfanwy, Sarah

Totally great, almost surreal story about a boy genius who loses it six days before he is supposed to graduate from college (at age 18). I'm totally fascinated by extraordinary minds and this book really captures the anguish that can go along with being just a little bit different.

It's an adult book, but I think it would appeal to fans of YA as well. ...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Jeruen rated it it was amazing

Awesome book this truly was. Oops, time to switch to the non-Yoda dialect.

Anyway, I should say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very interesting and captivating that I blasted through it in just a couple of days.

So, this is a book that revolves around Theodore Mead Fegley, who is a math genius, genius enough to skip several grades in elementary, middle, and high school, and enters college at 15, and finishing his undergraduate in less than three years. Almost, since the book begins wh Awesome book this truly was. Oops, time to switch to the non-Yoda dialect.

Anyway, I should say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very interesting and captivating that I blasted through it in just a couple of days.

So, this is a book that revolves around Theodore Mead Fegley, who is a math genius, genius enough to skip several grades in elementary, middle, and high school, and enters college at 15, and finishing his undergraduate in less than three years. Almost, since the book begins when he walks out of college a week before graduation, without delivering his senior thesis.

Several characters revolve around Theodore. His father, Lynn, is an undertaker, very quiet, refuses to accept a scholarship for his son and instead insists on paying for his college education on his own. His mother, Alayne, is this control freak, who thinks that Theodore is different from his father's side of the family, and dreams big for her son. She basically is the typical parent who wants their kids to do the things that they were unsuccessful in accomplishing. Theodore's aunt Jewel, used to be a very caring aunt, but now, after the death of their son Percy, she went into catatonic depression. Uncle Martin on the other hand is a fellow undertaker, managing the family business of a funeral home, and is harsh and cruel on Theodore, because he blames him for Percy's death. In short, every character in this book has their own skeletons in their closets.

I suppose it is difficult to recreate the conflicts that this book presents, as everyone seems to be blaming everyone for the existence of their skeletons. Theodore decides to have a new life once he enters college, so he wants everyone to call him by his middle name now, which is Mead. This creates a divide in the arenas in the book: his family members still call him Teddy, his school associates call him Mead, while his arch-nemesis calls him Fegley.

Growing up, he battles the bullies, destroying his science project, embarrassing him to various degrees. He also battles the cutthroat people in college, people who would go into depths of crime and bribery just to get an A, like his "friend" Herman Weinstein, who turns out to be the person that he battles the most in the story.

The book presents a very good scenario for several psychological conflicts. It indeed is psychological fiction at its best, although I think it may have been a little over the top. There are too many abnormal people in the story, which I think is the only bad element of this book. But then again, who in the world is normal? We all have skeletons in our closet.

I have to say that I liked this book a lot, and found plenty of things in which I can relate. Mead has conflict with his parents: her mom only wants one thing, that is, to get him out of the small town of High Grove, Illinois by means of his genius. His father on the other hand secretly desires his son to be an undertaker like him and continue the family business. So there's the overprotective mother and the very impassive father. Their family dynamics are so extraordinary that I feel pity for Mead. It also made me appreciate the value of openness, and listening. Mead's parents didn't even listen to him, only insisting on what they think was best. Never did they realize that they had to listen to what Mead had to say as well, they only realized that late in the game, when their kid is all grown up. In the beginning, they were more willing to think that Mead was simply hallucinating instead of taking his word for the truth.

With respect to the structure of this book, I highly took a liking to it, since it wasn't the traditional chronological narration. Every chapter was dated, as to how many days or years it was before graduation. Thus, the chapters were in different time periods in Mead's life. It was presented based on content, and not based on the date. One chapter can be 8 years before graduation, when Mead was just 10, and the next can be 3 weeks before graduation, when his parents were in town visiting the university. In this way, I believe the author had trusted her readers that her readers would be smart enough to reconstruct the missing links in between the episodes. I liked that factor, since it needed use of my brain by requiring me to read between the lines.

I also liked the ending. The conflicts were slowly being resolved, one by one. One by one, Mead's family members get normal, and finally sees the light, in a way. However, the good thing is that the author did not fully end the story. The main conflict is between Mead and his relationship with Herman Weinstein, and the ending leaves it hanging, welcoming the reader's imagination to fill in the blanks.

Overall, a very awesome novel. 5 out of 5 stars. ...more

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Oct 29, 2008 Carey rated it it was amazing

What could drive a brilliant young man to leave college eight days before graduation, without his degree, and return to his hometown to work in the family Mortuary business?

Being a genius is a difficult thing. For Theodore Mead Fegley, it has brought him nothing but grief. He started high school at the age of twelve, finished in three years, and started college at the age of fifteen. He has always been younger and smaller than everyone else. And, of course, the victim of taunts, ridicule and pr What could drive a brilliant young man to leave college eight days before graduation, without his degree, and return to his hometown to work in the family Mortuary business?

Being a genius is a difficult thing. For Theodore Mead Fegley, it has brought him nothing but grief. He started high school at the age of twelve, finished in three years, and started college at the age of fifteen. He has always been younger and smaller than everyone else. And, of course, the victim of taunts, ridicule and pranks for his entire school career. He is thrilled to go to college, where he thinks he will be among equals, learned individuals who will value his intellect. Poor kid, how wrong he is.

To facilitate the brand new start Theodore feels he is getting with college, he starts to go by his middle name, Mead. Unfortunately, the very first day he is reminded, yet again, that he is different from everyone else and does not fit in. Girls are too old for him, he is too young for drinking and partying, he has little in common with other young men on campus. His life is lonely and friendless. His only real friend, his cousin Percy, is off pursuing his dream of baseball glory. Percy sends a constant stream of postcards to Mead, letting him know what is going on in his life. But since Mead has no friends he doesn't really know how to BE one, so he never responds to Percy's postcards.

Mead excels at mathematics and spends his college career working on solving the Riemann Hypothesis, a 150 year old mathematical theory. When Herman, a wealthy and attractive fellow math student, befriends Mead it seems a little strange to him that this guy would want to spend time with him. But Herman offers to help Mead on the Riemann Hypothesis so, against his better judgement, Mead allows himself to go along with Herman's schemes. The results will force Mead to change, come to some important realizations about life and to see his parents and family through new eyes.

With Life After Genius, M. Ann Jacoby has written a wonderful story about the process of growing up. It is not enough to be smart, maturity lies in the ability to put aside your selfish concerns and do what is better for others, both people you love and people you may not like very much. She reminds us all about the discomforts of our school days when all we wanted was to be included, be liked, be part of the "in" crowd. You will fall in love with Mead Fegley, a sweet and awkward boy who learns the most important part of being a man.

...more

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Oct 20, 2008 Serena rated it really liked it

Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby is a book that examines one young genius' struggle to find himself and his place in his own family and society.

Theodore Mead Fegley's father runs a furniture store and funeral home with his brother Martin, while his mother's main goal in life is to push her son to achieve as much as possible and not squander his intelligence. The pressure mounts for Mead as he speeds through his elementary and high school years, reaching the University of Chicago at age 15.

The Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby is a book that examines one young genius' struggle to find himself and his place in his own family and society.

Theodore Mead Fegley's father runs a furniture store and funeral home with his brother Martin, while his mother's main goal in life is to push her son to achieve as much as possible and not squander his intelligence. The pressure mounts for Mead as he speeds through his elementary and high school years, reaching the University of Chicago at age 15.

The narrative easily shifts from the present to the past, and the chapter breaks make it easier to keep the timeline in perspective with details about what period in Mead's life is witnessed and what location he is in. Mead is a young teen thrust into academic life with peers who are much older and experienced. Mead's life takes a stark turn when he meets Herman Weinstein, a fellow mathematics student at the university. Mead's pushed aside as his faculty advisor chooses Weinstein over Mead after the professor is offered a department head position. Mead is angered by the turn of events, but only until he finds a new mentor, Dr. Alexander. Mead throws himself into the Riemann Hypothesis, and he hopes to either prove or disprove the hypothesis, which has been debated for more than 100 years.

Jacoby easily weaves in events from Mead's past into his present and how those events shape Mead and his actions at the university. Herman insinuates himself into Mead's life, and tensions rise until Mead finds himself running home to rural Illinois before graduation, his major mathematical presentation, and his valedictorian speech.

While math problems make me cringe, this story brought me back with the discussions of matrices--math I actually understood at one point--but Jacoby does a great job of including this information without burdening or boring the reader. As Mead's life unfolds and the mystery grows more intense, the pages flow quickly as the reader grows more anxious to find out why Mead left the university. This novel is dubbed as an academic thriller, but it is more like a coming of age story. Mead finds himself, what's important to him, and how to cope with his reality. ...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Sara rated it did not like it

I lied a little bit. I haven't actually finished reading this book, but at page 110 I have grown so tired of it that I thought I'd read the reviews here to see how it all plays out. Unfortunately, no spoiler alerts, so I might never learn what the mystery is and if Meade ever gets his young life together. I couldn't help thinking that the author was trying desperately to write Catcher in the Rye for the 21st century. The writing is so self-conscious, contrived and clichéd, and I just hated to se ...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Katherine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A coming-of-age story, if anything, is what Life After Genius develops into as the life of Mead Fegley unravels and re-ravels as he struggles with choices he makes in his final year of college. Mead, a childhood genius who, quite easily, is accepted into college at the age of 15, and is set to graduate at 18 decides, willingly, to throw away his entire education. His reason to do this? To give up possible fame of becoming the closest person in history to get anywhere near disproving or proving t ...more

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Dec 14, 2014 Christine rated it really liked it

I finished this book in a day. Couldn't put it down. Loved every second of it. At least, until I got to the last page, realized it was over and now I'm dealing with emotional trauma dealt at the hands of a book! This was going to be one of my all-time favourite books, but I don't know how to cope with the ending. If the author had tied up more of the loose ends I wouldn't have thought twice about giving it five stars. And maybe that's part of the point of the book; life isn't tidy and things are ...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Brian rated it it was ok

A predictable, and not especially cleverly written piece.

Sometimes it is hard to write up characters who are smarter than yourself.

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Aug 15, 2020 Shannon McGee rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020

Theodore “Mead” is smart. So smart he has been pushed through school younger than most. His mother overbearing and his father keeps to his funeral business. The only family member that treats him normal is his cousin Percy. Mead starts college away from all his family. Just as he is about to graduate Mead breaks from the pressure of everything, his school, his future, friendships, and mysterious past.

I am not usually into dramatic contemporary books but I did like this one. In some ways, I relat ...more

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Dec 11, 2018 Caitlin rated it liked it

2 1/2 stars.

Mead is a rather arrogant, socially clumsy genius who is about to graduate college at 18. Unfortunately, some bad stuff has gone down and Mead would rather go back home to his small town life than stay at university. This story jumps around in the timeline, telling stories of Mead's distant and recent past interspersed among stories of his present. You'll meet the head of department who ignored Mead at first but obsessed over him later, the professor who kept Mead going in the right ...more

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Nov 17, 2017 Julie Shelton rated it really liked it

The characters and story are good. But it just kind of went on a little too long. The nagging question I'm left with is What does being a friend really mean? It makes you think about those relationships that were hard. The ones you let go and the ones you kept. ...more

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Aug 02, 2019 Briann Templeton rated it it was ok

This was a really good book but the ending was horrible. It was rushed and very disappointing. You are lead that you are going to get to know his final decision but it ends with him jumping off a cliff to save someone ,who tried to steal his research, from drowning.

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May 13, 2020 Jessica Roebuck rated it really liked it

I’m not a big math follower. But I’m left with the feeling “Is Herman just a figment of Meads imagination” Does Mead suffer from mental disease? Every time I thought the story was going to go in a direction I was turned around.

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Aug 12, 2018 Leann rated it liked it

Shelves: mother-daughter-book-club

Closer to 2.5 stars, once you factor in the last 50 pages or so.

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Jul 01, 2019 Stanley J rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Wonderful idea, disappointing ending

I liked this book more the further I read, almost until the end. Mead is a great character. The secret that brings him home short of graduating compelled me to read on but I was disappointed when the truth was finally revealed. Although less developed, Mead's relationship with his cousin seemed more significant than his relationship with his college nemesis. I think that was a lost opportunity. I'd recommend this book to a friend but with reservations. ...more

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Aug 18, 2009 Ashley rated it really liked it

Shelves: heavier-fiction, 2012-books

Oh, Ann. Ann, Ann, Ann. We started off so well - Mead is a great character and you handled his somewhat overdone (super smart kid that starts college early but is still oh-so socially awkward) with surprising dexterity and relatability. Your writing is good and the pace was perfect. And the jumping from before graduation to after graduation with the pivotal event of the book being the convergent point totally worked!

But the last 20 pages? That is were things went off the (pun intended) proverbi Oh, Ann. Ann, Ann, Ann. We started off so well - Mead is a great character and you handled his somewhat overdone (super smart kid that starts college early but is still oh-so socially awkward) with surprising dexterity and relatability. Your writing is good and the pace was perfect. And the jumping from before graduation to after graduation with the pivotal event of the book being the convergent point totally worked!

But the last 20 pages? That is were things went off the (pun intended) proverbial cliff, Ann. What happened? Did you give up? Were you exhausted from putting together a really great 350-ish pages before that? Or perhaps you became preoccupied, like Mead, with the Riemann hypothesis? Whatever it was, when I read the last sentence - with a growing sense of unease that had been mounting for the last 20 pages that things were not about to end well for anyone, least of all me - I thought the edition I bought was missing a few more chapters. They must have stuck the draft ending that your editor surely would have had a conniption over. But no. For whatever reason, you and your editor and whoever else reads books before they get published decided that this was the best ending; that it belonged and meshed with the rest of your story. I disagree.

The ending was a big letdown and I closed the book feeling like I had waited all week - all week! - to watch the season finale of my most favorite show that I had DVR'd. I looked forward to settling in and enjoying every minute of it, to savor it. Only to press play and see that for whatever reason my DVR decided to record an hour of the weather channel.

I have no idea how many stars to give your book, Ann. The first part was great; when anticipating finishing the rest of it tonight I thought at work - just a few hours ago - that I finally had found another book worthy of 5 stars (I'm notoriously stingy with them). But then I got to those last few pesky pages. I was blindsided by Weinstein. And I can't decide if I love you for that or not. Obviously, these are my initial reactions as I literally just finished the book. You definitely got a reaction out of me, and isn't the reason anyone writes? Will come back later to rate. ...more

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Apr 22, 2009 Francis rated it it was ok

This book is a coming-of-age story about a boy, Mead, who goes off to college at 15 after enduring a childhood of ostracism in a small town and an overbearing mother who demands that he rise above the mediocrity of his father's family, and it is also a story of academic, professional, and personal betrayal, written in a mixed-chronology suspense format, to gradually unveil the characters' backstory and motivations.

The book appears to be the author's first, and I felt it was rather rough around t This book is a coming-of-age story about a boy, Mead, who goes off to college at 15 after enduring a childhood of ostracism in a small town and an overbearing mother who demands that he rise above the mediocrity of his father's family, and it is also a story of academic, professional, and personal betrayal, written in a mixed-chronology suspense format, to gradually unveil the characters' backstory and motivations.

The book appears to be the author's first, and I felt it was rather rough around the edges. In my opinion, most of the characters were caricatures: the overbearing mother in a chair scolding him for not being good enough "the six-legged monster", the flamboyant spoiled rich kid upstairs who becomes his best friend and ultimately betrays him, the haughty academic who passes Mead up at first but then needs his brilliant work later, the elderly, eccentric genius professor who takes Mead under his wing, etc.

Also, I felt that the mathematical and academic dialogues were rather stilted. She said that she was inspired by Derbyshire's "Prime Obsession" and I am surmising that she did not have much mathematical training beyond that. I think it would have beneficial if a someone with more mathematical training had copyedited the book to enhance the authenticity of the technical details, which included rather odd course names like "Theoretical Geometry" and a dialogue that appeared to be an attempt at "testing" Mead's mathematical skill using the Sieve of Erathosthenes. (Something like Paul Erdos' quizzing of Lajos Posa with the question of why n+1 distinct integers between 1 and 2n must include two that are relatively prime would have been much more authentic in my opinion.)

I also felt like the resolutions of the various central conflicts by revealing the traumas that motivated the respective characters to behave in their irrational manners was predictable.

The subject matter was interesting but I felt that the book was a little too trite to be very engaging, and I was distracted by the technical inadequacies.
...more

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Oct 14, 2008 Corinne Edwards rated it liked it

Shelves: advance-reader-s-copy, coming-of-age, mathematics, 2008, chicago, mystery

Mead is one of those boys - the ones who keep skipping grades because they are so smart, the ones that everything academic comes easily to, the ones who are destined for great things. If only it was that easy for Mead. Growing up the "genius" in his town was a pretty harrowing experience. Combine some worse-than-usual bullying with a kid who has a lot of brains but virtually no social skills and an over-the-top mother and you get: a pretty traumatic childhood. Mead hopes that all this will chang ...more

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Jul 01, 2011 Nikki rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult

I'm a fan of nonlinear storytelling and I'm a fan of mystery/secrets and their drawn out reveals; combine these elements and I'm sold. But here, things were done in a way that I almost didn't care if I ever learned the details behind this huge upset in Mead's life. One reason why this didn't work for me is likely due to the nuggets of repetition in places where we should have been getting more clues to lead us along. The sort of clues that, no matter how simple, intrigue us and make us eager to ...more

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Jan 08, 2017 Jennifer rated it liked it

Shelves: adult-fiction

To be completely honest I always throw a book in the bathroom. Who knows when you are going to need one in there to stave off boredom, so I keep one at hand. It's always a book that I own because...any alternative seems gross to me. Usually at some point I will pick up the book and then it will become "the book I'm reading" because it will have captured my attention to the point where there is no going back and I have to finish it.

That didn't happen with this book.

It's not that I didn't like it ...more

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Oct 23, 2009 Laura de Leon rated it really liked it

Shelves: review-copy, mcbook, fiction

As I said in another review, I enjoy books about precocious kids. What's interesting here is that at18, Theodore (or Mead, as he prefers to be called) isn't really a kid anymore. He's transitioning from childhood to adulthood with some big issues to face.

It took me a little while to get into Life After Genius. I found Mead hard to get to know, and for the first few chapters, the skipping around in time got in my way.

About 1/3 of the way in, the book clicked for me, and I wanted to get to know Me ...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Joann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was the best novel I read in 2011, and maybe a few years before and maybe after. I couldn't put it down and I didn't want to. I read most of the reviews, and agreed with some, and was completely confounded by the person who didn't like it because he didn't agree with the math...um, this is a novel not a text book.

What I liked best: The characters and their fully realized development and presentation. Theodore Mead Fegley, his consistently annoying mother, his father, Aunt Pearl, Herman Wein ...more

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Sep 15, 2008 Tricia rated it liked it

This book is very different from other things I've read lately. Part academic thriller and part coming-of-age story, this novel explores the world of an 18-year old math genius at the cusp of graduating from college when he shows up at home 6 days before graduation and he won't say why.

Mead Fegley has grown up in a small midwestern town, the son of a furniture store owner/undertaker. His whole life he has been picked on, singled out, and alone. His thinks his luck will change when he enrolls at ...more

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Nov 28, 2008 Lauren (Shooting Stars Mag) Becker rated it really liked it

Teddy is a genius. He graduated high school early and would have graduated college at the age of 18. That's right...he would have. Instead, Teddy (now known as Mead) is back home and refusing to reveal why. With his mom trying her hardest to get answers out of him, his father believing he shouldn't work at the furniture/funeral home with him, and his uncle putting Mead down any chance he can get....what will happen on this journey home?

I've read a lot of people's thoughts on this novel and many ...more

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Oct 30, 2008 Kelly rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed

I finished Life After Genius this afternoon while waiting for the freshman football game to start. Thank goodness for mandatory time spent sitting in the car, it allows me reading time!!

I think we've all known some people that are just a bit..well...different. In fact, I think that there is a little bit of Mead in all of us. We all feel like we're just a little peculiar sometimes. It's been very easy to empathize with Mead, and as the book drew to the conclusion, I found a deeper understanding o ...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Sandra rated it really liked it

I was intrigued with the synopsis of this book. A book about a mathematical genius. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that I knew what was being talked about most of the time. Means I didn't spend all that money on a degree in mathematics for nothing.

At first, the book was a little awkward to read. I found myself relating a lot with the main character, Mead, in that his mom is a bit overbearing. Though my mom isn't as overbearing as his mom is, I did see some similarities. And I have a hard ...more

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