PAOLO GIORDANO ' S " SOLITUDE OF PRIME NUMBERS " : SCARRED SOULS
Alice
The primes are "suspicious  solitary numbers " Giordano writes. Perhaps they would prefer to be ordinary numbers  "but for some reason they couldn't do it." And he elaborates: There are some that almost touch -- 17 and 19  41 and 43 -- but are separated by an even number. As the numbers expand  these so-called twin primes become ever rarer  and the presentiment develops that these were accidents  and "that solitude is the true destiny." But then  if you count long enough  you'll find another pair of twins  "clutching each other tightly." Giordano depicts with aching vividness the traumas out of which Alice and Mattia emerge disabled. Alice's ski fall might be only that  despite a permanently crippled leg. But we get horror seen from within: a father who bullies her  even if lovingly  into enduring the cold  the awkwardness  the fear of something she has so little taste for that she humiliatingly befouls her ski pants. Adults cannot suspect what furnishes a child's nightmare; here  the reader is made to live it.
 Giordano remarkably and movingly portrays the hesitant groping toward warmth that works beneath the pair's emotional disabilities. Alice  unable to tolerate not just food but also the vitality it stands for  assumes a touchingly decisive if frail seductiveness with the shaky Mattia. When at 22 he brings himself to tell her about his sister  she embraces him  they kiss  and for a moment it seems things will change.
 Only briefly; Mattia retreats  goes off to Scandinavia. Upon his return years later there is another almost-moment. That too will vanish. Alice's reaching out  though tentative  is genuine. His response describes a parabola: rising  seeming to converge  dropping away. He is the man who fell to earth; she is earth  though crumbly.
 What is even more distinctive  and transforming  is the writing. The author works with piercing subtlety. He manages -- moving from math to physics -- an exquisite rendering of what one might call feelings at the subatomic level  emotion's muons  gluons and quarks. Take that kiss: "All Mattia saw was a shadow moving toward him. He instinctively closed his eyes and then felt Alice's hot mouth on his  her tears on his cheek  or maybe they weren't hers  and finally her hands  so light  holding his head still and catching all his thoughts and imprisoning them there  in the space that no longer existed between them."
The primes are "suspicious  solitary numbers " Giordano writes. Perhaps they would prefer to be ordinary numbers  "but for some reason they couldn't do it." And he elaborates: There are some that almost touch -- 17 and 19  41 and 43 -- but are separated by an even number. As the numbers expand  these so-called twin primes become ever rarer  and the presentiment develops that these were accidents  and "that solitude is the true destiny." But then  if you count long enough  you'll find another pair of twins  "clutching each other tightly." Giordano depicts with aching vividness the traumas out of which [TGT] and Mattia emerge disabled. Alice's ski fall might be only that  despite a permanently crippled leg. But we get horror seen from within: a father who bullies her  even if lovingly  into enduring the cold  the awkwardness  the fear of something she has so little taste for that she humiliatingly befouls her ski pants. Adults cannot suspect what furnishes a child's nightmare; here  the reader is made to live it.
 Giordano remarkably and movingly portrays the hesitant groping toward warmth that works beneath the pair's emotional disabilities. [TGT]unable to tolerate not just food but also the vitality it stands for  assumes a touchingly decisive if frail seductiveness with the shaky Mattia. When at 22 he brings himself to tell [TGT] about his sister  [TGT] embraces him  they kiss  and for a moment it seems things will change.
 Only briefly; Mattia retreats  goes off to Scandinavia. Upon his return years later there is another almost-moment. That too will vanish. [TGT]'s reaching out  though tentative  is genuine. [TGT] response describes a parabola: rising  seeming to converge  dropping away. [TGT] is the man who fell to earth; [TGT] is earth  though crumbly.
 What is even more distinctive  and transforming  is the writing. The author works with piercing subtlety. He manages -- moving from math to physics -- an exquisite rendering of what one might call feelings at the subatomic level  emotion's muons  gluons and quarks. Take that kiss: "All Mattia saw was a shadow moving toward him. He instinctively closed his eyes and then felt [TGT]'s hot mouth on his  [TGT] tears on his cheek  or maybe they weren't hers  and finally her hands  so light  holding his head still and catching all his thoughts and imprisoning them there  in the space that no longer existed between them."