Despite its darker hues—including the fulfillment of Isaac’s prediction—The Last Equation of Isaac Severy is full of delight. Though Ms. Jacobs’s writing has echoes of Thomas Pynchon, Nathanael West and J.D. Salinger, her terrific book displays in abundance a magic all its own.
Is Jacobs about to lead readers on a choose-your-own-adventure chase? In a way, yes. This debut mystery is fun but not necessarily light ... Nova Jacobs has penned a novel that is anything but clueless, filled with consideration and compassion for the different levels of human damage and comprehension.
This debut mystery is fun but not necessarily light ... If, occasionally, going down the rabbit hole with Hazel seems digressive, that is all right. It staves off some heart-rending sad realities on the surface. Hazel and Alex get closer and closer to understanding Grandfather Isaac’s 'last equation,' and it is a doozy — one that might explain Isaac’s death and many others as well. Nova Jacobs has penned a novel that is anything but clueless, filled with consideration and compassion for the different levels of human damage and comprehension.
The story...delivers all the page-turning suspense of a mystery novel laced with insights into modern mathematics and quantum physics, and into the dynamics of family relationships. A brilliant first novel radiant with promise of even better to come.
Debut novelist Nova Jacobs has plotted an elaborate riddle within a multifaceted exploration of family and identity. This genre-bending story will appeal to lovers of family dramas...as well as readers who prefer their stories full of intellectual suspense.
The apparent suicide of a legendary mathematician drives Jacobs’s intricate and moving first novel ... Plausible depictions of psychologically wounded characters enhance the surprising plot twists.
In lovely, inventive prose, Jacobs re-engineers the tropes of family drama to explore age-old conundrums of destiny versus self-determination. However, the sheer number of characters and gambits threatens to overwhelm such a relatively short novel, as does the magnitude of its ambition. The eloquence of the language transcends—and almost redeems—the plot’s gimmickry in this remarkable debut.
