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A Doubter's Almanac
A Doubter's Almanac
A Novel
by Ethan Canin
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this mesmerizing novel, Ethan Canin, the author of America America and The Palace Thief, explores the nature of genius, rivalry, ambition, and love among multiple generations of a gifted family.
Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan in the 1950s, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley he realizes the extent, and the risks, of his singular gifts. California in the seventies is a seduction, opening Milo's eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there—and the rival he meets alongside her—will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo's brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.
Spanning seven decades as it moves from California to Princeton to the Midwest to New York, A Doubter's Almanac tells the story of a family as it explores the way ambition lives alongside destructiveness, obsession alongside torment, love alongside grief. It is a story of how the flame of genius both lights and scorches every generation it touches. Graced by stunning prose and brilliant storytelling, A Doubter's Almanac is a surprising, suspenseful, and deeply moving novel, a major work by a writer who has been hailed as "the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation."
Praise for A Doubter's Almanac
"551 pages of bliss . . . devastating and wonderful . . . dazzling . . . You come away from the book wanting to reevaluate your choices and your relationships. It's a rare book that can do that, and it's a rare joy to discover such a book."—Esquire
"[Canin] is at the top of his form, fluent, immersive, confident. You might not know where he's taking you, but the characters are so vivid, Hans's voice rendered so precisely, that it's impossible not to trust in the story. . . . The delicate networks of emotion and connection that make up a family are illuminated, as if by magic, via his prose."—Slate
"Alternately explosive and deeply interior."—New York ("Eight Books You Need to Read")
"A blazingly intelligent novel."—Los Angeles Times
"[A] beautifully written novel."—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
"A book that raises the bar for novelists."—Literary Hub
"No knowledge of proofs or theorems is required to enjoy Ethan Canin's excellent eighth novel. He alternately treats math like elegant poetry or infuses it with crackling energy."—The Christian Science Monitor
"Math made beautiful . . . Canin writes with such luxuriant beauty and tender sympathy that even victims of Algebra II will follow his calculations of the heart with rapt comprehension."—The Washington Post
"A masterful writer at his transcendent best."—BBC
"Elegant and devastating . . . A Doubter's Almanac is exquisitely crafted. Canin takes us readers deep into the strange world of his troubled characters without ever making us aware of the effort involved. . . . An odd and completely captivating novel."—NPR's Fresh Air
"Dazzlingly ambitious . . . one part intellectual thriller, one part domestic saga."—The Huffington Post
From the Hardcover edition.
Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan in the 1950s, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley he realizes the extent, and the risks, of his singular gifts. California in the seventies is a seduction, opening Milo's eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there—and the rival he meets alongside her—will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo's brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.
Spanning seven decades as it moves from California to Princeton to the Midwest to New York, A Doubter's Almanac tells the story of a family as it explores the way ambition lives alongside destructiveness, obsession alongside torment, love alongside grief. It is a story of how the flame of genius both lights and scorches every generation it touches. Graced by stunning prose and brilliant storytelling, A Doubter's Almanac is a surprising, suspenseful, and deeply moving novel, a major work by a writer who has been hailed as "the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation."
Praise for A Doubter's Almanac
"551 pages of bliss . . . devastating and wonderful . . . dazzling . . . You come away from the book wanting to reevaluate your choices and your relationships. It's a rare book that can do that, and it's a rare joy to discover such a book."—Esquire
"[Canin] is at the top of his form, fluent, immersive, confident. You might not know where he's taking you, but the characters are so vivid, Hans's voice rendered so precisely, that it's impossible not to trust in the story. . . . The delicate networks of emotion and connection that make up a family are illuminated, as if by magic, via his prose."—Slate
"Alternately explosive and deeply interior."—New York ("Eight Books You Need to Read")
"A blazingly intelligent novel."—Los Angeles Times
"[A] beautifully written novel."—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
"A book that raises the bar for novelists."—Literary Hub
"No knowledge of proofs or theorems is required to enjoy Ethan Canin's excellent eighth novel. He alternately treats math like elegant poetry or infuses it with crackling energy."—The Christian Science Monitor
"Math made beautiful . . . Canin writes with such luxuriant beauty and tender sympathy that even victims of Algebra II will follow his calculations of the heart with rapt comprehension."—The Washington Post
"A masterful writer at his transcendent best."—BBC
"Elegant and devastating . . . A Doubter's Almanac is exquisitely crafted. Canin takes us readers deep into the strange world of his troubled characters without ever making us aware of the effort involved. . . . An odd and completely captivating novel."—NPR's Fresh Air
"Dazzlingly ambitious . . . one part intellectual thriller, one part domestic saga."—The Huffington Post
From the Hardcover edition.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this mesmerizing novel, Ethan Canin, the author of America America and The Palace Thief, explores the nature of genius, rivalry, ambition, and love among multiple generations of a gifted family.
Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan in the 1950s, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley he realizes the extent, and the risks, of his singular gifts. California in the seventies is a seduction, opening Milo's eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there—and the rival he meets alongside her—will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo's brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.
Spanning seven decades as it moves from California to Princeton to the Midwest to New York, A Doubter's Almanac tells the story of a family as it explores the way ambition lives alongside destructiveness, obsession alongside torment, love alongside grief. It is a story of how the flame of genius both lights and scorches every generation it touches. Graced by stunning prose and brilliant storytelling, A Doubter's Almanac is a surprising, suspenseful, and deeply moving novel, a major work by a writer who has been hailed as "the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation."
Praise for A Doubter's Almanac
"551 pages of bliss . . . devastating and wonderful . . . dazzling . . . You come away from the book wanting to reevaluate your choices and your relationships. It's a rare book that can do that, and it's a rare joy to discover such a book."—Esquire
"[Canin] is at the top of his form, fluent, immersive, confident. You might not know where he's taking you, but the characters are so vivid, Hans's voice rendered so precisely, that it's impossible not to trust in the story. . . . The delicate networks of emotion and connection that make up a family are illuminated, as if by magic, via his prose."—Slate
"Alternately explosive and deeply interior."—New York ("Eight Books You Need to Read")
"A blazingly intelligent novel."—Los Angeles Times
"[A] beautifully written novel."—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
"A book that raises the bar for novelists."—Literary Hub
"No knowledge of proofs or theorems is required to enjoy Ethan Canin's excellent eighth novel. He alternately treats math like elegant poetry or infuses it with crackling energy."—The Christian Science Monitor
"Math made beautiful . . . Canin writes with such luxuriant beauty and tender sympathy that even victims of Algebra II will follow his calculations of the heart with rapt comprehension."—The Washington Post
"A masterful writer at his transcendent best."—BBC
"Elegant and devastating . . . A Doubter's Almanac is exquisitely crafted. Canin takes us readers deep into the strange world of his troubled characters without ever making us aware of the effort involved. . . . An odd and completely captivating novel."—NPR's Fresh Air
"Dazzlingly ambitious . . . one part intellectual thriller, one part domestic saga."—The Huffington Post
From the Hardcover edition.
Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan in the 1950s, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley he realizes the extent, and the risks, of his singular gifts. California in the seventies is a seduction, opening Milo's eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there—and the rival he meets alongside her—will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo's brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.
Spanning seven decades as it moves from California to Princeton to the Midwest to New York, A Doubter's Almanac tells the story of a family as it explores the way ambition lives alongside destructiveness, obsession alongside torment, love alongside grief. It is a story of how the flame of genius both lights and scorches every generation it touches. Graced by stunning prose and brilliant storytelling, A Doubter's Almanac is a surprising, suspenseful, and deeply moving novel, a major work by a writer who has been hailed as "the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation."
Praise for A Doubter's Almanac
"551 pages of bliss . . . devastating and wonderful . . . dazzling . . . You come away from the book wanting to reevaluate your choices and your relationships. It's a rare book that can do that, and it's a rare joy to discover such a book."—Esquire
"[Canin] is at the top of his form, fluent, immersive, confident. You might not know where he's taking you, but the characters are so vivid, Hans's voice rendered so precisely, that it's impossible not to trust in the story. . . . The delicate networks of emotion and connection that make up a family are illuminated, as if by magic, via his prose."—Slate
"Alternately explosive and deeply interior."—New York ("Eight Books You Need to Read")
"A blazingly intelligent novel."—Los Angeles Times
"[A] beautifully written novel."—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
"A book that raises the bar for novelists."—Literary Hub
"No knowledge of proofs or theorems is required to enjoy Ethan Canin's excellent eighth novel. He alternately treats math like elegant poetry or infuses it with crackling energy."—The Christian Science Monitor
"Math made beautiful . . . Canin writes with such luxuriant beauty and tender sympathy that even victims of Algebra II will follow his calculations of the heart with rapt comprehension."—The Washington Post
"A masterful writer at his transcendent best."—BBC
"Elegant and devastating . . . A Doubter's Almanac is exquisitely crafted. Canin takes us readers deep into the strange world of his troubled characters without ever making us aware of the effort involved. . . . An odd and completely captivating novel."—NPR's Fresh Air
"Dazzlingly ambitious . . . one part intellectual thriller, one part domestic saga."—The Huffington Post
From the Hardcover edition.
Reviews-
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Starred review from August 31, 2015
The mysteries of higher mathematics and the even deeper mysteries of the human heart are the unlikely themes of Canin’s (America America) novel. With stunning assurance and elegant, resonant prose, Canin follows the life of Milo Andret, who is both blessed and afflicted with mathematical genius. Milo’s aspirations take him from a lonely boyhood in northern Michigan to Berkeley, Princeton, the hinterlands of Ohio, and, finally, to a defeated return to the rural Midwest. Essentially asocial and so unworldly that he didn’t taste alcohol until graduate school, Milo is gradually embittered by his failures at love and his jealous relationships with his colleagues. Meanwhile, he pursues the exquisitely arduous process of constructing complex mathematical theorems in his mind. When, at age 32, Milo proves one of the greatest theorems in the history of mathematics, he becomes a scientific superstar. But by then he is an alcoholic, and he destroys his career in acts of reckless abandon. Fascinating in its character portrayal and psychological insights, the novel becomes even more mesmerizing in its second half, which is narrated by Milo’s son, Hans (the first half features close third-person narration on Milo). Hans also has a brilliant mathematical mind but is scarred by his father’s cantankerous, often vicious behavior and poisonous disillusionment with ambition and higher knowledge. Hans’s exorbitantly lucrative career as a high-frequency futures trader founders when he becomes addicted to drugs, but his redemption comes through marital and familial love. Though the book is occasionally repetitive, Canin’s accomplishments are many, not least of which is his ability to lucidly explain the field of algebraic topology. But it is his superb storytelling that makes this novel a tremendous literary achievement. - Pat Conroy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Prince of Tides and My Reading Life "I've been reading Ethan Canin's books since he first burst on the literary scene with the remarkable Emperor of the Air. I thought he could never equal the power of his last work, America America, but his latest novel is, I believe, his best by far. With A Doubter's Almanac, Canin has soared to a new standard of achievement. What a story, and what a cast of characters. The protagonist, Milo Andret, is a mathematical genius and one of the most maddening, compelling, appalling, and unforgettable characters I've encountered in American fiction. This is the story of a family that falls to pieces under the pressure of living with an abundantly gifted tyrant. Ethan Canin writes about mathematics as brilliantly as T. S. Eliot writes about poetry. With this extraordinary novel, Ethan Canin now takes his place on the high wire with the best writers of his time."
- Booklist (starred review) "[Written] with stunning assurance and elegant, resonant prose . . . fascinating in its character portrayal and psychological insights . . . It is [Canin's] superb storytelling that makes this novel a tremendous literary achievement."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Epic . . . thoroughly absorbing . . . a nuanced, heartbreaking portrait of a tortured mathematician . . . Canin, in translucent prose, elucidates the way a mathematician sees the world and humanity's own insignificance within it. A harrowing, poignant read about the blessing and curse of genius."
- Lorrie Moore "The most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation."--Alan Cheuse, NPR "Canin's achievement is one of both artistry and humanity."--Newsday "One of the most satisfying writers present on the contemporary scene."--The New York Times "One of the best writers at work today."
