I do not know how to comment on someone else's trauma - reading memoirs or nonfiction books is not my typical choice, but I had heard some interesting thoughts regarding this book, so I figured I would expand my reading genre and give it a try. I certainly did not expect the extensiveness that this book dives into the author's past traumas - I knew it would be discussed, but it seemed to override the comparison or relationship to mathematics and calculations. As someone who has studied dyscalculia, I was excited to see how it would be incorporated beyond neuropsychology, but instead, I was left unsatisfied.
Based on the summary, I anticipated this memoir would rely more heavily on dyscalculia and her interest in mathematics - it was more so present in the beginning, but soon felt abandoned in favor of recollections of various therapist appointments and polarizing encounters with her past partner. She is plagued with a number of mental health obstacles, ranging from figuring out the right medication as a child to continues diagnoses well into adulthood - all while tackling relationships outside of the one she has with herself.
The pacing of this memoir felt as though I was being jerked around in a number of directions - it honestly was a bit disorienting at times, and often left me trying to understand where her timeline was by the time she was done with an inserted tangent. That being said, the author does have great prose and I was definitely able to lock into her story - she clearly has the ability to story tell, but this book in particular did not showcase her full potential in my opinion. It often felt as though she was going on an extended tangent recounting so many random instances. Just as her stories were coming together, the book was over and I felt left with more confusion and questions than a sense of completion.
Maybe memoirs are not the genre for me, but I am always open to read anything - this book really did draw my attention and I was excited to see what was in store regarding how the author would be able to convey personal experiences to the directness of mathematics. I may return to her work in the future, but for now, this experience was enough for me to table that idea for now.
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