I think this approach really helps build up an appreciation for mathematics and what they do for our civilization, even if personally we might despise them. She even often takes the time to link these theorems and general pursuits to the real world and how they actually impact it. Rather than simply presenting us with definitions and equations, she takes a more romanticized approach and displays it as some form of art. This is where I have to applaud the author, as she managed to make these parts far from boring. Now, with our main character being a mathematician and trying to develop her career in the domain, there is no escaping the fact we have to deal with a few theorems and equations along the way. For this reason, I was obviously reluctant to start reading The Tenth Muse, but for those of you with the same predisposition as me, let me assure you, those worries are attended to in the best manner possible.

As of today, while I don’t shy away from mathematics, I still don’t appreciate when they feature too heavily in my literature. While I did mention having a certain liking for mathematics as a kid in school, what I didn’t add is how it eventually evaporated in my late teens. A New Perspective on Math in The Tenth Muse The more she digs, the more it becomes apparent all the answers she seeks lay buried beneath the soil of the Second World War, and will likely force her to rethink quite a few things about who she is and where she belongs in this world. At the same time, she does all she can to inch herself closer to resolving her personal mystery as to who her real parents are. She travels the world in pursuit of her ambitions, notably heading to Germany, and even attempts to conquer notoriously unsolvable math equations. Thus Katherine begins her great search for personal answers, first by trying to establish her own personal foothold in the realm of mathematics, one dominated by men from top to bottom. Second of all, she was clearly of Asian descent and her parents were adoptive. First of all, she was a brilliant girl with an exceptional penchant for mathematics.

The book begins in the 1950s and 60s, following the story of Katherine, a young woman who was always different from the rest of her Midwest community in multiple ways. The second way is performed through more of an artistic lens, which is precisely the approach Catherine Chung adopted in her second novel, The Tenth Muse. One is through pure numbers, equations and calculations, as we would have done in school. While this may sound a tad optimistic, I believe there are two ways of exploring the realm of mathematics. A notoriously off-putting academic subject for children, the ones excelling in it were far and few in-between. Though personally back in school I had a fondness for mathematics, I would wager the same cannot be said for many of you. Catherine Chung’s Realm of Math and Mystery

Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung