Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby

From the Publisher

Theodore Mead Fegley has always been the smartest person he knows. By age 12, he was in high school, and by 15 he was attending a top-ranking university. And now, at the tender age of 18, he's on the verge of proving the Riemann Hypothesis, a mathematical equation that has mystified academics for almost 150 years. But only days before graduation, Mead suddenly packs his bags and flees home to rural Illinois. What has caused him to flee remains a mystery to all but Mead and a classmate whose quest for success has turned into a dangerous obession.

At home, Mead finds little solace. His past ghosts haunt him; his parents don't understand the agony his genius has caused him, nor his desire to be a normal kid, and his dreams seem crushed forever. He embarks on a new life's journey — learning the family business of selling furniture and embalming the dead—that disappoints and surprises all who knew him as "the young Fegley genius."

Equal parts academic thriller and poignant coming-of-age story, LIFE AFTER GENIUS follows the remarkable journey of a young man who must discover that the heart may know what the head hasn't yet learned.

Publishers Weekly

A boy genius has a rough go of it in college in Jacoby's uneven debut. While Theodore Mead Fegley's domineering mother looked over his shoulder and his father ran a funeral home and furniture store, Mead's early years were defined by bullies and comparisons to his popular, athletic cousin Percy. At 15, Mead is accepted to the prestigious Chicago University and put on the accelerated track to graduate in three years. With the help of the eccentric Dr. Alexander, Mead is determined to solve the Riemann Hypothesis, a conundrum that has plagued mathematicians for over a century. But Mead's life is soon thrown into disarray by Herman Weinstein, a cunning frenemy and fellow math student, and, as graduation-where Mead is supposed to give a much anticipated presentation-nears, Mead grows increasingly insecure. The tropes are familiar-troubled genius, overbearing mother, kooky mentor-and Jacoby, sadly, doesn't do much to tweak the formula. It's a pleasant enough diversion, but there's nothing especially exciting or original going on. (Oct.)

Library Journal

This ought to be Mead Fegley's best time. He is just days away from college graduation at the tender age of 18 and honored with the chance to give a major presentation. Instead, he's hiding out at his family's funeral parlor looking for an escape into a different future. A boy genius pushed by his mother and terrorized by classmates, Mead heads for college with hopes of freedom and belonging. He quickly learns about academic politics but not quickly enough about friendship. Caught in intrigues beyond his understanding, he only has a few days to sort out what has gone wrong and how to fit the pieces of his life back together. The result is part mystery, part coming-of-age, and entirely engaging. This semiautobiographical novel by an award-winning book-jacket designer whose father was a math genius and whose grandfather was an undertaker is recommended for fiction collections.-Jan Blodgett, Davidson Coll., NC

Kirkus Reviews

Brilliant teen struggles to come to terms with his intellect, both a gift and a curse. Jacoby's debut novel about a mathematical savant is fitfully funny and sometimes heart-rending, but it's also disjointed in a way that suggests her storytelling skills have not yet caught up with her creative impulses. Arriving home in High Grove, Ill., just days before he is slated to graduate from a Chicago university, Theodore Mead Fegley has shut down emotionally. "I haven't broken any laws or done anything wrong. Beyond that, I have nothing to tell," he warns. In flashbacks to Mead's tween years, the author depicts a preternaturally gifted student with a close relationship to his cousin Percy. Mead's unique view of the world is well captured in Jacoby's expressive prose, and in the protagonist's biting jokes about his failure to live up to the expectations thrust upon him. Constantly confronted with his proffered role as the town genius, Mead scoffs: "Ex-genius," he says. "I converted back to Catholicism a month ago." This institutional tragedy has a darker side, as the author reveals Mead's powerful and sinister hallucinations. The most potent of them, an insatiable "six-legged creature," has haunted him since seventh grade. At university, he faces new challenges, including his adolescent hormones and academic politics among his eccentric professors. He also grapples with a potent rival: Herman Weinstein, a well-connected and diabolical fellow student determined to undermine Mead's efforts to prove a 150-year-old algebraic conundrum called the Riemann Hypothesis. Jacoby provides some propulsive moments, such as Mead and Herman's ill-advised trip to hijack a Cray supercomputer. Regrettably, they'rematched by overlong, derivative subplots about Mead's oddball family, and the hero's fractured sense of self eventually damages the narrative cohesion. An admirable but flawed effort.

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