Genre: Contemporary
Literature/Psychological/Suspense
Description:
“Coulter Zahn sees reality differently than others. Much like light
can theoretically be in all places at once, Coulter sees multiple versions of
his life… An existential psychological thriller, An Elegant Theory explores how
the construction of memory and consciousness can shape motive, guilt, and
identity through the lens of a modern-day mad-scientist motif.”
Author:
“Noah Milligan splits his time between words and numbers and is a
longtime student of physics, prompting him to write his debut novel, An Elegant
Theory, a draft of which was shortlisted for the 2015 Horatio Nelson Fiction
Prize. His short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines, including
MAKE, Storyscape Literary Journal, Empty Sink Publishing, and Santa Clara
Review. He is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Central
Oklahoma, and he lives in Edmond, OK, with his wife and two children.”
Appraisal:
Coulter Zahn is a promising PhD candidate at MIT with a wife and a
baby on the way. Understandably, he is under a lot of pressure writing his
dissertation. When his hypothesis comes under criticism and his estranged
mother (who suffers from mental illness herself) returns, his life starts
unraveling or perhaps fracturing would be a better word? As Coulter loses
control everyone’s life around him becomes irreparably changed forever.
Mr. Milligan uses a style writing An Elegant Theory that I have not
experienced before. There are sudden time-warps where the story will jump
either back in time or into a future you are not quite sure is real or
imagined. He has employed this style to keep the reader as off balance as
Coulter is feeling as his own mental health is deteriorating. And it works. At
one point I was convinced Coulter was suffering from schizophrenia, however if
you consider the subject of his dissertation it’s likely he was experiencing
different planes of existence altogether.
The plot is character driven and not linear. The twists in the story
are extreme and well thought out. The most important people are well developed
and realistic. I’m wondering if I should warn the readers they may come away
from this novel with a taste of quantum physics and string theory as well as
what it may feel like to go slowly insane.
I think if I re-read this book, it’s possible, I may come away with a
totally different theory about what was actually happening here. After saying
that, this would be an excellent novel for discussion with a group or book
club. Egads! I don’t think I have ever said that before in a review. I believe
Noah Milligan is an author to keep an eye on in the future.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
**Warning** this book may change the way you see yourself, those
around you, or life in general, forevermore.
Original review was posted on December 16, 2016.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant proofing or formatting issues.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words
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