M. Ann Jacoby

Theodore “Mead” is smart. So smart he has been pushed through school younger than most. His mother overbearing and his father keeps to his funeral business. The only family member that treats him normal is his cousin Percy. Mead starts college away from all his family. Just as he is about to graduate Mead breaks from the pressure of everything, his school, his future, friendships, and mysterious past.

I am not usually into dramatic contemporary books but I did like this one. In some ways, I related to Mead’s breakdown. He is learning who his without others telling him who they want him to be. I like the back and forth through time. It kept me interested in the story and made the mystery all the more mysterious.

The ending was not horrible but not great either. It was an ending I did not see coming. A lot of the book I could not predict and that usually makes for a good book.

I thought for the first book from an author the book was well written and kept my attention. I am curious about her next book if there is one.… (mer)

LIFE AFTER GENIUS begins as the protagonist, Mead Fegley, returns home a few days before he's supposed to graduate from college. Not just graduate from college: a few days before he's supposed to give a colloquium on an important mathematical theorem he's proven before an audience of the country's eminent professors, when his absence could cost him his academic career. To top it off, Mead is just 18; he's a boy genius, and his early graduation from college should have been his crowning achievement.

Mead skipped town because another student and supposed friend, Herman Weinstein, had tried to force him into declaring Herman the co-author of the paper he was set to present. Herman is not only rich and charming, he's a malicious schemer – by bribing the head of the math department with gifts and even sleeping with him, Herman has transformed the professor into a tool he can use against Mead. Once Mead would rather sacrifice everything than give Herman a free ride.

Once home, he has to face other troubles: his mother, a cold and demanding woman, the prospect of working in the family business at the morgue, and the anger of his uncle, who blames Mead for his son Percy's death (Percy died in a car accident, on his way to meet Mead).

Mead is a very unsympathetic character. His narrative voice is a litany of complaints – mostly he complains about how hard it is to be a genius, skipping grades and being teased; but he also finds time to complain about his family, his friends, his professors, and just about anything else. Mead is quiet and passive on the outside, but full of anger and resentment on the inside. Many of Mead's problems would be solved if he talked about them with his friends, allies, or family – but instead he keeps his mouth shut and stews in his bitterness.

The novel ends without offering any real closure. It's not clear what Mead's academic future will be, if he'll continue with mathematics or stay in his home town, and he hasn't solved much where his family is concerned, either. The reader sees an increase in self-awareness from Mead, and some growth, but the changes are not dramatic. While LIFE AFTER GENIUS is well-written, it lacks the philosophical heft of a good literary novel and the fun of light fiction.… (mer)