The Tenth Muse

Starred review from April 15, 2019
Chung’s impressive, poignant second novel (after Forgotten Country) explores the intersections of intellectual and familial legacies. Nearing the end of her life but still on the verge of solving the elusive Riemann hypothesis, Katherine is a noted mathematician who did her graduate work in the mid-20th century, at a time when women scholars were still a rarity. As Katherine recounts the highs and lows of her academic and romantic pursuits, she reflects on the various discoveries she’s pursued—both in her field of study and into her family history—inquiries that became inextricable while Katherine was pursuing her doctorate at MIT and learning revelations about her parentage following her father’s heart attack. Having grown up believing herself the daughter of a white father and a Chinese mother, Katherine is stunned to learn the truth of her family history. The stories of betrayal and sacrifice also end up informing her professional work in surprising ways through a storyline involving stolen math proofs. Chung persuasively interweaves myths and legends with the real-world stories of lesser-known women mathematicians and of WWII on both the European and Asian fronts. The legacy that Katherine inherits may defy the kinds of elegant proofs to which mathematicians aspire, but Chung’s novel boldly illustrates that truth and beauty can reside even amid the messiest solutions.

Starred review from March 15, 2019
A mathematician with a Chinese immigrant mother and a white American father recounts her life among geniuses and the search for her true identity."I suppose I should warn you," says Katherine, the narrator of Chung's (Forgotten Country, 2012) elegant novel, "that I tell a story like a woman: looping into myself, interrupting." Katherine's womanhood weighs heavily on her, first as a young math prodigy and then later as one of the only female graduate students at MIT in the early 1960s. Despite being surrounded by men who either dismiss her outright or want to use her astonishing intelligence for their own gains, Katherine never loses her ambition to have an academic career and to solve the Riemann hypothesis, one of the greatest mysteries in math. Though she befriends some of history's most famous scientists and mathematicians--Chung weaves numerous historical figures into her fictional world--Katherine's feeling of otherness is deepened by a mystery at her life's core: Her parents are not who she thought they were, and she has only a few stories from her father, a World War II veteran, and a German notebook full of equations to help her solve the mystery of her parentage. Their real identities, buried somewhere in the gaps left after the Nazis ravaged Europe during the war, may help Katherine understand not only the riddle of who she really is, but perhaps even some of the largest mysteries of nature and the universe. Chung's novel, with its formality and clean chronology, seems a throwback to another time, like a perfectly tailored tuxedo. But that's perfect for a memorable character like Katherine, whose belief in what she has to offer the world, and in her place in the lineage of women "who chose a different path," never wavers.A powerful and virtuosically researched story about the mysteries of the head and the heart.

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April 15, 2019
Part Asian and one of a handful of women in mathematics, Katherine has always felt like an outsider. Math and its fixed rules provide a haven, especially after her mother disappears. Before she left, Katherine's mother would tell her stories, in particular, one about a tenth muse whose determination to choose her own destiny helps steer Katherine throughout her career. From her father, she inherits a souvenir he brought back from the war, a notebook written in German and filled with symbols and formulas. With the aim of tackling one of the great unsolved math problems, Katherine makes her way to MIT, the only woman in her class of graduate mathematics students. Her relationship with a professor turns romantic, but a fellowship in Germany offers the chance to follow her own path as well as solve the mystery of the notebook's origins and, ultimately, of her own identity. Mathematics and its history, the legacy of WWII, and the struggles women face in pursuing academic success, especially in fields dominated by men, are woven into this novel that Chung (Forgotten Country, 2012) renders in polished prose.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2019

Chung's second novel (after Forgotten Country) presents a unique take on mathematics, a topic the author once dabbled in, as protagonist Katherine fights to establish herself as a mathematician in the 1960s while pursuing her graduate degree at MIT. Katherine's first-person account begins innocuously as she narrates her life as the biracial only child to a Chinese immigrant mother and a Caucasian American war hero father. Life gets challenging when her mother leaves the family before Katherine begins the tenth grade and even harder when her father remarries. Learning a secret about her parents compels Katherine to flee for Bonn, Germany, leaving behind former professor and lover Peter. Chung's development of key characters is strong, her light prose flows easily throughout, and she successfully represents a young woman attempting to find her identity and stand out in a field dominated by men. Yet while the narrative is engaging, the plotlines run in varied directions as the mysteries behind Katherine's heritage start to unfold, and Katherine's voice could have been stronger and more inspirational. VERDICT Though perhaps too tidy and underdeveloped, this work has merit and will appeal to individuals looking for a breezy summer read over more realistic fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 12/3/18.]--Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA

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