Sourcebooks Landmark, October 18, 2016.
Three Stars
This novel tells the story of Albert Einstein’s first
wife, Mileva Maric, who was a fellow student of his in an elite physics program
in Zurich. As the only woman in the program, Mileva caught Albert’s attention
immediately, and they formed a strong friendship based on their common
interests. Mileva was a brilliant scientist in her own right, and she falls for
Albert with the expectation that the two of them will share a life as equals in
love and work.
As Albert Einstein gained fame and recognition, he
cast a dark shadow over Mileva’s achievements. They supposedly shared their
work, and yet Albert increasingly refused to acknowledge Mileva’s contributions.
Mileva’s part in Einstein’s special theory of relativity has been debated for
over a century, with no conclusion. In Benedict’s novel, she writes that Mileva
was in fact the originator of the theory – but in her author’s note, she tells
us that this is fiction, although the wives of famous men are often
contributors behind the scenes.
Mileva and Albert had a complex, troubling
relationship, according to Benedict. Although there seems to be a consensus
that Albert did emotionally abuse Mileva, he is portrayed here as a monster,
with no facets to his personality. It’s difficult to parse out the truth from
this novel – of course it is a fictional account, but the author is portraying
a historical figure and so it should be rooted in truth. However, historians
aren’t in agreement over the story of Albert and Mileva, and that makes this a
difficult novel to read. Even the author seems to have her doubts about the
truth of her story.
I think it is best not to read this novel as
historical fact – instead, Mileva can be seen as an example of women of her
time: overshadowed by a famous husband, fighting for equality and paving the
way for the women of today. Mileva subsumed her own ambitions in order to support
her husband and raise their children, and she hid her own discoveries so that
Einstein could take the credit.
The relationship between Albert and Mileva as
portrayed by Benedict was difficult to read, especially the dark scenes of
emotional abuse. As a character study, it was well written – but without a
basis in reality, it might have been better if Benedict had written about a
fictional marriage. This novel was filled with extreme suffering and
all-consuming melodrama, and I would have preferred more intellectual
conversation between Mileva and Albert – this is the story of Einstein and his
theory of relativity, and yet it lacks any scientific content. As a novel, it
was good – but I felt like the name Einstein was thrown into the title just to
sell books, instead of actually telling us anything real about the famous
physicist and his equally brilliant wife.
I received this book from Sourcebooks Landmark and
NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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