Emotional Arithmetic by Matt Cohen


Emotional Arithmetic
Title : Emotional Arithmetic
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1552639002
ISBN-10 : 9781552639009
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 254
Publication : First published April 1, 1992

Melanie is a mother and a lover, middle-aged, eccentric, courageous, and often hilariously unpredictable. She’s also deeply scarred by her internment as a child in Drancy, a Nazi detention camp. Through the humanity and friendship of an English boy, Christopher Lewis, and her self-appointed protector, Jakob Bronski, Melanie managed to survive. Forty years later, Jakob, now a frail, well-known Soviet dissident, and Christopher, a writer who’s never forgotten the young Melanie, reenter her life. Memories of the past, coupled with her husband’s infidelity, upset Melanie’s precarious emotional stability, forcing her to confront the absurdity of trying to balance good and evil, guilt and love, duty and desire. With its finely drawn characters, rich humanity, and rare wit, Emotional Arithmetic is a novel of memory and hope, offering an unforgettable look at how the shadows of the past illuminate the present.

Emotional Arithmetic Reviews

  • Mary ♥

    dnf at 80%

    This one had some very important representation of mental struggles but I couldn't handle the fact that almost every time a woman was described, it focused on the sexual aspects??

  • Teresa Mills-Clark

    Again, if we could use a half-star system I would give this book 1.5. Perhaps, I didn't like it because it was written in 1990 and since then there have been more contemporary authors who have handled the material with more plausibility and less 1990's "formula". To me, the formula of that time included random sex scenes which added nothing to the plot and seemed to be mere filler. Also, as a woman, I can nearly always tell when it is a male author writing a sex scene ... the authenticity is often lacking.

  • Pat

    I read the book, after seeing the movie, called "Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning". I wanted more character development. Honestly, the movie doesn't really follow the book. Same characters, same location, same history, but how they work their way through the situation is totally different in the book.

    Interesting, interesting character development. I found that I liked the characters a lot less, when I got to know them in the book.

  • Katharine Holden

    Some good bits of writing. Confusing storyline that wanders, but not in a fun way. Ultimately, I no longer cared what happened to the characters.

  • Nicholas George

    Melanie and Christopher were teenagers who met at a way-station for Jews on their way to Auschwitz during WWII. Now, years later, they reunite, each well into their lives: Melanie as a doctor's wife, and Christopher as a novelist. There isn't much juicy plot to this book, as it is primarily a literary analysis of the toll their war experience has played on this couple's life, and of those around them. Everything was too distant for my taste, although it was nicely written.

  • Lydia Hale

    I didn’t enjoy this book that much. It seemed pretty flat to me and I almost didn’t finish it.

  • Cheryl

    I did not like the writing style of this book... hope the movie is better