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Giordano, Paolo (Translated by Shaun Whiteside) : The Solitude Of Prime Numbers

Viking /Penguin Books, New York City, NY, 2010

ISBN 0670021482

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 271 pages. The author's breakthrough debut novel. One of the most sensational literary debuts of our time. The first appearance of the title in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a very small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Paolo Giordano's "The Solitude of Prime Numbers" in a felicitous English translation. His first novel, published when he was 27 years old. Its global success is astonishing because it is a thoughtful, subtle, and unflinching meditation on human pain, not the most resonant literary subject for most readers. "Follows two scarred people whose lives intersect but cannot seem to join. Alice and Mattia, both survivors of childhood traumas, are the odd-ones-out amid the adolescents in their high school. Mattia never recovered from the loss of his sister while Alice still suffers the effects of a skiing accident that damaged her physically and stunted her ability to trust anyone. Now teenagers, Mattia, also addicted to self-injury, has withdrawn into the world of numbers, and Alice gains control by starving herself. When they meet, they recognize something primal in each other, but timing and awkwardness keep their friendship on tenuous ground until years later, their lives come together one last time. Giordano uses Mattia and Alice's trajectory to ask whether there are some people, the prime numbers among us, who are destined to be alone, or whether two primes can come together" (Annie Bostrom). A withdrawn loner who hurts himself and a suicidal anorectic who is wary of other people are hardly the kinds of characters most people can identify with (rightly so). Giordano did not go to any MFA school of writing and instead, is working on his doctorate in Particle Physics. Yet, he has pulled off every writer's wildest dream: His novel has already been translated into 30 languages and sold millions of copies because he has somehow found a way to make us care about Mattia and Alice. An absolute "must-have" title for Paolo Giordano collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws (even if they are New) because of shoddy packing on the publisher's part. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. Winner of the Premio Strega, the most important literary prize in Italy, for "The Solitude of Prime Numbers" in 2008. Paolo Giordano is the youngest winner ever in the Prize's history. One of the most brilliant new voices in contemporary literature. A fine copy. . ISBN 0670021482.

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