"The Stone Loves the World," a novel by Brian Hall, provides an insightful view of how family member interact and react to each other. The relationship between father Mark and daughter Mette is most revealing of how a father and daughter can support one another. The word "love" cannot easily be entered into the formula; however a reverance for mathematics does provide a basis for a continued relationship, which is separted by time and distance. Mother-daughter, grandparents-grandchildren are interwoven into this unusual story.
Mette, 20, is deftly conversant with mathematics. When purchasing a bus ticket to leave Manhattanon on a spontaneous trip she observes ten service windows at the terminal with two being open. The author writes: "Possible combinations of two from a set of ten is forty-five, four times five is twenty, largest prime number less than twenty is nineteen, nineteenth letter is S." That's how she decides to go to Seattle.
The mathematical ephemera spread throughout the novel motivates the reader. The story of this 20-year old's journey across the United States and eventually to Denmark to meet her grandfather, who she has never seen, is enhanced by flashbacks. (Make notes of dates as you read.) I believe this novel is a vade mecum for fathers and daughters.
