Saint Joan of New York

A Novel About God and String Theory

By: Mark Alpert

Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky

Saint Joan of New York is a novel about a math prodigy who becomes obsessed with discovering the Theory of Everything.

Joan Cooper is a 17-year-old genius who was traumatized by the death of her older sister and who tries to rebuild her shattered world by studying string theory and the efforts to unify the laws of physics. But as she tackles the complex equations, she falls prey to disturbing visions of a divine being who wants to help her unveil the universe’s mathematical design. Joan must enter the battle between science and religion, fighting for her sanity and a new understanding of the cosmos.

©2019 Mark Alpert (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

good concept, bad execution

good start, interesting premise, but the story gets bogged down in so many ways. the ending is forced and unsatisfying. see Kudan's very insightful review. the only thing I'd add is that it would have been more interesting if Joan doubted her sanity a bit more. the religion bit is pretty hackneyed, the science not strong. would not recommend. I finished it, but had to crank the speed up to 2 to do so.

Hugely Disappointing...

I wanted to like this book so badly. I'm both a huge science nerd and interested in philosophical theism, so it should be the ideal book for me. The author just doesn't do a very good job with either of those two topics, and the story isn't compelling enough without those two elements to be worth reading.

On the point of science: this book is clearly written by a science journalist and not a scientist. It name-drops scientific concepts, and that's about it. Nothing scientific is explained, much less engaged with. Nor does the protagonist think like an actual scientist. I am a researcher. I've studied advanced mathematics. I even have a passable understanding of physics (although it's not my area of study). The protagonist makes very basic mistakes that someone with real mathematical literacy would be very unlikely to make. For example, if you want to test whether an entity that claims to be super-intelligent is real (as opposed to being a hallucination), just ask it to factor a large prime number. You can't do that in your head, but God can. So if the thing you're talking to is able to factor a large prime number and you can verify its answer, then it's real. Of course, you can try to excuse the sloppy thinking by saying, "the protagonist is only 17, they're unlikely to know that". But that doesn't hold true if they're a math genius who can solve String Theory! I have known mathematics prodigies. This is exactly the sort of problem they're good at solving. So the book isn't really about science or a scientific way of thinking -- it just pretends to be a story about science by name-dropping scientific concepts.

But, if the take on religion is interesting enough, maybe it's worthwhile? Oh, if only! The basic idea presented in this book is that God doesn't care about humanity, the devil is real but misunderstood, etc., etc. -- the ideas are hackneyed. There is so much interesting to be said about the nature of religion; this book says none of it.

The rest of the book is okay: there are some fun moments, the plot is decent until it all becomes unreadably bad at the end (a common problem with books and not that terrible a literary sin, imo), and the writing isn't unpleasant. So, it's incredibly hard to recommend, unless you reaaally enjoy unlikable 17 year old female protagonists dying in fires -- in which case, the book might be salvagable for you.

If you're interested in science, religion, and books with good plots, I'd recommend reading Carl Sagan's works, Dostoyevsky, or even one of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere novels. Just not this book.

Sick & Tired of everything being about LGBTQ-BS

Why the emphasis on lesbian? Book should have it in the description or be classified as such. Another author on my no way list. I am sick and tired of this crap being shoved down our throats. Discontinued the book after 1/2 way through. I cannot support being bludgeoned with aberrant l

Could NOT FINISH

Oh my. Ok, first of all, when the author felt compelled to take over 30 minutes to explain subjects such a as the LHC and origins of String Theory and his personal religious opinions in his forward, in a story supposedly about String Theory and solving the mysteries of the universe, then I should have been warned. Jeepers, pretty much anyone who is interested in String Theory is going to at least have a rudimentary awareness of all the subjects he felt obliged to man-sprain in his opening salvo.
I kind of liked the concept of the book and plowed ahead in spite of my annoyance.
Unfortunately, the main character is so epically whiny and annoying, that in spite of her personal loss, after a couple hours I found myself yelling at her to just shut the heck up and get to the math!
I mean I geddit, she’s a self-involved teenager and thus were we all at that age, but that doesn’t make her any more compelling. I found her interactions with the holy universal spirit to be frustrating and slow.
Her parents, while not optimal, are certainly portrayed as kindly people who try to reach out without judgement and are treated with scorn and impatience by our erstwhile Joan.
Again, 17, understood, not fun to listen to however.
Finally, when I got to the part where Joan complained endlessly about her stupid headache but evidently did not even try taking a painkiller, I just didn’t care anymore. I also could not listen anymore.