The Indian Clerk

by David Leavitt

The extraordinary true story of the discovery of one of the greatest mathematicians January, 1913, Cambridge. G.H. Hardy - eccentric, charismatic and considered the greatest British mathematician of his age - receives a mysterious envelope covered with Indian stamps. Inside he finds a rambling letter from a self-professed mathematical genius who claims to be on the brink of solving the most important mathematical problem of his time. Hardy determines to learn more about this mysterious Indian clerk, Srinivasa Ramanujan, a decision that will profoundly affect not only his own life, and that of his friends, but the entire history of mathematics. Set against the backdrop of the First World War, and populated with such luminaries as D.H. Lawrence and Bertrand Russell, "The Indian Clerk" fashions from this fascinating period an utterly compelling story about our need to find order in the world.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, India, Mathematics, LGBT, Literature, Historical

485 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2007

About the author

Leavitt is a graduate of Yale University and a professor at the University of Florida, where he is the co-director of the creative writing program. He is also the editor of Subtropics magazine, The University of Florida's literary review.

Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.

Reviews

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

So how exactly are we to understand the phrase 'historical biography'? Apparently, as practiced by David Leavitt, it involves picking over the lives of his chosen victims - for some reason he has a predilection for gay English intellectuals - and tarting up the factual record with embellishments that appear to be more a projection of Leavitt's own unresolved issues than any kind of added insight into the character being assassinated. Maybe Professor Leavitt would be better served by seeking out his own rough-trade liaisons in the academic groves of Gainesville than slandering the dead by inventing non-existent affairs in which his victims are portrayed as behaving atrociously. G.H. Hardy deserves better than David Leavitt's dehumanizing portrayal in this invented version of his life.

The reader should bear in mind that the last time Leavitt tried a similar stunt, he was sued for his efforts by Stephen Spender, and lost. The New York Times review of 'The Indian Clerk' comments that:

"Luckily, or circumspectly, Leavitt has chosen this time to portray people who are no longer around to file lawsuits."

Which is certainly one way of looking at it. An equally valid conclusion would be that this is an author with no shame whatsoever.


Ramanujan too deserves better than his portrayal by Leavitt, who is completely incapable of conveying the essence of his particular genius, despite the various equations spattered through the book. Nowhere does he manage to convey the fascination of the Indian's peculiar and prodigious talent, or why Hardy would be sufficiently excited to bring him to Cambridge. His treatment of Ramanujan as a person is equally murky. (An excellent account of Ramanujan's life is available in Robert Kanigel's "The Man Who Knew Infinity").

But then this hodgepodge of a book is stuffed with so much detritus that it becomes clear that Leavitt would rather pad things out with semi-salacious gossip about various other Cambridge luminaries, the amorous dalliances (both real and invented) of various secondary and tertiary characters, and the obligatory meanderings about the love that dare not speak its name than attempt to cast any real light on the relationship between Hardy and Ramanujan.

Fortunately, the genius of Hardy, Littlewood and Ramanujan is such that their names will live on long after Leavitt's work has been consigned to the dustbin of history.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in months.
I don't understand anything about theoretical mathematics, but I know something about collaboration, and this description of what it is to work with another person on an intractable but fascinating problem is beautifully realized. I found all of the characters compelling, the story, based as it is on historical incidents and people, moving and ultimately heart-breaking. Images in this have stuck with me for weeks now (a British woman feeling out of place in India watching the waiters and other British diners in the hotel dining room contend with crows flying down to attack the tea cakes, a mathematician at a tuberculosis ward in winter hiding for an hour a day in the slight warmth of the bathroom so that he can hold a pencil to work out equations.) This is a brilliant book about genius, how strange it is, not only to those who encounter it in others but for the possessor. It's also about intellectual community, the ways in which even those who are most intimately connected by their pursuit of the truth can be woefully ignorant of their colleagues' human needs and deepest natures.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an ambitious book that succeeds on great characterization and Leavitt's highly readable prose. Leavitt manages to juggle numerous characters, and he tells his story from multiple perspectives. Occassionally, the change in point of view is disorienting -- in these spots, Leavitt is like a film director who moves the camera too quickly -- but it's a technique that reinforces the themes of the novel. Leavitt lets us see how his characters -- many fictionalized versions of real people -- misinterpret one another's words, actions, needs and desires. It speaks to the immense gulf that can divide us from those we care most about, despite our clumsy attempts to bridge it.

I also give Leavitt marks for allowing the reader to draw many of his or her own conclusions about the characters' relationship with each other, and in Hardy's and Ramanujan's relationship to mathematics -- which for both men represented a spiritual quest. For what is religion, after all, but the desire to discover the infinite?

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe how much I liked this book. It is essentially a fictional biography of mathmaticians--who could possibly care about them? But the author entices you along with fascinating pictures of English intellectual life. And then you get to meet the real genius. Fascinating.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a true historical novel - all of the characters were real people. I freely admit I'd never heard of them. None of them are likely to come up in any conversation I might have either.

It is the world of mathematics in the early 20th Century at Trinity College, England. The Indian Clerk of the title is Ramanujan, who is described by G.H. Hardy, then a famous mathematician, as being "the greatest mathematician of the last 100 years, perhaps the last 500 years." There are formulas interspersed, which I had no problem skipping over and feel I didn't miss anything by doing so. It's an interesting story, but not compelling. I'm happy to have learned of these fellows and their world.

I picked this up in large part because it was nominated for the Pen/Faulkner, because the title attracted me, and because it has a beautiful photo on the cover. (I fall easily for good covers.) It is quite well written and I appreciate the time I spent with it. I won't recommend it, I think you have to be drawn to it and I think it has a small audience. However, it deserves a larger audience than the LGBT circle to which it has probably been relegated. There is one very brief, somewhat graphic, homosexual encounter, and the rest is only alluded to. That G.H. Hardy was gay is part of the story, but only a part.

[Alejandro (IG: todoporleer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐

¿Qué puede unir a uno de los hombres más conocidos del Cambridge de comienzos del siglo XX, además de ateo,con un mero, a priori, contable de Madrás y acérrimo a sus creencias? Las matemáticas.

Esta es una de las historias más bonitas y a la vez más tristes de las matemáticas. El nacimiento de un genio sin parangón, Ramanujan y el consagrado matemático, Hardy. Uno, de la nada, levanta cimientos matemáticos y el otro, pretende que sean estables. Por ello tuvimos la suerte de que se juntarán y pudieran trabajar juntos.

Es una historia que entrelaza teoremas, la sociedad inglesa durante la primera guerra mundial y las convenciones sociales entre los muros de la universidad de Cambridge.

El libro tiene momentos muy buenos, sobre todo cuando se juntan los ya mencionados, más Littlewood, Bertrand Russell y otros.

Sin embargo, aparecen personajes que quizá hace que sean espesos algunos pasajes, pero no por ello fuera de lugar, porque todo está muy entrelazado.

Merece la pena conocer esta historia tan romántica de las matemáticas, sobre todo para hacer justicia al hindú que dejó todo para que alguien le diera visibilidad. Gracias Hardy, gracias Ramanujan.

[Kia76 · Rating 2 out of 5]

...mmmmmm..... Da un libro intitolato "Il matematico indiano" mi sarei aspettata di scoprire qualcosa in più di quanto non si possa trovare su Wikipedia su Srinivasa Ramanujan, questo personaggio straordinario che ha influenzato la storia della matematica con le sue teorie. Invece, dopo tante pagine, di lui non ci viene detto quasi nulla di essenziale, nè del suo lavoro scientifico. Molto invece ci viene detto di G.H. Hardy, il protagonista assoluto del libro è lui (e la sua omosessualità, oserei direi, che sembra influenzare quasi tutte le sue decisioni). La lettura tutto sommato è piacevole, il romanzo è interessante, ma non è proprio quello che mi aspettavo.
P.S. Pollice verso alla Mondadori: chi ha scritto il riassunto del libro evidentemente non si è nemmeno preso la briga di leggerlo! Hardy non va in India a prendere Ramanujan, ci vanno i Neville!
Per non parlare della traduzione: l'inglese sequence non è sequenza in italiano ma successione... stiamo parlando di MATEMATICAAAA!!!

[Chrissie]

This could be very good too?



***********************


The Lost Language of Cranes 4 tars
The Two Hotel Francforts TBR
Equal Affections TBR
The Indian Clerk TBR

[Gary the Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very impressive effort by David Leavitt. The main characters, based on historical figures, are believable and the story he tells is engrossing. I can't comment on the mathematic theorizing because it was way beyond my comprehension, but it added authenticity to this story about Cambridge mathematicians during WWI. The appearance of many famous figures from academia, the reenactment of a meeting of the Apostles, a secret society at Cambridge, and pacifist activities there and in London, contribute to the novel's historical realism. But the characters themselves are fully fleshed-out and their interlocking stories are expressed with assurance.

[piperitapitta · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'avevo iniziato a leggere un paio di anni fa, poi �� diventato troppo matematico e troppo omosessuale (non ho niente contro l'omosessualit��, ma il modo di scriverne mi aveva infastidita e non ne capivo lo scopo) e l'ho dimenticato l��.
Forse ci riprover�� un giorno.

[José Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://30dediferencia.com/2015/08/11/...

Una historia entretenida, fácil de leer y sin embargo no estoy muy seguro de si se la recomendaría a alguien. Seguramente yo iba buscando una historia en la que Ramanujan fuese más protagonista, pero he tenido la sensación de que en buena parte de la historia figura nada más que como un invitado de lujo, es la excusa perfecta para contarnos otra historia. La historia se centra mucho más en otro matemático, Hardy, y Ramanujan queda excluido en muchos momentos, quizás por la forma en la que está narrada, usando la tercera persona, y dejando la primera para Hardy en una presunta conferencia que nunca llegó a dar.
No se profundiza en exceso en las matemáticas a lo largo de toda la historia, y de hecho nos quedamos con la idea de lo metódico que era Hardy y en como Ramanujan seguía más su instinto. Cierto es que las matemáticas en las que trabajaron ambos no son fáciles ni quedan al alcance de cualquiera de nosotros, de la hipótesis de Riemann o de la teoría de las particiones no guardo demasiados buenos recuerdos de mi paso por la facultad :)
Como curiosidad decir que la anécdota por la que posiblemente es más conocido el matemático indio Ramanujan está metida en la historia casi con calzador, como obligada.
Lo siento, pero es un libro que no ha terminado de convencerme.

[Yooperprof · Rating 2 out of 5]

If there were a "truth in book titles" law, this novel should really be called "The Cambridge Don."

Bravo to David Leavitt for doing a lot of research on Cambridge intellectual society shortly after the turn of the century. Who would have thought you could write a 500 page novel about early 20th mathematics and make it interesting? Here's the rub: based upon Leavitt's effort here, it's probably not possible. Actually, the "campus politics" aspect of the book keeps the plot simmering for the first 200 pages or so. It's fun to read about the "naughty" Cambridge Apostles, and the conflicting egos of Bertrand Russell, D.H. Lawrence, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and other intellectual bigwigs who make their appearances here. And the Indian mathematician of the title is fascinating enough, even though he is treated entirely from the outside. The problem is there's not enough of interest - not enough plot - to justify the lengthy treatment that the author provides. And the central character through whom the novel is refracted, a cranky bachelor don named G.H. Hardy, becomes tiresome company halfway through the book.

[Deirdre · Rating 2 out of 5]

i think it would have been better if the editor had a heavier hand. but some interesting stuff about life in the university setting in the UK right before and during WWI, including attitudes towards race, marriage, class, sex.

[Daniele Zumerle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessante immersione nell’Inghilterra di inizio Novecento, con la vita accademica di Cambridge e le “fugge” londinesi. L’inizio del romanzo è difficile da seguire per la grande quantità di nomi e personaggi che ricorrono, poi si fa più ordine. In generale è privo di colpi di scena e la narrazione è lenta, con una malinconia costante. Tuttavia i personaggi attirano, si evolvono durante la trama. Merita la prospettiva sull’amore LGBTQ come era vissuto all’epoca. La matematica, per fortuna, è presente ma accantonabile.

[David Jaramillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep and interesting ideas. The characters are very well constructed. It lacks emotion.

[Mary Goul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο ΥΠΑΛΛΗΛΟΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΙΝΔΙΑ του David Leavitt. Το βιβλίο αυτό βασίζεται σε αληθινή ιστορία που δίνεται όμως με μυθιστορηματικό τρόπο και μέσα από χρονικά άλματα που κάνει ο συγγραφέας μας μιλάει για την ακαδημαϊκή κοινότητα του Κέιμπριτζ για ζητήματα σεξουαλικής ταυτότητας, φιλίας , εκκεντρικότητας και υδιοφυίας. Ο καθηγητής μαθηματικών του Πανεπιστημίου Κέιμπριτζ Γκόντφρεϊ Χάρολντ Χάρντι , πανέξυπνος, εκκεντρικός, ομοφυλόφιλος και ιδιοφυής λαμβάνει κάποια στιγμή του 1913 ένα γράμμα από έναν Ινδό ο οποίος του λέει ότι μάλλον έχει ανακαλύψει την λύση σε ένα άλυτο έως τότε μαθηματικό πρόβλημα,την υπόθεση Ρίμαν.Τον Ινδό αυτόν τον λένε Σρινιβάσα Ραμάνουτζαν.Μετα από ανταλλαγή αλληλογραφίας πείθεται ότι ο Ινδός όντως πρόκειται για μια σπάνια αυτοδίδακτη ιδιοφυία και στέλνει απεσταλμένους του πανεπιστημίου του Κέιμπριτζ να τον πείσουν να αφήσει την χώρα του και να έρθει στην Αγγλία.Το 1914 τον πείθουν να αφήσει την οικογένεια του και να έρθει κοντά τους .Ο Ραμάνουτζαν είναι αυτοδίδακτος, καθόλου καλός μαθητής γιατί δεν τον ενδιαφέρει κανένα άλλο μάθημα εκτός από τα μαθηματικά.Οι γνώσεις του βασίζονται όχι σε πράγματα που διδάχθηκε αλλά σε πράγματα που διάβασε μόνος του, λειτουργεί διαισθητικά και βασίζεται στο ένστικτο του.Ο Χάρντι προσπαθεί να του μάθει ότι αυτό που έχει μεγαλύτερη αξία δεν είναι το αποτέλεσμα αλλά η απόδειξη των μαθηματικών τύπων, γιατί χωρίς απόδειξη τίποτα δεν μπορεί να σταθεί.Ο Ραμάνουτζαν πάλι ισχυρίζεται ότι δεν έχει τις αποδείξεις γιατί τα περισσότερα του τα λέει μια ινδική θεότητα στον ύπνο του.Εχουμε δύο εντελώς διαφορετικούς ανθρώπους,από την μια έναν πολύ θρήσκο άνθρωπο που ακολουθεί κατά γράμμα όσα προστάζει η θρησκεία,πχ δεν τρώει κρέας, αρνείται να περάσει τον ωκεανό γιατι θα είναι μίασμα κτλ και από την άλλη έναν άθεο Χάρντι που δεν έχει κανένα σεβασμό για τις θρησκείες.Απο την μια η κλειστή ανταγωνιστική κοινωνία των διανοουμένων του Κέιμπριτζ που συμπεριφέρεται ελιτίστικα και από την άλλη μια κοινωνία απλών παραδοσιακών ανθρώπων που ζουν με προλήψεις και δοξασίες.Ο καημένος Ραμάνουτζαν περνάει χίλιες δυο δυσκολίες ώστε να προσαρμοστεί στην νέα του ζωή, δυσκολεύεται να κοιμηθεί σε κρεβάτι,να φάει τα δυτικά φαγητά,να φορέσει παπούτσια κτλ.και όλ�� αυτά προκειμένου να ασχοληθεί σοβαρά με τα μαθηματικά που τα λατρεύει.Οι υπόλοιποι του συμπεριφέρονται λίγο σαν να είναι ημιάγριος και θέλει εξημέρωση . Ο Γκόντφρεϊ Χάρολντ Χάρντι σε μια διάλεξη του που κάνει αργότερα προς τιμήν του, λέει "όλοι οι άνθρωποι είναι μοναδικοί αλλά κάποιοι είναι μοναδικότεροι από άλλους..". Πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο,πολύ ενδιαφέρον το θέμα του, πήδηξα πολλές σελίδες με μαθηματικά που δεν καταλάβαινα, αλλά δεν έχασα το νόημα.Θα μπορούσε να ήταν λίγο μικρότερο,η πλοκή του δεν ήταν τόσο μεγάλη για να το τραβήξει τόσο πολύ, αλλά είχε πολύ ωραία γραφή.

[Frumenty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full marks to David Leavitt for writing a novel about mathematics and mathematicians that is so readable. The research is impressive and the writing is very accessible. The "Indian clerk" is a self-taught mathematical genius with very little formal education who, despite all his disadvantages, succeeds in interesting a leading Cambridge mathematician, G.H. Hardy, in his ideas.

I've known the name G.H. Hardy since high school; he was the Hardy who didn't write The Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess of the d'Urbervilles; he was a mere mathematician, but it was important to know of him so one could make that distinction. Now I've read a novel about his life I probably know more personal stuff about G.H. than about Thomas the novelist and poet, but I'm not about to read a biography of Thomas Hardy - novelists are, as a rule, the dreariest subjects for biography.

This novel is more about G.H. Hardy and his world than about Ramanujan the Indian genius. The problem, and Leavitt manages it wisely, is that Ramanujan is something of a mystery - as an individual and as a man from a foreign culture - and a novelist is on much safer ground presenting the doubts and perplexities of a concerned witness than trying to get inside the head of this particular subject. The collaboration of Hardy and Ramanujan begins with the arrival of Ramanujan's first letter in January 1913, and Ramanujan's arrival at Cambridge in 1914 just before the outbreak of the Great War. Ramanujan is to have a miserable war: he is a strict vegetarian in a land where vegetarianism is almost unknown at a time when vegetables are very scarce, and communication with family in India is difficult because of the war and a mother who is hostile to his young wife. His health goes downhill rapidly.

There is plenty of interesting material about anti-war politicking, Cambridge university life, vignettes of various notables (Bertrand Russell, D.H. Lawrence, G.E. Moore, J.M. Keynes, et al.), clandestine homosexual liaisons and of course mathematics. If the homosexual stuff offends then don't read Pat Barker's novels. Leavitt acknowledges a debt to Barker's Regeneration Trilogy which I will admit I found more confronting than this novel. Leavitt's presentation of meetings of the Apostles is exuberantly camp and I'm in no position to judge whether presenting it as an intellectually over-achieving gay swingers club is fair and balanced, but I can understand the outrage of some who have reviewed the novel.

As a window on another time this novel is full of fascination. My main reservation about it is that it just fizzles out after Ramanujan leaves Hardy's orbit and returns to Madras. Of course Hardy can only report what he witnesses and what he has learned from other sources. It is a problem inherent in the design of the novel I suppose, and I don't know how it might have been done better. On balance the benefits of the decision to show us Ramanujan through Hardy's eyes far outweigh this fairly minor defect. Bravo for a cracking good read.

[Manu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Indian Clerk is a historic novel based on real events and real characters, but mixes actual history with a bit of fiction. It begins with a lecture given by the great British mathematician GH Hardy in Harvard in 1936, quickly zooming back to 1913 when Hardy was working on the Riemann hypothesis. He receives a letter from Ramanujan, a clerk in the Madras Post Office, who seems to have come close to a solution to the problem.
Soon Ramanujan arrives in England, and the genius of the 'Hindoo calculator'is quickly acknowledged. The narrative is then shown through different perspectives - Hardy's, Alice Neville's and though Ramanujan plays a key role, it also brings into focus the various other events, people and even attitudes in the timeframe that Ramanujan lived in England - World War I, the collaboration between Hardy and Littlewood, Bertrand Russell’s antiwar activities, the Apostles' meetings and so on. It is interesting to note that though his genius is acknowledged, both Alice and Hardy have conflicting views on how Ramanujan can be given the perfect conditions to flourish and both have sexual undertones in their relationship with him.
The thing that didn't work for the book was that in the middle, it meandered away from the central theme - Ramanujan and his mathematics - into the politics of the era. Where it does work wonderfully is in bringing out the person in Ramanujan - a normal person with his own set of problems, desires, insecurities and even a capacity to feel insulted at what some would consider the pettiest of things. It is quite heart rending to see a man trying to cope with conditions completely alien to him, separated from a wife from whom he craves attention (if only through letters) even as he understands that it is a better stage for him to shine. It is difficult not to feel for the man. What it also does is show mathematics in a new light "...mathematics had tantalized us with a pattern, only to snatch it away. Really, it was rather like dealing with God"
So if you don't have some kind of natural aversion to mathematics and don't mind wading through the politics of the time, this is quite a good read, especially towards the end, when the focus is on the person within the greatest mathematician of his time.

[Cthonus · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I continue to hold the author in high esteem for the notable "Family Dancing" and "The Lost Language of Cranes" this work is unfortunately not on a par with those distinguished novels. It is a story about the tail end of the Edwardian period, its peculiar mannerisms, social distinctions and colonialism that could only be written by someone from another country for all its cliches and blatant howlers.

You probably have to be a Brit-picker to catch some of the nuances that offend and irritate me however rather than call me out as a pedant (guilty) consider an American reading a book about the Revoultionary War and getting the date for the Treaty of Paris wrong by a decade...

Liberal use of whiskey. I'm afraid the learned gentlemen of the college would be more likely to drink Scotch whisky over their American or Irish counterparts, especially given the anti-Irish feeling following the Home Rule Act.

Battle of Hastings: every English schoolboy (and I'd suspect every other school child in the British Isles) would know the date off by heart: 1066. It's even in Wikipedia should Mr Leavitt have found the need to authenticate his facts.

Thirdly, no Englishman of the 20th century would exclaim that he had "misspoke". That peculiarity belongs solely on the far side of the pond. Although traced back to the Congressional records of 1864 it doesn't resurface until Watergate in 1973. Not very good research Mr Leavitt.

Factual inaccuracies aside the protagonists do not get a very good showing. Far from being charismatic the lead Hardy is a closeted bore. Mr Ramanujan fares slightly better in that his character is formed from the reflections of his actions on those around him and few thoughts are directly attributed to him.

All-in-all not a bad book but there again not a good one. If you want details of the social mores of the time read EM Forster or Robert Graves' "Goodbye to All That".

I think the last word ought to be in Hardy's voice himself:

- Leave it, Leavitt.

(see what I did there?)

[Shilpa Pathak · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing book and characters come alive as you read Prof G H Hardy an renowed British mathematician himself a genius; discovers a young genius from Madras by chance on reading his letter which intrigues him and he devises a plan with his associates to bring the talented unknown Srinivasa Ramanujan to Cambridge campus.


An orthodox Brahmin who leaves the shores of India to reach British Isle, to full fill his deep desire to pursue higher education in maths.

His fascination for numbers since his childhood and his mother's


encouragement who had recognized his hidden talent.

The ambitious mother gives her consent to her son 's travel to Europe. And she always had an inner belief of divine partonage bestowed on her beloved son and which was guiding him to discover new equations and theorem in the field of Mathematics.


The author David Leavitt, has crafted a beautiful novel which reads like a fairy tale set at Trinity college, Cambridge.

Beautiful and brilliant minds like Bertand Russell, Little wood, John Keynes were Srinivasa's contemporaries and admired his intellect acumen and he was sought out by many young students at the campus.

The humble and down to earth Ramanujan's transformation in the Cambridge environment is a poignant read. The conversation between the characters gives vitality to the book and gives you an insight into their minds and attitudes towards the society in the midst of World War 1.

Nicknamed as Hindoo calculator from India at Cambridge , Ramanujan led a life devoted to his subject till his untimely death. His discoveries continue to dominate the field of Mathematics even today.


We need academic environment at all universities across the world : where talent is encouraged to reach its potential irrespective of race, colour and gender discrimination and religion and regions and other biases.

Education and discoveries transform our societies and shape our world for a better sustainable living.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

he Indian Clerk, by David Leavitt, is a novel that I respected more than enjoyed. It's a fictionalized story about the Cambridge mathematician G.H. Hardy's relationship with the Indian prodigy Ramanujan during the First World War. After receiving a startling letter from Ramanujan, which seems to rediscover complicated theories and lay out entirely new ones, Hardy encourages him to come to England. They work together productively for just a few years before Ramanujan's health begins to fail and he returns to India, where he soon dies at the age of 33.

This is a longish novel (ca. 500 pages), and there are many other things going on. Hardy's life includes mathematics, university politics, a secret discussion society called the Apostles, and his sister and dying mother. Moreover, he deals with being a semipublic pacifist and a semicloseted homosexual in a time that was not friendly to either. Ultimately, this book isn't about Ramanujan; it's a complex portrait of a slice of Hardy's life that captures many levels of idiosyncrasy and finely weaves together imagined and historical events. Not until I read the afterword explaining which events are real and which are fictional did I really appreciate the ambition of this novel.

Still, it didn't quite connect with me in the sense of enjoying the story. I think this is because the characters are all rather cold and because the certainty of Ramanujan's death is not used as an effective pacing tool. The author also alternates between first-person and third-person-omniscient narration for no apparent purpose. The third-person sections are livelier.

Leavitt has written a biography of Alan Turing that might be worth a look--as I learned in The Code Book, Turing served honorably as a codebreaker during the Second World War but died, probably a suicide, after being outed and prosecuted for homosexuality.

[Amy Cousins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving this book, although at the moment I cannot find it. Slipped under the bed perhaps?

Quite a bit later on:

I very much enjoyed this book, in much the same way that I loved Colm Toibin's The Master. It is quiet book; when your main characters are almost all people who end up on the quiet fringes of society during a massive World War, the drama that evolves is smaller, although no less deep for that. I have no opinion as to the book's accuracy as regards its treatment of these historical and real people; my only previous awareness of Ramanujan was the reference to him in Good Will Hunting. :) And although I read in a number of other reviews that there is too much focus on sex, I have to disagree. Although Hardy, one of the main characters, contemplates his own sexual interactions or lack thereof quite a bit, I didn't find that there was very much actual sex in the book at all. Part of the quietness of the novel showed up in the way most of the characters might think about sex or passion, but didn't often have much actual experience of it. I also didn't find anything confusing about the narrative, either the number of characters or the time changes: the frame story was pretty clear when it showed up, and I was consistently interested in all of the people who received a turn at narration.

For me, this was one of the best books I have read so far this year, although I mean that in a particular way. I may have read books that I enjoyed more at the moment of reading them, but The Indian Clerk has been terrific at creating that quiet, contemplative mood that lets me know that I am under the sway of a very good author.

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this novel more than I actually did. The novel is about Srinavasa Ramanujan, the extraordinary Indian mathematician and his relationship with the English mathematician G.H. Hardy. But unfortunately the novel ventures more fully into the life of Hardy, as it is primarily told through his point of view, than it does Ramanujan. The parts where Hardy is lecturing to students at Harvard University--which is always prefaced by some caveat suggesting he intended to share these thoughts with the audience, but never actually did--is quite intriguing and insightful as Hardy reflects on Ramanujan's life. But when the novel explores Hardy's cohorts who are only tangentially connected to the story about Ramanujan I wasn't so enthralled. Regardless, the novel is well written and fascinating, generally sticking to the truth of Ramanujan's relationship with Hardy. The book ends with a brief note about all the extensive research Leavitt did on all the various aspects of Ramaunjan's life from his mathematical work (and there are plenty of equations in the novel!) to his illness in England.

[Bookmarks Magazine]

Based on a lecture given by a real-life Hardy in 1913, this intellectual and historical novel explores the beauty of mathematics, the nature of creativity, sexual repression, class relations, and the frailty of human connection-all set against the decline of empire and war. David Leavitt, best known for While England Sleeps (1993), impressed critics with his research and the novel's accessibility; even his discussions of the Riemann hypothesis and the secret order of the primes offered them interest. Leavitt depicts his characters, however, less successfully. A few reviewers complained about Ramanujan's ambiguity, questioned his decision to characterize Hardy as gay, and criticized cameos of historical figures such as D. H. Lawrence. The Indian Clerk is a flawed but intriguing look into the zeitgeist of the British Empire in the early 20th century.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Jeffrey Rasley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing piece of historical fiction. The research is impeccable and astonishing. The writing is brilliantly creative. I so enjoyed how fiction and nonfiction were blended into the POV of G.H. Hardy. It is not a light read and an interest in math and history is helpful.

I knew nothing of Ramanujan before reading the book. I'm glad I met him and honor the memory of his short life.

[Sherelyn Ernst · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book although I'm not sure why. Themes of higher mathematics and gay issues in England/Oxford during the early 1900's figure prominently in this, and neither theme is high on my list of favorites. Nevertheless, it's based on actual people so I learned much about things I wouldn't have learned if I hadn't read this book and found them very interesting. I even felt I at least briefly understood the passion some find in higher mathematics. Wow! That took some doing!

[Teju · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should confess that I was binge reading books on mathematicians, especially Ramanujan- so i picked up the book. After i realized that this is a work of fiction... I see that the author ties the story together with some well known facts. He takes his liberty in fiction quite adeptly. It is certainly worth a read, he folds in the first world war, the eccentricities of academics (which surprisingly does not change in generations) interestingly.

[Joann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would never have occurred to me that I would read and actually enjoy a nearly 500 page book about mathematics. However, this book twines many other aspects of pre-WWI life in England with the subject of mathematics and genius. It took me about a quarter of the book to really become immersed in it but from then on the book was quite engrossing, even if I never could understand the mathematical portions.

[Meconopsis Lingholm · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the first book I've read by this author and I was absolutely charmed - the writing is incredible, thick and baroque, it gives you the feeling of velvet and cut flowers - I had a sloooow time reading it because I was savouring! I'm sorry for no commentary on the story but I cant yet escape the glorious orgy of imagery that made up the story.

[Aparna Dubey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully woven stories that revolve around Ramanujan's journey covering the life and times of British thinkers during World War One; the coteries governing the most respected institutions of learning . A very nice historical recreation of Ramanujan's personality and his travails from a Western perspective, especially introspective and amusing for a rasam loving vegetarian Hindu like me!