The Incompleteness Theorem

by Mark McDowell

The Incompleteness Theorem is a novel of closely observed middle age in the spirit of Pat Conroy and Richard Ford. The story's narrator, Jack Callany, is a recent widower who is seeking to understand, and then rebuild, himself. Jack's wife passes away unexpectedly only days before the worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns. Jack and his teen son and daughter are forced to cope with their grief in isolation, but Jack's good nature and playful pranks help the family endure these shocks. As Jack's son returns to college and his daughter prepares to leave for college, Jack is forced to examine himself and decide who he will be in the next phase of his life.

422 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 4, 2022

About the author

Mark McDowell is a tech entrepreneur and investor with a secret passion for literary fiction. The son of two teachers, Mark grew up in college towns across the southeastern US. He planned to study English or history in college, but became mesmerized by the Apple II computer and found himself studying computer science instead. He attended MIT on an Air Force ROTC scholarship and served four years as an officer at Los Angeles Air Force Base after graduating. He supplemented his meager Air Force income by teaching calculus at night at Chapman University. One semester, he spent his entire teaching stipend on a second edition of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica, which he found among the rare book dealers who once populated the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

Mark left the Air Force to pursue a career as an entrepreneur in the wireless industry. At forty he became a venture capital investor, backing startups in the telecom industry. Throughout his decades as a techie, Mark remained an avid fiction reader, and when the Covid lockdowns began in 2020, he finally took up his pen.

Mark lives on Lake Norman near Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife and has two young adult children.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific read! Simultaneously thoughtful, funny, relatable, hopeful, and well-paced. Over the course of eighteen months or so, Jack deals with the death of his wife, the pandemic, the “empty nest”, an HOA board, a creepy neighbor, new relationships, and a new career - one heck of a mid-life crisis! It’s a wonderful book. Read it!

[A.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once in a while, you read a book that you can’t stop thinking about, even long after you’ve turned the last page. THE INCOMPLETENESS THEOREM by Mark McDowell, is his first novel and the first post-pandemic novel I’ve read, and I absolutely loved it. Jack Callany, is a middle-aged and newly widowed, soon-to-be empty nester. The tragic loss of Jack’s wife, Diane (yes, there are many treats for GenX readers) after 30 years of marriage and just as the world is about to shut down, is the story’s anchor. But this is not a depressing novel, rather it is uplifting and cleverly humorous. With expert storytelling and a large cast of well-drawn characters, presented within short, wittily titled chapters, McDowell drifts back and forth in time allowing the captivated reader to navigate Jack’s life as a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a day trader, a neighbor & friend…and to care. THE INCOMPLETENESS THEOREM is a unique and entertaining novel about present-day middle age, and I highly recommend it.

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A very good debut for the author. It starts out quite slow, and if I didn’t believe in finishing a book once picked up, I might have stopped reading. BUT I am so glad that I did not! The story focuses on Jack Callany who has just lost his wife before the isolation from the pandemic. In reading little vignettes about Jack’s life, both past and present, we learn more about Jack and his relationships to family and friends. By the end of the book, I really enjoyed Jack, his family and other supporting characters. My favorite bits are the pranks and the chapters that show the bond between Jack and his children. Bread, That’s How Much I Love You and the last Thanksgiving to name a few. A well written novel worth a read.

[Coral · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book Demands a Sequel

So well crafted you will rush to the next page and at the end want to read it again. Perfect for all especially the middle age readers. Full of insight into love, family achievement, laughter and loss. Extremely well designed and well developed. Entertaining characters with flash back chapters that keep you anchored to the story line and wanting more.
Mr.McDowell's first novel is charming. It is laugh out loud funny, and serious, with sage to silly advice addressing the human condition of alone vs. lonely. His story is seasoned with loss while searching for meaning and starting over when life delivers you into empty nesting prematurely alone.