**Mathletes v. Machos **
I used to be good at math. Not ‘A student’ good, I mean win the competitions, calculate faster than friends with a calculator good. As part of a young math team, and as competitions progressed through 8 years of scholastic competition, I watched as the trajectories of the mathletes diverge. The girls drifted away from math team, and focused on areas outside of STEM. The boys prided themselves on calculus grades, picked up video games and code, and went straight into tech.
I would like to think that the author asked: what would it take to upend the subtle but pervasive nudges that over time lead to these vastly different gender outcomes? An asteroid hitting the east coast is a blunt and reasonable answer.
While the first 100 pages are disaster survival, almost akin to reading The Martian, the book takes a right turn into what it means to survive in America with talent but without privilege. In this way it becomes a retelling of Wolfe’s The Right Stuff, with a dash of Ender’s game elitism and American gender politics.
Some criticise the main character, Elma York, as a Mary Sue but I have no doubt this level of skill can flourish when greeted by a lucky situation. Rather less probable are the flawless marriage she had with her husband and convenient connections giving her just enough pull to stay afloat in a rigged system.
I’ve always liked stories where a student beats a rigged system. Double points if they use math to do it, and there are rockets. What’s not to like?
** 106th book of 2021 **