I really enjoyed reading The Theory of Not Quite Everything, it felt like a modern romcom with some much bigger issues behind it. Art & Mimi are adult brother and sister, still living together in their 30s after the untimely deaths of both of their parents. The siblings are very intertwined together, with Mimi doing a lot of the practical day to day life admin for the two of them, whilst Art is busy trying to work out an insanely complicated maths problem. Art has some kind of neurodiversity, its not specified but I was assuming some kind of autism, which makes some of the social & personal emotional elements of typical life hard for him to navigate. Mimi, on the other hand, has felt isolated for some time and decides its now time to try and find a partner, aware of how this might upset the balance between her and her brother.

The two of them attend a Maths Conference where Mimi meets Frank, and the two of them hit it off from the outset. She doesn't want to say who she is as her brother is a big name in the maths world, and she wants to be seen for herself, not as a sibling. They have the most fabulous dates- planet-hopping was new to me- but as they get closer and closer, Mimi realises that she has to come clean with him. But she's not the only one hiding some big secrets....

I really felt for both of the siblings in this, their characters felt real and well created; the challenges that they faced, professionally, personally and with one another, were sometimes painful to read but felt true to their life situation. The absolute loyalty that Mimi has to Art, battling with her desire to have her own life and make her own choices - I didnt envy her at all. The story had me hooked and I read it in a couple of sittings. There are some heavier aspects to the book including parental death, suicide, injuries and unwanted sexual attention - so its a bit heavier than a lot of books it might be compared to, but I like a complicated family set up, so it was right up my street.
I have been wavering between 4 and 5 stars - but as its a debut novel, it deserves all the praise so 5 stars from me.
And the cover art is perfect- so well done to Lucy Scholes and her team for that, so eyecatching and different

For some reason it took me a while to get into this, to care about the characters, but I am so glad that I persevered because by the end I was reading late into the night. There is a lot going on here, some high-level maths, sibling care and love in many formats but advanced maths can sometimes add 2 and 2 and make crazy numbers. Art is the very special mathematician and Mimi is his sister who would like to find a boyfriend. Both will have to unravel assumptions and rework events to find what they are looking for. This is truly an original love story that will keep you intrigued and warm your heart.

So excited to get an early chance to read this book. I started it tonight and I’m already halfway through but wanted to give some feedback straight away as this is amazing! Definitely going to be one of the top releases of 2023.
Love the sibling relationship, I feel like we don’t get to read really well written siblings that often.
I’ll be back with a full review when I finish this, and I don’t think it will be long to wait!!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

The sad and at times humorous story of orphans Mimi and her brother Art, told in the words of Mimi in an extremely engaging theoretical fashion.
I found myself drawn to these endearing characters and how Mimi, enslaved to her autistic brother, tries to break away from him and find herself a new man in her life to have a relationship with.
Wow! So many surprises, twists and turns which kept me guessing right to the end.

Thank you for offering me The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything by Kara Gnodde. This is a wonderful book about acceptance, love and trust. The story is offbeat and unusual, and twists and turns in unexpected ways as the characters do their best to navigate the challenges life throws at them. And there are many such challenges. I had no idea how the novel would end, but was more than happy with the way it did.
(One teeny point - the GCS is said in the book to stand for the Glasgow Cognitive Scale. It actually stands for the Glasgow Coma Scale.)
In short, I loved it!

Firstly, I have to mention how much I love the front cover, it’s so colourful and eye catching! Art is a highly respected mathematician (I would say he is on the spectrum) and Mimi is his younger sister who has looked out for him following their parents death, when they were young children. Now in her 30’s Mimi is ready to find love but Art believes that for her to find her true love, a mathematical principle must obviously be applied.

Maths isn’t my strong point so most of that was over my head. It’s a bit of a slow burner but with such endearing characters it’s well worth a read.

Thanks to NetGalley Pan Macmillan, Mantle for the opportunity to read and review this advance copy.

This was so gripping and not at all what I expected! It was so dramatic and verging on dark at several points. The family drama was intense, especially alongside the romance storyline. The conclusions to both these ended up so touching ❤️ I feel like this is a ready made TV series surely?!

How do I describe this book? It’s difficult as it is hard to categorise but all I can say is that it really touched me and I just loved the characters, the plot and all the twists.
Mimi Brotherton lives with her brother Art who is a Professor of Mathematics and is researching a very important mathematical problem. Art is unusual and has problems with relationships- he sees everything in a particular way and certainly doesn’t like change so when Mimi decides she wants to find a partner it really scares him. However he agrees to help her by working on the algorithms on the dating site she is using to find the perfect person.
Art and Naomi have been traumatised by the untimely death of their parents and this plot line features as a major part of the book with several flashbacks.
When Naomi meets Frank at a Maths Award Ceremony when she is accompanying Art there is an immediate attraction but matters are not so simple. Art finds the relationship difficult to accept and Frank has secrets of his own. When tragedy strikes feelings come to the surface and the outcome is not clear until the very last page.
I just loved the sibling relationship between Mimi and Art- they are interdependent with different strengths. Mimi does all the household tasks , cooking and cleaning whilst Art works on his maths problems. However despite his difficulties in communication and behaviour, Art is continually looking out for Mimi, the reasons for which become clear as the book progresses.
This is a heartwarming story with a bit of mystery and romance and would appeal to many readers. It certainly had me gripped and I had to ration my reading so that I would not finish it too quickly , always a good sign.
I highly recommend this book as a quirky and enjoyable read! I loved the cover too- very eye catching!
Thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for my advance copy.

A beautifully written book about the love between a brother and sister which is also layered with Mimi's desire to escape her neurodivergent brother and the responsibility of looking after him following the deaths of their parents. The characters are well developed and there's enough of a mystery going on to make you doubt who you should be rooting for. It's a story of grief, love, dependency and friendship so don't be fooled by the comparison with The Rosie Project, it's not at all the same.

Sibling love. Parental love. Romantic love. And maths.

Maybe I shouldn't write a review straight after finishing a book, as a couple of glistening tears are still drying under my eyes. But I didn't expect to be as moved as I was when I begun this. I thought I was getting more of a Rosie Project comedy.

Not that I mind. This turned into a deeper look at the nature of love, guilt and responsibility. Adult siblings Art and Mimi live together, Mimi having given up her own ambitions after the death of their parents 13 years ago to stay with her mathematical genius brother as he works on problems that could change the world.

Now in their thirties, Mimi braves opening up and saying she wants to look for love. Art agrees - if she in turn will agree to follow a mathematical formula for finding someone suitable. As we can all guess, love and formulae are not likely to go hand in hand, and Mimi meets Frank outside of her brother's agreed schedule, setting and sums.

What readers think is going to be a story about adults finding their paths and letting go, well, it's more than that and revelations are dropped into the mix like pebbles into water causing ripples to the burgeoning and established relationships.

I enjoyed the love story (quite romantic at times, and also realistic in its portrayal of a couple struggling to move together despite Mimi's guilt towards her brother), loved Art and Mimi, felt Rey (Mimi's friend) was a little underused. I liked the movement between the two siblings as narrators (though the formatting was poor in the proof edition I read, with no gaps between, or even changes in font for texts, making it slightly awkward to spot the changes).

This was so moving, by the end and the final facts coming to light I was sobbing just a little bit. But a beautiful resolution and a very affecting story, would recommend. Not enough maths to put anyone off who's not a fan, but it was well integrated into the plot.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Art and Mimi Brotherton are siblings and housemates. Since their parents tragically died they have been there for each other. Art is a mathematical genius - probably on the spectrum - and Mimi has devoted herself to looking after him. He shines academically whilst she hides her light under the domestic bushel.
When Mimi decides she needs more from life, she starts looking for love, and Art insists that she find it using a strict mathematical algorithm and a dating website.
But then Mimi meets Frank, another mathematician, who is also a romantic, spontaneous stargazer - definitely not algorithm –approved, and Art mistrusts him: something about Frank doesn't quite add up. As Mimi's feelings grow, the siblings' relationship is tested to breaking point...

I have seen this novel described as a modern romantic comedy, ideal for fans of The Rosy Project, but for me there is something a bit deeper and less fluffy here than a rom-com, and, it is a tad darker than The Rosy series.

However, I absolutely loved it. It took a couple of chapters to get used to the characters, and the novel’s style and timeframe, but I quickly found myself completely hooked, and I was totally invested in the characters. They are all perfectly realised and they felt so real that they leapt off the page - you felt that you knew them personally. You really feel the challenges that Art and Mimi have been through in the past, and you feel for Mimi as she devotes herself to looking after Art who requires a great deal of patience and careful handling. The character development is masterful as Art and Mimi respond and react to events, and they are not at all the same people they were at the start of the novel. The characters of Rey (Mimi and Art’s friend), Frank and Ernest (Art’s assistant) are equally well drawn.

It is a very touching read too. It is a well-observed, beautifully and intelligently written novel, and everything is handled with great sensitivity. It is set within the context of a complex family situation, and it looks deeply into sibling relationships and family dynamics, as well as exploring themes of love, grief and loss. There are some dark points in the story and some readers may need to take care for triggers including suicide, death, brain injury and sexually predatorial behaviour, but, the overall effect is positive with its message that you have to come to terms with the past before you can move forward, and it is ultimately and overwhelmingly an uplifting and positive read.

If there is any justice this brilliant debut will receive the success it deserves on publication, and I am keen to see what Kara Gnodde will follow this one with.

With thanks to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an impartial an unbiased review

The first chapter nearly put me off this book. It didn't feel like it was what I signed up for from the blurb. But I'm happy I kept going because it's a story of love in many forms and loss. It's sad at times, funny at others and quiet poetic too.

The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything is the first novel by South African-born British author, Kara Gnodde. For thirteen years now, ever since their parents’ tragic deaths, Mimi Brotherton has looked after her older brother, Art in their family home at 19 Muriel Grove. Professor Arthur Brotherton is a talented mathematician and “the deal of her life has always been: she is ordinary so that Art could be special.”

Early on, Mimi realised that “She’d have to stay home, reduced back to a data point in the great grand story of her genius brother and his all-important maths.” But now she’s finally decided to give up the museum job she hates, team up with her best friend Rey as a Foley artist, and look for romance. She goes for online dating, and gets Art to check out the sites to find the one with the best algorithm.

Art applies maths to the problem and (of course) has a theory for finding the right partner for his sister: having estimated how long she is prepared to search for the ideal partner, he informs her that “after thirty-seven percent, you settle on the very next man who is better than the ones who have gone before. That is the moment you can stop wondering if there is someone better out there. In all likelihood, there is not.”

But then Mimi meets Frank Taylor at a Mathematics Awards night. Frank is a mathematician too, so why isn’t Art pleased? Frank makes her feel truly loved; could Art be worried only about his own welfare? If Mimi leaves with Frank, he’ll have to fend for himself, and that would be a major distraction from his important work.

Art’s main research is on p versus Np, but he’s (perhaps excessively) paranoid that someone, the wrong someone, is stealing his work and will get there before him. It’s not the prize money he cares about; it’s the potential damage the wrong person might wreak with such powerful knowledge. And his suspicions have ramped up since Frank has appeared on the scene. Has Frank been entirely honest with Mimi?

After a nasty spat between the siblings that involves a pepper grinder and a broken wrist, Mimi goes away to break the tension. It’s during Mimi’s short absence that Art is hit by Frank’s car and ends up in an induced coma, with a severe brain injury. Frank swears it was an accident. Can Mimi believe him? Will she lose her brother? And if he survives, will Art lose his maths?

Gnodde’s story is original, her quirky characters easily endear themselves to the reader, and there are a few red herrings and distractions to build the intrigue and keep the pages turning. It is tightly plotted ensuring that even the most astute reader is unlikely to figure out all the angles.

Gnodde’s story touches on grief and guilt, on feeling abandoned, loneliness and loyalty, and, of course, love. Gnodde has a marvellous turn of phrase: “She even made them up in her head when Art wasn’t around, his opinions serving as guardrails to her bouncing thoughts.” This debut novel is funny and moving, and Gnodde’s next work will be eagerly anticipated
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Pan Macmillan.

The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything is a charming book. It is refreshing and well written, with quirky likeable characters.
Don't listen to some of the other reviews, you really do NOT need to know anything about maths, or like maths, to engage with Art. He is a super clever neuro-divergent mathematician whose life work is to solve a particular equation. (Don't ask me what or why - it doesn't matter!) He is lovable and easy to understand, despite his job.
The family history, including why siblings Art and Mimi are so close, is gradually revealed and I felt moved and so sad for them. But despite their history, the book is both uplifting and even funny in places.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes books like The Rosie Project, or those where friendship and family is at the centre.
A good 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars from me.