I read at least the first 50 pages, but didn't click with this book. I really loved The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, where Bender's use of magical realism worked for me. Here -- if that's what she's trying to do -- it did not. Her writing style was too matter-of-fact to mesh with the strange things that didn't quite add up: the crazy glass hospital that doesn't match the rest of the tiny town, her father's unexplained illness, her sudden appointment as an elementary teacher as a 20-year-old with just a high school diploma but who really loves math. I also didn't like how mean she was to her aunt (when her father first became "ill") and equally math-obsessed neighbor (several years later). Granted, kids tend to lash out when they're hurt and confused, but as a 20-year-old telling this story, she didn't seem to feel any remorse.
I liked the idea of this book, a protagonist who imagines numbers everywhere in her daily life, and was charmed by some of the details. Unfortunately the book had some odd subplots that I felt never had a point and felt very little affinity for Mona.
