When Renee Feuer goes to col­lege, one of the first lessons she tries to learn is how to lib­er­ate her­self from the restric­tions of her ortho­dox Jew­ish back­ground. As she dis­cov­ers the plea­sures of the body, Renee also learns about the excite­ments of the mind. She enrolls as a phi­los­o­phy grad­u­ate stu­dent, then mar­ries Noam Him­mel, the world-renowned math­e­mati­cian. But Renee dis­cov­ers that being mar­ried to a genius is a less ele­vat­ing expe­ri­ence than expect­ed. The sto­ry of her quest for a solu­tion to the mind-body prob­lem, a quest that involves the prick­ly con­tem­po­rary dilem­mas of sex and love, of doubt and belief, is a hilar­i­ous, touch­ing, and always engross­ing adven­ture. Rebec­ca Gold­stein has writ­ten a delight­ful­ly enter­tain­ing and res­o­nant book — a prodi­gious debut by an orig­i­nal and excit­ing writer.