"We learn about the cracks in Felix's upbringing, the hurt from the breakup itself, and a pain that spans a lifetime, all through a sharp millennial voice."--Time
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, Chicago Public Library, Electric Lit
When Camonghne Felix goes through a monumental breakup, culminating in a hospital stay, everything--from her early childhood trauma and mental health to her relationship with mathematics--shows up in the tapestry of her healing. In this exquisite and raw reflection, Felix repossesses herself through the exploration of history she'd left behind, using her childhood "dyscalculia"--a disorder that makes it difficult to learn math--as a metaphor for the consequences of her miscalculations in love. Through reckoning with this breakup and other adult gambles in intimacy, Felix asks the question: Who gets to assert their right to pain?
Dyscalculia negotiates the misalignments of perception and reality, love and harm, and the politics of heartbreak, both romantic and familial.
"Stunning . . . gorgeous."--BookRiot, 10 Riveting New Nonfiction Books to Read in February 2023
"We learn about the cracks in Felix's upbringing, the hurt from the breakup itself, and a pain that spans a lifetime, all through a sharp millennial voice."--TIME, Here Are the 12 New Books You Should Read in February
"[An] extraordinary volume reckoning with intimacy, healing, perception, love and loss."--Ms. Magazine, Most Anticipated Feminist Reads of 2023
"If you're into poetic, rigorous personal narratives (think Elissa Washuta and Ocean Vuong), you'll want this one on your list."--Literary Hub, Most Anticipated Books of 2023
"Enchanting . . . Leaping seamlessly between the abstraction of formulas and the honest, verbose mess of a break-up, Dyscalculia pushes the metaphor of loss as a math problem in imaginative new directions."--Bustle, The Most Anticipated Books of 2023
"I'm not sure I've ever read something that's so ferocious and measured as Dyscalculia."--Purse Book
"Dyscalculia is a frank exploration of pleasure, heartbreak, and reclamation. It makes a case for softness, for lostness, for black girlhood, that rejects containment and asks instead for care."--Raven Leilani, author of Luster
"Dyscalculia took my breath, grabbed my heart, and made me see. It brought me back to every heartbreak I've ever endured, and I marveled at Camonghne Felix's deep knowing and even deeper articulation of the pain of loss . . . This book is a gift and a miracle."--Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
"I am deeply shaken by the profound singularity of Dyscalculia. Felix manages to cast, and really conjure, a new portal into the agony of miscalculating love and the pain one can experience in loving relationships."--Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
"Devoured it in one sitting-[I was] riveted, propelled, rearranged."--Leslie Jamison
"Felix's narrative is as much about the wounds and scars of what it means to love as it is about self-preservation as a political act for Black women."--Public Books
"Visceral and radiant, this soul-searching self-interrogation resonates."--Publishers Weekly
"A wildly smart, singular redemption story that is greater than the sum of its parts."--Kirkus Reviews