THE OTHER EINSTEIN by Marie Benedict

This novel does not come across as well-balanced.  Its two main characters, Albert Einstein and his first wife, Mileva Maric, are both unbearably flawed.  Since this is historical fiction, I have to wonder how accurate the author’s depiction is. Mileva has a birth defect in her hip that causes her to limp, and this affliction, along with her parents’ conversations about it, has caused her to have very low expectations with regard to her future as a mother and a wife.  Consequently, when Albert begins to shower her with attention, probably with the ulterior motive of picking her brain, she mistakes his flirtations for love.  The two become lovers while studying physics in Zurich, and Albert promises that his and Mileva’s eventual marriage will be an equal partnership in science.  However, Mileva has the ideas and provides the mathematical analysis, but Albert gets all the credit.  A “partnership” it is not.  Mileva bears Albert a daughter before they are married, but Albert never meets the child.  He blames Mileva for the unwanted pregnancy, but really I was very disappointed that a woman of her intellect and scholarly promise allows herself to get into this position.  The two do eventually wed, but Mileva becomes nothing more than a beleaguered hausfrau, while her husband gathers accolades and fools around with other women.  I understand that in the early 1900s she did not have a lot of options, but her tolerance of Albert’s abysmal behavior is just pathetic.  I pity her, but I don’t respect or admire her.  I liked the straightforward timeline in this book and Mileva’s first-person narration, but the writing is rather nondescript, and at times I felt that I could have been reading a novel intended for middle schoolers.