Review of 'An Elegant Theory' by Noah Milligan

You don't have to be a student of Quantum Physics to understand the underlying science of the novel An Elegant Theory by Noah Milligan (Central Avenue Publishing, November 2016).

Even if you failed Physics in high school, you’re likely to grasp the Many-Worlds theory suggesting that there is a parallel universe, or possibly many parallel universes, in which an infinite number of alternate realities exist. Each of these realities is like the one we are experiencing now, but the outcome of events is completely different.

Coulter Zahn, a PHD candidate struggling to prepare his dissertation, envisions his life unfolding in multiple directions simultaneously. In one, he makes a Nobel Prize-worthy scientific discovery that changes our concept of the universe. In another, his wife informs him that she is leaving him, a declaration that leads to tragic results.

“I oftentimes daydream I can see all these possibilities playing out, the smallest changes causing ripple effects that alter the future,” Coulter thinks. “They feel so real, the scene unfolding before me so vividly, my consciousness so lucid ... When they happen I lose all sensation of the present, and when I come back to, I have no memory of the lost time.”

Coulter’s story jumps back and forth in time, told alternatively in first and then third person. He is a complex character, burdened by loneliness, an obsession to prove a seemingly unprovable scientific theory, and a loveless marriage. Coulter’s actions, in the multiverses of his life, often frustrate us as readers because we are never quite sure whether his experiences are hallucinations or daydreams, or if they are realities taking place in another dimension.

Alongside the occasional mention of string theory and double-slit experiments, An Elegant Theory is a well-written psychological thriller, stretching our imagination into multiple realities and keeping us glued to the page.

An Elegant Theory is author Noah Milligan’s debut novel. The book was shortlisted for the 2015 Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize and was a finalist for Foreword Review's 2016 Book of the Year. A graduate of the MFA program at the University of Central Oklahoma, Noah Milligan lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, with his wife and two children.

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.