Dyscalculia by Camonghne Felix

"Powerful . . . a poetic meditation on how love or attempts at loving can drive us to madness."-The Boston Globe

"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.