It feels like the kind of definition of life that I believe in, that not everything is explainable by rational processes and rules, that there is space for things that we are just not capable of explaining, but it's okay. I love that it allows for an exploration of life beyond the rational and mundane. I love the freedom it gives to the wideness of human experience. No one is really put out that irrational things are happening, even if they admit they are irrational. But, in general, what I understand magical realism to be is a book (art, film, whatever) that is set in what feels like our current, rational, non-magic world until all the sudden something 'magical' (irrational, unexplained, etc.) happens, and everyone just kind of goes with it like it's no big deal. Okay, so, like that definition admits, magical realism can look like a lot of different things. In case you've never heard of it, here's the Wikipedia definition (which, as we all know, is the definitive source of wisdom): 'Literature, painting, and film that, while encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, share in common an acceptance of magic in the rational world.' How familiar are you with this genre? Very? A little? Not at all? And he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job.Let's talk about magical realism. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig-until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down.

By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.

Love theorically