(NOTE: page numbers refer to the hardcover edition of The Eight and the paperback edition of A Calculated Risk. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but those are the only editions available to me at the moment.)
NOTE: This was written 20 years ago, before The Fire was published, and some of it is out of date.
When I first read the description of Tor in A Calculated Risk, I
immediately thought, "Nim!" The two characters are very similar; almost
identical, I would have said, after I read A Calculated Risk for
the first time. After reading it a second time, however, I noticed a few
differences which I will point out later on.
Let's look at Katherine Neville's descriptions of Nim and Tor; we can
see the similarity right away. Nim: "I had a friend in Manhattan who was
even more mysterious than the elusive Solarin. A man who was listed in no
phone book and had no mailing address. He was one of the legends of data
processing and, though barely thirty years old, had written definitive
texts on the subject. He'd been my mentor in the computer business when
I'd first arrived in the Big Apple three years earlier..." (The
Eight, p. 117). Tor: "He'd been my mentor twelve years earlier, when
I'd first gone to New York. He was the most reclusive person I'd met...
Everyone in computers knew the name: Tor was the father of networking, and
had written the classic texts on communications theory. So famous was he,
that younger people, reading the classics he'd written, imagined him to be
long dead. Though he was not yet forty..." (A Calculated Risk, p.
28-29). A little later, we find out that Tor "didn't believe in phones or
mailing addresses" (A Calculated Risk, p. 29).
As we can see from these descriptions, these characters are almost
identical; in a few places, Katherine Neville uses almost exactly the same
words to describe them. The descriptions bring out what I think are the
two most important parts of Nim's and Tor's characters: their
reclusiveness and their brilliance, especially in the field of computing.
Also, we see how important they are to Catherine and Verity; both were the
heroine's mentor in computing.
Both The Eight and A Calcuated Risk contain a scene in
which the heroine tries to call her mentor; again, the two scenes are
almost identical. Since Nim and Tor both keep their phone numbers a
secret from almost everyone except the heroine, she has a very difficult
time trying to reach him by phone, and in both scenes the person who
answers the phone pretends not to have heard of him.
From The Eight: "wanting to find Nim and finding him were two
different things... They wouldn't even admit they knew who he was
when you called..." "Rockaway Greens Hall," said the woman who answered
the phone. "I'm trying to reach Dr. Nim," I told her. "I'm afraid we
have no one here by that name," she said sweetly. This was a pleasant
treatment compared with the vicious denials I normally got from Nim's
answering service." (The Eight, p. 117-118). The number turns out
to be that of a convent; later, Catherine tries to call Nim at the New
York Stock Exchange and, once more, runs into someone who says she hasn't
heard of him (The Eight, p. 119).
From A Calculated Risk: "Tor never visited his office, however,
and when you called there, you got a strange response. I gave it a try.
"Delphic," the receptionist snapped, not lavish with information. "I'm
trying to reach Dr. Tor--Dr. Zoltan Tor. Is he there?" Fat chance.
"Sorry," she said, not sounding it, "you've dialed the wrong number..."
(A Calculated Risk, p. 29).
Besides being experts on computing, both characters are experts on
codes. Nim sends Catherine coded messages when she is in Algiers, and he
helps her figure out the fortune-teller's message. In A Calculated
Risk, we find out that "Among Tor's many accomplishments was his
mastery of cryptography." (A Calculated Risk, p. 29).
Both characters are very wealthy; we are not sure exactly how they made
their money, but I'm sure it had something to do with computing. Nim
lives in a wonderful house on Long Island. The house Tor buys on the
island in San Francisco Bay is also very interesting, although not as
enormous as Nim's house. Both houses have a huge fireplace (The
Eight, p. 138; A Calculated Risk, p. 230).
Nim and Tor are both gourmet cooks, while Catherine and Verity do not
seem to be interested in cooking. Nim and Tor cook for Catherine and
Verity.
Nim is 30 and Catherine is 23; Tor is 39 and Verity is 32. In both
cases, there is a seven-year age difference.
Both characters drive an old dark-green car.
The two characters' physical appearance is also similar. Both have red
hair: "coppery" (The Eight, p. 129), "precisely the color of
copper" (A Calculated Risk, p. 65). Nim and Tor are both tall,
too. Interestingly, though, their eye color is different. "Nim's eyes,
due to a strange genetic twist, were of two different colors, one brown
and one blue." (The Eight, p. 130). Tor's eyes are different: "Now
I noticed the color of his eyes. They were strangely disconcerting--an
intense, coppery flame burning in the depths..." (A Calculated
Risk, p. 70).
Now I would like to point out some differences between the two
characters. Although both Nim and Tor are attracted to the heroine, she
responds in a different way. Catherine never realizes until the end of
the book that Nim loved her, and even then it's hard for her to believe:
"Don't be ridiculous," she says to Solarin, who has figured out that Nim
loves her (The Eight, p. 529). She loves Solarin instead of Nim;
at the end of the book, we assume that Catherine and Solarin will get
married. Verity, however, comes to love Tor, although she did not realize
it at first. It is when they are on the island in San Francisco Bay that
she first realizes that she loves him (A Calculated Risk, p. 226).
At the end, we think that Verity will marry Tor.
Before she comes to realize her feelings for Tor, however, Verity is
annoyed by him. She is especially bothered by his reclusiveness, and she
also thinks he is trying to control her life. The relationship between
Verity and Tor is much more competitive than the one between Catherine and
Nim. Verity and Tor compete against each other during the book, while
Catherine and Nim are always on the same side. I don't remember Catherine
being annoyed by Nim, except for the fact that it's so difficult to reach
him by phone, and she doesn't think Nim is trying to control her life.
In spite of the fact that he's so reclusive, I think Tor is more
outgoing than Nim. He is certainly better at expressing his feelings for
the heroine than Nim is. After all, Nim never actually tells Catherine he
loves her; she has to find out from Solarin.
Nim is a great chess player; I don't remember anything about Tor
playing chess. Of course, this could be because chess is so important in
The Eight, but not in A Calculated Risk.
I've also noticed a few similarities between Tor and Solarin. Of
course, there is the obvious one: both are the heroine's main love
interest. As I said, Tor can be outgoing in spite of his reclusiveness;
Solarin has an outgoing personality, although he is mysterious, too. Tor
and Solarin are also very good with boats; Solarin takes Catherine and
Lily on the boat across the Atlantic, and Tor takes Verity on a boat in
San Francisco Bay.
Copyright 1997 Vicki Kondelik.