Intuition

This is a fascinating read about the personalities and politics of a cancer research lab. A struggling postdoc suddenly starts to achieve startling results with his experiments, bringing some fame and kudos to his lab. But another postdoc, a soon-to-be-ex girlfriend, can't replicate his results, and she starts to wonder about the integrity of his processes. The story is told from numerous viewpoints, showing that truth is relative, not easily defined. Supposedly objective and unassailable hard data, the backbone of rigorous science, is only a tool in the hands of humans, who cannot help but be defined by their own subjective, shifting and wavering human emotions. Goodman has captured the intricate and complex dance of how humans show more interact and relate -- that was the real triumph of this book. show less

This book revolves around a research lab where the latest experiments by Cliff, a failing lab tech, seem to show promise of curing cancer. Cliff is elated, two years of hard work seem to be paying off for him, but his soon to be ex girlfriend, Robin, the senior lab tech, has her doubts.

As the lab rushes to publish Cliff's startling results, the grant money begins to pour in and no one wants to listen to Robin's increasingly paranoid concerns. Who's telling the truth? Will Cliff's research bear fruit or is he just a desperate liar?

This book blew my mind! I've never before read a book that was so determinedly ambiguous. The narrator simply refuses to tell you what really happened and who is right. The unique cast of characters leaps off show more the page and as the book progresses you become intimately familiar with everyone's motives and fears. In the end, the author leaves it up to the reader to decide who lied and who didn't, who was justified and who was wrong.

Absolutely fascinating. I've never read a book like this. I'll be rolling this one around in my head for weeks to come. show less

Life in a research lab may not seem the kind of subject that would be good for a novel, but Allegra Goodman does a terrific job with this story. In charge of a lab doing oncology research are Marion Mendelssohn, a strict and methodical researcher, and Sandy Glass, an oncologist of reknown and a go-getter. These two end up in a most difficult situation when the validity of the research being done within their lab comes under scrutiny.

What really shines in this novel are the relationships that develop and break during the course of the research. All of the characters in this story work very closely together. It’s interesting to see how stress affects them all. It’s also fascinating to see how the author develops her characters in show more reaction to this stress.

What are the boundaries of research? Who can question the validity of research results? Who are those of the greatest integrity within a lab setting? If such questions haunt you, you’ll find much to like in this fine novel. show less

Like a psychiatric surgeon sitting on her chair writing a note on a patient's pad, the author reveals to our tired eyes all the depths of the souls of her figures lying before her on the treatment couch. And the detail, so impressive that it exhausts you completely. There is no feeling hidden from us, no motive hidden from us. There is not a little bit of thought, a trait, a hobby, or some self-insight that has spared from us during reading.

The book focuses on a scientist who has made a breakthrough in the quest for cancer medicine. This inspires the envy of another scientist and is determined to find flaws in his work. In tedious detail, in diffuse phrasing and random descriptions of their focus, the writer describes this terrible show more plot, in which jealousy prevails. This is monstrous jealousy of its dimensions, which rises above all the relevant mental and human considerations.

Reading the book, even if it was quite tricky, made me feel horrifying: How many studies of drugs have been interrupted for stupid reasons like politics or money or envy? And how much life could have been saved? I'm horrified to think about it.

This is a tedious book that manages to evoke deep thoughts about the cynical world in which we live. Worth the investment in reading? I still can not say for sure. show less

Wow.

First. Why haven't I ever read anything by Allegra Goodman before?

Second. Boy, was this a good book. By far the best I have read all year maybe even the past two or three years. That is saying a lot since this book has scene after scene of graphic experiments with mice. I generally would *never* read a book that contained this kind of subject matter. I find it so upsetting - but this book was so compelling I just couldn't put it down - even though I really didn't know if I would make it through all those scenes. (for sensitive readers like myself - it does get better - after the first couple of sections there is much less time spent with the mice.)

The plot was complex and compelling. It read almost like a thriller for me. Her show more characters are so well drawn and complicated. It is frosting on the cake for me that the setting of the book was local (Cambridge, MA ). As I read, I kept thinking that it would make a fabulous movie - then I thought... no... a masterpiece theater mini-series would be even better... it would allow the time for the story to really unfold at the pace it does in the novel.

Anyway - I was blown away by this book - I am even more excited to read something else by Goodman... I fully expect that in the next book if I am spared the animal experiments - I will be even more excited (if that is possible) about her writing. show less

Very nicely constructed, well paced. Every kind of twist and turn as the story evolves. Maybe a little over-complicated, maybe it moves too fast. It never really sits and simmers and soaks... it takes a taste, and then on to the next wild scene.

I really liked the tension between science as the quest for truth and science as the quest for fame. This book did a good job of walking the tightrope, never landing on either side.

I've been meaning to check into the novels of Allegra Goodman, and when my pal RJ gave me a copy of Intuition for my birthday, I had the perfect excuse.

This novel centers around a group of cancer researchers in Cambridge and the promising discovery that one of them claims to have made. Has he really found a way to obliterate tumors? Or did he fudge the results, the better to further his career and nab a government grant for his lab? And what about his ex-girlfriend, the one who suspects him of fraud -- is she right, or just letting her feelings cloud her judgement?

"What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer." Science is supposed to be dispassionate, but it's practiced by passionate people. Goodman explores this show more sticky paradox from many angles. She dissects the hearts and minds of many characters, allowing us to see them both as they are and as they seem themselves. This is a neat trick, one to which novels (and Goodman) are well-suited. The author doesn't take sides. She seems to know that the truth and her characters are too messy, too interesting for that. I'm curious to see what she writes next. show less