Intuition
by Allegra Goodman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Allegra GoodmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-03-13
ISBN: 0385336101
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780385336109
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Intuition
Book Review: A little light on the fiction
Summary: 1 Stars
I agree with the many other reviewers that Allegra Goodman's book distills down the ambition, pettiness, and ego of scientists to their barest human essentials. She breathes a considerable life and complexity into her characters and she interweaves their very different viewpoints and perspectives into a single narrative with a deft touch that makes spellbinding what could easily have been muddled.
Why then do I only give this book one star? Because a substantially identical story has been told better (and earlier!) by the writer Daniel J. Kevles in his book "The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Politics, Science, and Character". Kevles is no novelist, though, he's an investigator. His story is true -- it actually happened. The Baltimore Case is the true story of allegations of research fraud that unfolded in Cambridge in the late 1980s. Ms. Goodman had the deck stacked in her favor when she set out to write this book: the characters and narrative were already in place!
Like Goodman's novel, the real, non-fictional Baltimore case involves
i) a widely known scientific figure (David Baltimore in real life; Sandy Glass in the novel); who collaborates with
ii) a lesser known ambitious junior colleague (Thereza Imanishi-Kari, junior to David Baltimore in years and in stature in real life; Marion Mendelsson, junior to Sandy in stature in the novel).
This research team
iii) works in the town of Cambridge, Massachusetts at a famous research institution in the 1980s (MIT's Center for Cancer Research in real life, a fictionlized "Philpott Institute" in the novel)
iv) and supervise a biomedical research project whose results are a called into question by female post-doctoral researcher in her mid-thirties (Margot O'Toole in real life; Robin in the novel) and
v) eventually becomes involved with a couple of hacks at the NIH (the Office of Scientific Integrity's Walter W. Stewart and Ned Feder in real life; the "Office for Research Integrity in Science"'s Alan Hackett and Jonathan Schneiderman in the novel) whose office is supposedly charged with investigating and quelling scientific fraud but
vi) really seems to focus on railroading people whether guilty or not, so that an aged, grandstanding congressman (John Dingell in real life; Paul Redfield in the novel) can generate some good PR.
Like the novel, a turning point in the Baltimore case is
vii) a forceful counterattack by the lead male researcher [Baltimore / Glass] to being badgered by the congressman [Dingell / Redfield] in a public hearing; after the turning point,
viii) there are a few ups and downs as OSI / ORIS office leaks documents to the press, but ultimately,
ix) a specially convened appeals panel exonerates all the researchers accused of fraud.
To believe that these nine examples of overlap between the novel and real life events are merely coincidental strains credulity. Nevertheless, the front matter to the novel contains the standard disclaimer that all resemblance to real people is "entirely coincidental".
From my perspective, the continuance of Ms. Goodman and her publisher to purport that the work is fictional is highly misleading to readers, at best. Although I detailed nine instance of suspicious overlap between the novel and real-life events, the similarity of Robin to Margot O'Toole, in personality as well as function in the plot (as described by Kevles in his book) is especially undeniable.
This book is like an inverse of "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. Frey claimed he was writing about real events when actually he made them up. Oprah got mad. Well, her, Goodman claims to have made up this story when in fact has actually occurred. If only Oprah would step in here!
But even notwithstanding the fact that the "novel" actually isn't quite so, Daniel Kevles's book is more compelling, more detailed, and better written than Allegra Goodman's.
Don't want to read Kevles's book? That's ok, a cursory search of amazon revealed several other openly non-fictional books about the Baltimore case. Aside from this novel, which is purportedly not based on real-world people or events, Kevles' book is the only I have personally have read, and I enjoyed his book considerably.
Summary of Intuition
Hailed as ?a writer of uncommon clarity? by the New Yorker, National Book Award finalist Allegra Goodman has dazzled readers with her acclaimed works of fiction, including such beloved bestsellers as The Family Markowitz and Kaaterskill Falls. Now she returns with a bracing new novel, at once an intricate mystery and a rich human drama set in the high-stakes atmosphere of a prestigious research institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Sandy Glass, a charismatic publicity-seeking oncologist, and Marion Mendelssohn, a pure, exacting scientist, are codirectors of a lab at the Philpott Institute dedicated to cancer research and desperately in need of a grant. Both mentors and supervisors of their young postdoctoral protégés, Glass and Mendelssohn demand dedication and obedience in a competitive environment where funding is scarce and results elusive. So when the experiments of Cliff Bannaker, a young postdoc in a rut, begin to work, the entire lab becomes giddy with newfound expectations. But Cliff?s rigorous colleague?and girlfriend?Robin Decker suspects the unthinkable: that his findings are fraudulent. As Robin makes her private doubts public and Cliff maintains his innocence, a life-changing controversy engulfs the lab and everyone in it.
With extraordinary insight, Allegra Goodman brilliantly explores the intricate mixture of workplace intrigue, scientific ardor, and the moral consequences of a rush to judgment. She has written an unforgettable novel.
From the Hardcover edition.
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