nbrenchley's review
2.0
Another San Francisco Library Book Club book. It was a quick read. They story was good, but the main female character really grated on my nerves
megmcardle's review
4.0
Intuition, by Allegra Goodman deals with a controversy over an experimental cancer treatment developed at a Boston lab. The Philpott lab is struggling to get funding when Cliff, one of the postdocs, appears to have made an amazing discovery. As the story progresses, Cliff's findings are thrown into doubt by his fellow researcher and ex-girlfriend Robin. When she cannot replicate his results, Robin accuses Cliff of manipulating the data. Her initial questioning grows until it becomes a national debate on scientific ethics. Were his results exaggerated or manipulated? Did the lab rush to publish them to ensure funding? Are Robin's accusations based on science or resentment? Goodman tells the story from several different perspectives, so that every time you think you know what really happened, you end up questioning it all again. The characters are all vividly drawn, from charming Cliff, insecure Robin, Sandy the bombastic fund-raiser, and Marian the tightly controlled empirical scientist. The pace was slow, as the controversy at the lab keeps growing, but I was so involved in the story and characters that I had to follow them to the end. Goodman's earlier novel Kaaterskill Falls was another great character study, but I think this is her best work to date.
cook_memorial_public_library's review
5.0
I really enjoyed the behind the scenes look at cancer research. In a literary style, Goodman relates the risks, the competition and the personalities involved in looking for cures. The work is tedious and secretive, and the scientific research is tainted by politics and money. The characters are believable and human, all revealing degrees of jealousy, ambition and integrity.
--Recommended by Connie
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sintuition+goodman__Orightresult__U1?lang=eng&suite=pearl
--Recommended by Connie
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sintuition+goodman__Orightresult__U1?lang=eng&suite=pearl
mmz's review against another edition
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
snowmaiden's review against another edition
5.0
Ever since reading [b: The Cookbook Collector|7632696|The Cookbook Collector|Allegra Goodman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320507963s/7632696.jpg|10140384], I've put Allegra Goodman in my top tier of current American novelists, right up there with Neal Stephenson and Richard Powers. All three of them are able to depict characters with opposing viewpoints while allowing the reader the freedom to understand and empathize with either side. This novel, which takes us through several years in a biology research lab as they devote all their efforts to exploring a possible cure for cancer, is the perfect example of how Goodman does that.
Although my background is in the humanities, I have several friends in the sciences, and from my experience, Goodman's portrayal of research lab culture is spot-on. Even when they don't particularly like each other, the researchers end up doing most of their socializing together, just because they spend so many hours in the lab and so few out of it. The novel also points out an unspoken conflict in all branches of academia-- while the scholars in a department can be thought of as a team working together, they are often put in direct competition with each other for scarce departmental resources. This leads to all kinds of conflicts of interest that are illustrated here masterfully.
In my estimation, only one thing kept this book from being 100% perfect. The novel is ostensibly set in the mid-1980's, but there's very little to remind one of that fact. The time period is manifested in negatives-- there's no DNA research in the lab, there are no cell phones, there's not even any evidence of email. But there didn't seem to be a reason why Goodman chose this particular time period instead of a different one, and that bothered me a little. I found myself wondering if it was simply because cell phones and email would have screwed up the plotting, and that seems like a bad reason to turn a novel into a period piece.
Although my background is in the humanities, I have several friends in the sciences, and from my experience, Goodman's portrayal of research lab culture is spot-on. Even when they don't particularly like each other, the researchers end up doing most of their socializing together, just because they spend so many hours in the lab and so few out of it. The novel also points out an unspoken conflict in all branches of academia-- while the scholars in a department can be thought of as a team working together, they are often put in direct competition with each other for scarce departmental resources. This leads to all kinds of conflicts of interest that are illustrated here masterfully.
In my estimation, only one thing kept this book from being 100% perfect. The novel is ostensibly set in the mid-1980's, but there's very little to remind one of that fact. The time period is manifested in negatives-- there's no DNA research in the lab, there are no cell phones, there's not even any evidence of email. But there didn't seem to be a reason why Goodman chose this particular time period instead of a different one, and that bothered me a little. I found myself wondering if it was simply because cell phones and email would have screwed up the plotting, and that seems like a bad reason to turn a novel into a period piece.
mcnamasa's review
4.0
In my opinion, this book is NOT about ethics in science and addressing all of the long, complicated subjective facets of the situation. Instead, the author managed to create a story about the egos present in academia, and how they play rolls in both the success and failures of the field. In all, this book really resonated with me. Everything about it was so scarily reminiscent of real-life situations I've witnessed that it could have been a work of nonfiction. The writing style even conveyed some of the more subtle points of the story, such as repeatedly mentioning Harvard as the school (as many egotistical members of academia do all. the. time.).
rachelisblue's review
I started this book before all the excitement of reading Harry Potter, and it just didn't grab my interest enough for me to keep plugging away at it.
bluenicorn's review
2.0
I did not care for this- the characters were all kind of petty and uninteresting, the mice dissections made me squeamish, and I just didn't feel super invested or really care about the story.