Why, oh why can’t I find a good book to read? I struggled through Intuition because it was a book club selection. And also because I had really enjoyed Allegra Goodman’s Kaaterskill Falls. This should have been the type of book I enjoy. Unfortunately, I had to struggle through every chapter.
Intuition is about a fictional research laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and what happens when one of the postdoctoral fellows gets positive results from an experiment. The brash, ambitious co-director of the lab pushes the results towards publication, perhaps prematurely. The former girlfriend of the researcher begins to have suspicions about the work. Is she just jealous? Is there fraud involved, or merely sloppy record-keeping?
Basically-I don’t care. The characters are boring. There are a number of ancillary characters who seem potentially more interesting, but we don’t get a chance to know them in depth. And I think that depth, or the lack of it, is the problem with this novel. The characters are stereotypes. They lack motivation and interest. Once the plot line is established, the end result seems preordained.
Allegra Goodman-you can do better!
In USA:
Published in hardcover-Dial Press 2006
Softcover edition-Dial Press-2007
La Bibliofille 