You May Need Intuition to Define These Characters

By Rawlins McKinney May 4, 2006 Issue

A novel set in a research lab does not exactly scream, “Read me!” However, my interest was aroused when I saw who wrote Intuition. Although I have not read her earlier novels, I am familiar with Allegra Goodman’s writing because of her short stories in The New Yorker. A while back she was selected by the magazine as one of the 20 best fiction writers under the age of 40. Her short fiction has confirmed this accolade from “the world’s best magazine” (a self-anointment in a TV ad campaign several years ago, but it may well be true).

If you are looking for clearly defined heroes and villains, Intuition is not your book. Goodman’s constant shifting of the points of view from one character to another or to the omniscient will have you seeing the same character as a good guy on one page and a true jerk on another. They are all heroes; they are all villains; they are neither; take your pick.

The story line is simple enough. It’s set in the mid ‘80s at the Philpott Institute, a cancer research laboratory located in Cambridge, Mass. Despite the institute’s fame and prestige, it fights a constant battle for research grants that are stingily disbursed by the federal bureaucracy. Sandy Glass and Marion Mendelssohn run the lab. Sandy is a charismatic and totally optimistic oncologist with a flair for public relations. His exuberance is counterbalanced by scientist Marion’s practicality and pessimism. He’s a sprinter; she’s a plodder. They are a good team as long as the equilibrium is maintained.

The first hint of instability comes when Sandy and Marion confront Cliff Bannaker, whose research trials with RSV-7 are going nowhere. RSV-7 is a modified virus Cliff hopes will transform cancer cells into normal cells. Cliff has ignored Sandy and Marion’s orders to stop the trials. Cliff is adamant that he should stick with his project and the meeting ends in an impasse. Later Sandy and Marion have a disagreement as to what to do with the recalcitrant young researcher. Sandy wants to fire him while Marion thinks he has the potential to be salvaged.

The issue soon becomes moot. Cliff discovers the cancerous tumors in three of his mice have shrunk. He receives permission to continue the trials and the results are more than encouraging. The disease ran its course in the control mice but in the experimental groups the RSV-7 virus not only stopped the cancerous cells from multiplying but the tumors shrank and seemed to disappear. “In more than half of the diseased mice, R-7 acted like a heat-seeking missile, entering and subverting only cancerous cells, and skipping cells that were growing normally.”

This remarkable discovery transforms Cliff from his precarious standing as a smart but troublesome brat who won’t mind his elders into a wunderkind. The lab’s sole focus is now shifted to support Cliff’s research. Despite Marion’s urging to take it a little slower, Sandy decides that it’s now time to publish the paper in Nature magazine. His PR barrage results in nationwide coverage in all the important newspapers. Much to Marion’s chagrin, People magazine does a story on the Philpott Institute and its promising discovery.

Cliff’s soon to be ex-girlfriend, Robin, does not share in the euphoria. She is asked to give up her own bone marrow project to help Cliff. Marion sees her unhappiness and suggests that Robin relieve some of the lab pressures by taking on a part-time teacher’s assistant job with Marion’s husband, Jacob, at Tufts. Jacob is my favorite character in Intuition. A child prodigy, he entered the University of Cincinnati at age nine, graduated before his bar mitzvah, got his doctorate and began his post doctoral work at age 17. Then he made the most important discovery of his young life. Despite his genius, he realized he was not creative: “Jacob had been exercising his mind since babyhood. And now, suddenly, he realized he could stop. He could simply get a job, and read and play. He could abandon his prodigious expectations and begin to live.” He was perfectly content with his teaching job at Tufts and dedicated himself to Marion. Ironically, it is he who plants the seed of doubt in Robin’s mind about the integrity of Cliff’s work with the seemingly innocent statement, “The results seem almost too good to be true.”

From then on the plot is roiled with accusations, intrigue and surprising character revelations, some subtle, some shocking. The reader will find himself pulling for one character one moment and against him or her a few pages later. So it goes to the very appropriate ending.

Allegra Goodman was born in 1967. Even though her eligibility for The New Yorker’s best fiction writers under 40 category expires in 2007, Intuition makes a strong case for her recognition as one of today’s best fiction writers, period.

Intuition, The Dial Press, 341 pages, available in bookstores and libraries.

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