Interesting read about Post-doc research fellows who face strange circumstances. Explores ethical issues in a very interesting way. Very engaging book. I read this in 3 days!
A view into the competitive world of medical research, this novel also nicely develops it's characters and ther lives. This is obviously well-researched. I enjoyed this far more than "The Family Markowitz".
I like novels where interesting characters are thrown in a fishbowl and left to swim. Here, the fishbowl is a high-stakes laboratory setting, and the impetus for the ensuing action is first the drive to succeed as a scientist and second the question of to what extent the actions of a particular scientist crossed a line into unethical behavior (and how that issue relates to the first issue). The unfolding action asks us to consider how the politics and relationships of the workplace make a differ...more I like novels where interesting characters are thrown in a fishbowl and left to swim. Here, the fishbowl is a high-stakes laboratory setting, and the impetus for the ensuing action is first the drive to succeed as a scientist and second the question of to what extent the actions of a particular scientist crossed a line into unethical behavior (and how that issue relates to the first issue). The unfolding action asks us to consider how the politics and relationships of the workplace make a difference in what work gets done. Interestingly, I therefore don't think that the laboratory setting is of primary importance: it is merely an attractive fishbowl.
However, as a scientist myself, I see in the novel a fable about why I should keep organized and complete lab records (and wonder if this should be be required reading for graduate students!) I see characters drawn to science for the same myriad reasons as the colleagues I've known, and the consequences on their actions. The brutality of cutting off a no-longer-promising avenue of research or of telling a postdoc that perhaps she should "just teach" resonate tremendously with me. I find it utterly remarkable that Goodman has captured so many of the sociological issues of science so well!
I love Allegra Goodman. She breathes life into her characters. This novel was especially well researched. It takes the reader into the world of medical research. This might seem dry, but she creates such realistically specific characters that I was compelled to keep reading. I enjoyed her "Paradise Park" even more.
A great discovery is made in a lab--or is it? The events bring out the best in some, the worst in others.
