Lauren Grodstein's The Explanation for Everything
Grodstein's latest, after the excellent Friend of the Family, is another strong and readable novel. It was actually amazingly readable, considering how many parts of it involved things that I personally find grating (student-teacher relationships, people who are into intelligent design [can't you believe in God AND evolution?? I do, so it's certainly not impossible!], an incorrect description of the academic grant application process [sorry, but I work with grants at a university! Professors don't just directly submit to the NSF and you certainly can't be still writing the scientific portions a week before it's due! There are CHANNELS and OFFICES you have to go through and SIGNATURES needed from the school!]).
ANYWAY.
The book is about a biology professor at a small (and apparently not very reputable) school, a widower with two daughters, who teacher a class on evolution called There Is No God (modeled after his Princeton professor mentor's most famous course). When a student approaches him about doing an independent study on intelligent design, he finds himself exploring the idea of faith. Grodstein absolutely nails writing people who are basically total messes and has academic politics (and neighborhood politics) down to a T. I'm actually still not sure how I feel about where things end up, but this was really good. A-/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
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