The explanation for everything : a novel /

Andy Waite is a biology professor who has never gone in for religion, but he lives for glimpses of his wife's ghost. He's trying to balance grief and fatherhood and a complicated relationship with his neighbor while applying for a grant that would help him prove that the brains of alcoholic mice are wired differently. None of it is going very well, although he is a pretty decent father to his two young girls. Then his seminar on Darwinism, There Is No God, is infiltrated by a Campus Crusader for Christ, and a student asks him to sponsor her independent study on intelligent design. All of this leads him to question the faith he was so confident he did not have. Nothing is neatly answered, and even though some of Andy's actions are desperately cringe-worthy, you root for his hard-won wisdom. Grodstein handles everything with a subtle wit, managing to skewer both the ultraconservative and the ultraliberal without making either seem absolutely wrong. Both the tone and the plot of the grieving professor finding answers in science are reminiscent of Carolyn Parkhurst's Dogs of Babel (2003).--Maguire, Susan Copyright 2010 Booklist

A little romance fails to lighten a heavy-handed parable about the limits of belief and intolerance in Grodstein's third novel (after A Friend of the Family). Biology professor Andy Waite, preoccupied with applying for tenure and securing a major grant, is relieved to be teaching his signature biology course, which is called "There Is No God." Grieving for his wife Lou, who was killed by a drunk driver, Andy throws himself into his responsibilities and does what he can to keep her killer in prison, but he's lost when it comes to shepherding his two daughters through problems with school and friends. Then transfer student Melissa Potter enlists Andy to sponsor her independent study project about intelligent design. She also babysits for the Waites, bringing her closer to Andy and his family and to changing Andy's mind about the existence of a higher power. The cultural clash engineered by the author opens as fresh and diverting, but gets bogged down in improbable plot turns involving Andy's neighbor and Melissa's megachurch. Heady discussions about God between Andy and Melissa feel as unrealistic as their romance, leaving a void where a lively debate should have been. Agent: Julie Barer, Barer Literary. (Sept. 3) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Rick Adamson provides the perfect voice for Grodstein's study in love, loss, and faith. Atheist Andy Waite, reeling from the death of his wife through the actions of a drunk driver, has thrown himself into caring for his two daughters and his work as a professor of biology. He's trying his best, but Andy can't take his late wife's place in the girls' lives, particularly while he struggles with his own grief. He reluctantly agrees to advise evangelical student Melissa on her intelligent design independent study. Melissa begins to babysit for his children and becomes important to Andy and the girls before the two of them become involved intimately. Along the way, Andy begins to question his atheism, his life's work, his lack of forgiveness, and his inability to let anyone in. Andy's internal drama is superb. Verdict Grodstein captures the face of grief in Andy's struggle to find comfort and move on. The secondary characters are well drawn and add interest to the story. Recommended. ["This engaging, and provocative novel is hard to put down," read the starred review of the Algonquin hc, LJ 9/1/13.]-Judy Murray, Monroe Cty. Lib. Syst., Temperance, MI (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In her fourth novel, Grodstein (A Friend of the Family, 2009, etc.) writes of loss of love and belief. Andy Waite's a biology professor at Exton Reed, "eleven hundred students and forty-two acres of crumbling quad hidden at the ass end of New Jersey." Andy loves teaching a class entitled "There Is No God," a Darwinian homage. Andy's mentor was a notorious Richard Dawkinslike professor, Hank Rosenblum. But Andy's morose; his wife, Louisa, was killed by a drunken driver. He does have two precocious daughters, and tenure's imminent, and there's a possible National Science Foundation grant, one related to studies about alcohol and the brain. Louisa's death explains his research, but nothing rational explains his agreement to mentor Melissa Potter's independent study: an objectivist argument for intelligent design. Images of Louisa linger as Andy interacts with Sheila, divorced neighbor and recovering alcoholic. As his emotional relationship with Melissa skates toward intimacy, Andy is plagued by doubts--over his project's validity after befriending Sheila; over his unbending opposition to parole for the young driver who killed Louisa; and over his rigidity as Melissa's warmth and generosity make real the power of spiritual belief. Rather than offering the works of St. Augustine or C.S. Lewis as rationalizations for belief, Grodstein offers the homilies of a fictional local pastor; it's a bit of an easier road, but her narrative sparkles with irony and wry observation. A fundamentalist student, Andy's vocal opponent, loses his faith. Rosenblum's overbearing prodding of a brilliant student who rejects science for marriage to a pastor results in her suicide. As the possibility of the divine sparks emotions Andy cannot comprehend, he learns he's caught up in another person's experiment. A college professor, Grodstein is perfect with her description of campus tremors radiating after a colleague strays from conventional wisdom. While Melissa's motivations and actions are sometimes contradictory and counterintuitive, Grodstein's portrait of Andy is spot-on, as is that of the evangelical student, Sheila, Rosenblum and the minor characters. A rumination on love and loss, faith in reason and faith in the divine.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.