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The Honest Look
In becoming a scientist, Claire Cyrus hopes to escape the fate of her dead father, a brilliant but critically unsuccessful poet whose poverty and bitterness derailed her own strong talent for verse. Soon after moving from England to take up her first job in a start-up biotech company in the Netherlands, she finds herself an outcast in her strange new environment, shunned by her jealous colleagues and moving only on the fringes of the expatriate community. But when she makes an accidental discovery in the lab, her life will never be the same again. The Honest Look is a tale of passion, betrayal and a devastating secret that threatens to bring down careers, a company and a widely accepted scientific theory. Unfolding in the modern corporate laboratory, where the idealism of advancing knowledge and the uncompromising reality of profit margins exist in uneasy truce, this is a story of how people with various stakes in a common endeavour react when its integrity is called into
question, and how these reactions can be shaped―and warped―by denial, greed, hatred and love.
question, and how these reactions can be shaped―and warped―by denial, greed, hatred and love.
- GenresFiction
300 pages, Hardcover
First published November 19, 2010
5 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer L. Rohn
4 books7 followersAn avid reader, Jenny had always wondered why there were so few scientist characters in mainstream. Jenny coined the term 'lab lit' to describe such novels and in 2005 launched the website LabLit.com to help promote the use of science and scientist characters in mainstream fiction and to illuminate the world of scientists and laboratory culture. In addition to her activities as a practicing scientist and novelist, Jenny is a part-time science writer and journalist, broadcaster and sci-lit-art pundit.
Jennifer L. Rohn was born in Stow, Ohio. She received a BA in Biology summa cum laude from Oberlin College in 1990, and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Washington, Seattle in 1996. She moved to London for post-doctoral scientific training and then to Amsterdam, Netherlands, for a stint in a start-up biotech. She is now a group leader in the Division of Medicine at University College London.
Her writing has appeared in many places including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, BBC News, Nature and The Scientist, and she also appears frequently on TV, radio, in podcasts and as an expert in science films.
Her short fiction has been published in Naturliterature.
Jennifer L. Rohn was born in Stow, Ohio. She received a BA in Biology summa cum laude from Oberlin College in 1990, and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Washington, Seattle in 1996. She moved to London for post-doctoral scientific training and then to Amsterdam, Netherlands, for a stint in a start-up biotech. She is now a group leader in the Division of Medicine at University College London.
Her writing has appeared in many places including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, BBC News, Nature and The Scientist, and she also appears frequently on TV, radio, in podcasts and as an expert in science films.
Her short fiction has been published in Naturliterature.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 8, 2010
The cultural divide between the worlds of science and arts has stirred much debate since CP Snow diagnosed it in the 1950s. How much specialisation is good for society, and how much general knowledge from the sciences should extend to the other side of the divide? The idea has inspired several generations of science popularisers, but we rarely read about its effect on people who straddle both sides or are unsure which side they should be on.
The protagonist of “The Honest Look”, Claire Cyrus (no relation of Miley I hope), is one of the straddlers. She has just completed a PhD in biology, but is more passionate about writing and reading poetry than about her science, which involves a monstrous proteomic analysis instrument, a machine with the size, complexity, and neediness of the Beckman model E ultracentrifuge from the 1960s (no, I’m not that old, but my PhD supervisor still used two of these in the 90s).
Adding to the culture shock is the fact that her first post-doctoral appointment, taking care of the first commercial specimen of that machine, is in a biotech start-up, where we have the corporate culture conflicting with her hitherto purely academic upbringing. A third cultural divide opens up as the company in question is based in the Netherlands, but most of the scientific staff members are Brits who migrated there with the scientific founders. Oh, and our heroine is bilingual, the child of a Spanish mother and British father.
Unlike Rohn’s first lablit novel, Experimental Heart, which had a thriller plot, this one is essentially a romance, so as a fifth binary we have two contrasting male specimens competing for the attention of our heroine, and naturally each has different views on the cultural conflicts listed above, so love also pulls her in different directions on these other issues of cultural identity.
With all those conflicting forces tearing her apart and cultural canyons to fall into, not to mention a serious moral dilemma arising from an unexpected scientific result, one does worry about Dr Cyrus a lot, which keeps the pages turning just as fast as a thriller plot. Rohn pulls out all the writerly stops to make the poetic sensibility of her heroine believable, and succeeds as far as I can discern from my vantage point between cultures (English poetry buffs may have their own opinions).
She is also very good at bringing the expat perspective on Amsterdam (where she lived herself for several years) and the surrounding lowlands to life. With my rather vague and informal knowledge of Dutch I loved the paragraph where one of the characters translates mundane everyday Dutch into Shakespearean English to illustrate the similarities. (I might have used this as a running gag, actually, for comic relief when the story gets tense.)
What I found less convincing was everything involving the use of Spanish – firstly, I don’t understand why Claire, with Spanish and English and a love of words, doesn’t really extend her love to Spanish, which in my ears is the more interesting and poetic language of the two. Then, the character called “Ramon” (rather than Ramón) lost his accent in more than one way – the dialogues reported to have been held in Spanish don’t sound like something translated from Spanish to me. Even some of the Spanish interjections (querida, Dios mío, por favor,) sound as though they had been translated from English, not glimpsed from a Spanish dialogue. I think with a language used so widely in popular culture (CSI Miami through to latin pop music) one can actually get away with longer snippets giving a more authentic impression.
Having said that, it’s still a wonderful novel, and it addresses cultural conflicts that are very important to me and should be to a wider readership as well. So I hope it does find readers on all sides of these cultural divides, and thereby helps to bridge the gap between Snow’s Two Cultures (and a few more).
The protagonist of “The Honest Look”, Claire Cyrus (no relation of Miley I hope), is one of the straddlers. She has just completed a PhD in biology, but is more passionate about writing and reading poetry than about her science, which involves a monstrous proteomic analysis instrument, a machine with the size, complexity, and neediness of the Beckman model E ultracentrifuge from the 1960s (no, I’m not that old, but my PhD supervisor still used two of these in the 90s).
Adding to the culture shock is the fact that her first post-doctoral appointment, taking care of the first commercial specimen of that machine, is in a biotech start-up, where we have the corporate culture conflicting with her hitherto purely academic upbringing. A third cultural divide opens up as the company in question is based in the Netherlands, but most of the scientific staff members are Brits who migrated there with the scientific founders. Oh, and our heroine is bilingual, the child of a Spanish mother and British father.
Unlike Rohn’s first lablit novel, Experimental Heart, which had a thriller plot, this one is essentially a romance, so as a fifth binary we have two contrasting male specimens competing for the attention of our heroine, and naturally each has different views on the cultural conflicts listed above, so love also pulls her in different directions on these other issues of cultural identity.
With all those conflicting forces tearing her apart and cultural canyons to fall into, not to mention a serious moral dilemma arising from an unexpected scientific result, one does worry about Dr Cyrus a lot, which keeps the pages turning just as fast as a thriller plot. Rohn pulls out all the writerly stops to make the poetic sensibility of her heroine believable, and succeeds as far as I can discern from my vantage point between cultures (English poetry buffs may have their own opinions).
She is also very good at bringing the expat perspective on Amsterdam (where she lived herself for several years) and the surrounding lowlands to life. With my rather vague and informal knowledge of Dutch I loved the paragraph where one of the characters translates mundane everyday Dutch into Shakespearean English to illustrate the similarities. (I might have used this as a running gag, actually, for comic relief when the story gets tense.)
What I found less convincing was everything involving the use of Spanish – firstly, I don’t understand why Claire, with Spanish and English and a love of words, doesn’t really extend her love to Spanish, which in my ears is the more interesting and poetic language of the two. Then, the character called “Ramon” (rather than Ramón) lost his accent in more than one way – the dialogues reported to have been held in Spanish don’t sound like something translated from Spanish to me. Even some of the Spanish interjections (querida, Dios mío, por favor,) sound as though they had been translated from English, not glimpsed from a Spanish dialogue. I think with a language used so widely in popular culture (CSI Miami through to latin pop music) one can actually get away with longer snippets giving a more authentic impression.
Having said that, it’s still a wonderful novel, and it addresses cultural conflicts that are very important to me and should be to a wider readership as well. So I hope it does find readers on all sides of these cultural divides, and thereby helps to bridge the gap between Snow’s Two Cultures (and a few more).
August 2, 2019
I read about this book, which was written in 2010, in the NY Times Book Review. I'd never heard of it previously, but the reviewer raved about it, and the plot sounded intriguing, so I gave it a try. What a lovely surprise!
The story is about a female cell biologist (and is written by a real-life cell biologist) who works with an experimental drug that is supposed to cure Alzheimer's. There's a mystery involved regarding this drug that the protagonist must unravel, while other factors impede her progress. She lives in Amsterdam, and the setting is beautifully portrayed. Also, a couple of deftly written romances play major roles. The characters are well-crafted and engaging, and the plot moves along at a crisp pace. A very nice feature is that poetry plays a significant role in the story, and it appears as if the author might have written some of it. I'm not a poetry expert, but they seem well done to me.
One problem is that there are lots of typos in the book. It was published by a scientific publisher at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and that is, I suppose, the problem. But it also makes the book kind of cool and authentically scientific. Despite the typos, this book will stand as one of my favorites.
The story is about a female cell biologist (and is written by a real-life cell biologist) who works with an experimental drug that is supposed to cure Alzheimer's. There's a mystery involved regarding this drug that the protagonist must unravel, while other factors impede her progress. She lives in Amsterdam, and the setting is beautifully portrayed. Also, a couple of deftly written romances play major roles. The characters are well-crafted and engaging, and the plot moves along at a crisp pace. A very nice feature is that poetry plays a significant role in the story, and it appears as if the author might have written some of it. I'm not a poetry expert, but they seem well done to me.
One problem is that there are lots of typos in the book. It was published by a scientific publisher at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and that is, I suppose, the problem. But it also makes the book kind of cool and authentically scientific. Despite the typos, this book will stand as one of my favorites.
April 11, 2020
I wish I could remember where I saw something about this book. The premise was pretty interesting -- young scientist working for a biotech in the Netherlands does experiments to show that the lead program for the company may not work the way they've assumed. She is conflicted as to who to tell because if she's right their drug will fail, but if she's wrong the company will fail unnecessarily.
The premise is pretty similar to the novel Intuition by Allegra Goodman, which I read many years ago. Here though, Rohn's characters don't quite strike me like anyone I've worked with, and the novel veered a little too much into love-triangle range and out of the professional ethical quandary area.
Still, I'm always happy to see a novel set in the lab and explore some of the scientific ethical issues that scientists face.
The premise is pretty similar to the novel Intuition by Allegra Goodman, which I read many years ago. Here though, Rohn's characters don't quite strike me like anyone I've worked with, and the novel veered a little too much into love-triangle range and out of the professional ethical quandary area.
Still, I'm always happy to see a novel set in the lab and explore some of the scientific ethical issues that scientists face.
March 9, 2011
Claire Cyrus ist einer von insgesamt drei Wissenschaftlern weltweit ist sie in der Lage ein neues High Tech Gerät namens Interactrex 300 zu bedienen, welches in der Lage ist Proteininteraktionen in vivo zu messen. NeuroSys, eine kleine holländische Biotech Company hat ein solches Gerät erworben und bietet Claire einen Job an. Der Start in dem kleinen Startup Unternehmen gestaltet sich für die schüchterne und empfindsame Claire jedoch als alles andere als einfach. Den meisten Angestellten ist diese junge, frisch promovierte Frau suspekt. Neid, Missgunst und Unverständnis machen Claire zu einer Ausgestoßenen. Ihr einziger Freund bleiben für lange Zeit die Interactrex 300 und die Zikaden, die sie des Nachts besuchen. Das alles ändert sich schlagartig, als sie aus versehen eine folgenschwere Entdeckung macht, die über das Schicksal der Firma und ihrer Angestellten entscheiden kann.
Hier nun der zweite Lablit Roman von Jennifer L. Rohn. Die Autorin ist bekannt für ihren blog namens LabLit ihren blog bei der renommierten Wissenschaftszeitung Science. Jeniffer L. Rohn ist promovierte Biologin und ihre Bücher folgen ihr um die Welt Während Experimental Heart ihre Postdoczeit in einem Forschungslabor in England wiederspielget ist ihr zweiter Roman von ihrer Zeit bei einer kleinen niederländischen Biotechfirma, die vier Jahre später Konkurs anmelden musste, inspiriert.
The Honest Look ist kein Krimi, wie Experimental Heart, sondern eine Geschichte über Liebe, Leidenschaft, Verrat und ein gefährliches Geheimnis.
NeuroSys hat seine ganze Existenz auf einem Medikament gegen Alzheimer aufgebaut. Dieses Medikament hast sich in Mausexperimenten bewährt und soll nun zum ersten Mal am Menschen gestestet werden. Claires Entdeckung jedoch bringt einige als sicher angesehene Theorien zum Einsturz.
Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass sich die unerfahrene, sensible 24 Jahre junge Claire, die in ihrer Freizeit Gedichte schreibt und deren wahre Liebe der Literatur gehört sich in den 20 Jahre älteren Geschäftsführer Allan Fallangale verliebt, der einen üblen Ruf als Womanizer genießt. Es scheint, als wenn sie die erste Frau wäre, die ihn zähmen könnte. Ihre Entdeckung gefährdet somit nicht nur die Firma, sondern auch ihre Beziehung zu Alan, die nicht gerade einfach ist. Alan möchte, dass Claire sich auf die Wissenschaft konzentriert und ihre Energie nicht zwischen Poesie und ihrem Fortkommen als Wissenschaftlerin aufteilt. Er will, dass sie eine brillante Wissenschaftlerin wird und ihr Potential voll ausschöpft. In ihrer Verzweiflung wendet sich Claire an Joshua, den Chef der Bioinformatik Gruppe. Joshua ist, genau wie Claire in der Firma ein Ausgestoßener. Einerseits wird er wegen seines Fachbereichs nichts als vollwertiger Wissenschaftler angesehen, zusätzlich jedoch ist er auch noch sehr groß und Albino (jedoch mit schwarzen Haaren). Joshua ist ein ehemaliger Freund von Alan, mit welchem er wegen eines mysteriösen Zwischenfalls zerstritten ist. Schon bald beginnt Claire für Joshua mehr als nur Freundschaft zu empfinden. Hin und her gerissen zwischen Wissenschaft und Poesie, zwischen Alan und Joshua und zermürbt von ihrem großen Geheimnis, das die Firma vernichten kann, ist Claire kurz davor zu zerbrechen.
Dieses Buch hat seine Hauptstärke in der Charakterisierung seiner Protagonisten ihrem Verhältnis zueinander und in ihrer inneren Zerrissenheit. Eingebettet werden diese Beziehungskonflikte in das Umfeld eines Startup Unternehmens, in welchem einige bereit sind für den Profit über Leichen zu gehen.
So spannend das Buch auch sein mag und so fundiert und sachlich richtig es geschrieben ist, hat es doch ein sehr großes Manko. Ohne fundierte Biochemiekenntnisse ist es großteils kaum verständlich. Ohne zumindest einen Bachelor in Biologie ist der Handlungsstrang, der im Labor spielt, der Strang um Geheimnis, Profit und Unterdrückung von Ergebnissen, nahezu unverständlich. Dieses Buch ist wunderbare Lablit. Spartenliteratur für Biowissenschaftler.
Hier nun der zweite Lablit Roman von Jennifer L. Rohn. Die Autorin ist bekannt für ihren blog namens LabLit ihren blog bei der renommierten Wissenschaftszeitung Science. Jeniffer L. Rohn ist promovierte Biologin und ihre Bücher folgen ihr um die Welt Während Experimental Heart ihre Postdoczeit in einem Forschungslabor in England wiederspielget ist ihr zweiter Roman von ihrer Zeit bei einer kleinen niederländischen Biotechfirma, die vier Jahre später Konkurs anmelden musste, inspiriert.
The Honest Look ist kein Krimi, wie Experimental Heart, sondern eine Geschichte über Liebe, Leidenschaft, Verrat und ein gefährliches Geheimnis.
NeuroSys hat seine ganze Existenz auf einem Medikament gegen Alzheimer aufgebaut. Dieses Medikament hast sich in Mausexperimenten bewährt und soll nun zum ersten Mal am Menschen gestestet werden. Claires Entdeckung jedoch bringt einige als sicher angesehene Theorien zum Einsturz.
Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass sich die unerfahrene, sensible 24 Jahre junge Claire, die in ihrer Freizeit Gedichte schreibt und deren wahre Liebe der Literatur gehört sich in den 20 Jahre älteren Geschäftsführer Allan Fallangale verliebt, der einen üblen Ruf als Womanizer genießt. Es scheint, als wenn sie die erste Frau wäre, die ihn zähmen könnte. Ihre Entdeckung gefährdet somit nicht nur die Firma, sondern auch ihre Beziehung zu Alan, die nicht gerade einfach ist. Alan möchte, dass Claire sich auf die Wissenschaft konzentriert und ihre Energie nicht zwischen Poesie und ihrem Fortkommen als Wissenschaftlerin aufteilt. Er will, dass sie eine brillante Wissenschaftlerin wird und ihr Potential voll ausschöpft. In ihrer Verzweiflung wendet sich Claire an Joshua, den Chef der Bioinformatik Gruppe. Joshua ist, genau wie Claire in der Firma ein Ausgestoßener. Einerseits wird er wegen seines Fachbereichs nichts als vollwertiger Wissenschaftler angesehen, zusätzlich jedoch ist er auch noch sehr groß und Albino (jedoch mit schwarzen Haaren). Joshua ist ein ehemaliger Freund von Alan, mit welchem er wegen eines mysteriösen Zwischenfalls zerstritten ist. Schon bald beginnt Claire für Joshua mehr als nur Freundschaft zu empfinden. Hin und her gerissen zwischen Wissenschaft und Poesie, zwischen Alan und Joshua und zermürbt von ihrem großen Geheimnis, das die Firma vernichten kann, ist Claire kurz davor zu zerbrechen.
Dieses Buch hat seine Hauptstärke in der Charakterisierung seiner Protagonisten ihrem Verhältnis zueinander und in ihrer inneren Zerrissenheit. Eingebettet werden diese Beziehungskonflikte in das Umfeld eines Startup Unternehmens, in welchem einige bereit sind für den Profit über Leichen zu gehen.
So spannend das Buch auch sein mag und so fundiert und sachlich richtig es geschrieben ist, hat es doch ein sehr großes Manko. Ohne fundierte Biochemiekenntnisse ist es großteils kaum verständlich. Ohne zumindest einen Bachelor in Biologie ist der Handlungsstrang, der im Labor spielt, der Strang um Geheimnis, Profit und Unterdrückung von Ergebnissen, nahezu unverständlich. Dieses Buch ist wunderbare Lablit. Spartenliteratur für Biowissenschaftler.
August 22, 2014
Loved this first read into science fiction - not sci-fi - but a nice work of fiction about life in a research lab company. Heard about the genre on NPR. A little sciency but still able to follow the storyline.
August 28, 2012
I enjoyed the description of the thrills, tedium, despair and joy of working in science, but it did become a rather cliched love story by the end.
February 26, 2018
I've been recently reading informative books. Books that enrich your viewsnd make you seem smarter but don't quite make you read past bedtime. I was missing this thrill of not stopping until you know what happens.
My Uni's library has mostly science books, it is very rare to find a novel or just a book with dialogues instead of equations. Throughout my long way through university I've struggled to keep my love for books and literature at bay so I can have my full attention on studying.
A science/engineering career is what will bring food to my mouth. That's the thing I've been teliing myself since I made the decision to follow this path.
I found this book by chance, and I identified myself deeply with the main character, Claire Cyrus, for her choosing science over her true poetry passion. She was captured by the wonderful feeling of knowing and understanding biology processes and she was good at it. She was sure that this was her path to follow, she even got a Phd in biology at 25. But her escape, her confort in times of trouble had always been reading and writing poetry.
She gets a job in Amsterdam and starts the inevitable process of blending in; understanding a new culture and new personalities and starting a new job in a new science project that plans to cure Alzheimer desease with a miraculous new treatment.
During her phd, Claire learned to master a state of the art machine that can detect protein bindings inside the cell, a feature that no normal experiment can achieve.
This book perfectly captures the scientific world, how many scientists are good natured and how other scientists are hungry for money, full of themselves and seem to have lost the ability for deep social interaction and emotion. This atmosphere was what greeted Claire, she eventually made an effort to fit in and prove her worth and made a shocking discovery that could take all the new tratment down.
As she struggles with this big information she also gets involved in a love triangle in which one side tells her to ditch poetry and fully commit to science while the other one encourages to have her time alone to think and write.
The plot is entertaining and I couldn't stop reading but what really captured me was Claire's dilemma about science and poetry and how well the scientific atmosphere was portrayed.
I'm still not sure myself as of where my true passion lies but I hope I don't figure it out until finishing a phd.
Definetly recommend it for scientific people who also love to read and escape the facts for a while.
My Uni's library has mostly science books, it is very rare to find a novel or just a book with dialogues instead of equations. Throughout my long way through university I've struggled to keep my love for books and literature at bay so I can have my full attention on studying.
A science/engineering career is what will bring food to my mouth. That's the thing I've been teliing myself since I made the decision to follow this path.
I found this book by chance, and I identified myself deeply with the main character, Claire Cyrus, for her choosing science over her true poetry passion. She was captured by the wonderful feeling of knowing and understanding biology processes and she was good at it. She was sure that this was her path to follow, she even got a Phd in biology at 25. But her escape, her confort in times of trouble had always been reading and writing poetry.
She gets a job in Amsterdam and starts the inevitable process of blending in; understanding a new culture and new personalities and starting a new job in a new science project that plans to cure Alzheimer desease with a miraculous new treatment.
During her phd, Claire learned to master a state of the art machine that can detect protein bindings inside the cell, a feature that no normal experiment can achieve.
This book perfectly captures the scientific world, how many scientists are good natured and how other scientists are hungry for money, full of themselves and seem to have lost the ability for deep social interaction and emotion. This atmosphere was what greeted Claire, she eventually made an effort to fit in and prove her worth and made a shocking discovery that could take all the new tratment down.
As she struggles with this big information she also gets involved in a love triangle in which one side tells her to ditch poetry and fully commit to science while the other one encourages to have her time alone to think and write.
The plot is entertaining and I couldn't stop reading but what really captured me was Claire's dilemma about science and poetry and how well the scientific atmosphere was portrayed.
I'm still not sure myself as of where my true passion lies but I hope I don't figure it out until finishing a phd.
Definetly recommend it for scientific people who also love to read and escape the facts for a while.
Read
October 2, 2012Featured on Skeptically Speaking show #133 on October 9, 2011, during an interview with author Jennifer Rohn. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...
Recommended on Skeptically Speaking show #90 on December 17, 2010. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...
Recommended on Skeptically Speaking show #90 on December 17, 2010. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...
January 14, 2023
More than just Science
A surprising book ... I was expecting to delve deep into certain mysterious aspects of biochemistry.. But much of the book was about another type, the mysteries of the heart. Engrossing with a satisfactory if un surprising ending despite the author's attempts to keep the reader guessing.
A surprising book ... I was expecting to delve deep into certain mysterious aspects of biochemistry.. But much of the book was about another type, the mysteries of the heart. Engrossing with a satisfactory if un surprising ending despite the author's attempts to keep the reader guessing.
December 15, 2013
Great lab-lit tale, very engrossing with good scientific basis.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews