Recombinations

by Perri Klass

Anne Montgomery is a scientist at Viatech, a new bioengineering company in New York. Her field is recombinant DNA: snipping pieces, knotting them together in new places, playing with an isolated single genetic sequence, and learning its secrets. Anne likes her job and her ordered, practical existence with Kent, her solid, responsible banker boyfriend. Lately, though, her thoughts have been turning to fantasies involving an attractive laboratory technician named Jason, who fits ever so snugly into his 29-inch-waist Levi’s.

One day, on an impulse, she invites Jason out for a beer at a Mexican restaurant. After several beers and some shared burritos and refried beans, Jason clears the air with an admission: He has a girlfriend, a dancer in a well-known New York company. Anne replies that she too is involved. This being the 1980’s, the obvious solution to this temporary complication, as proposed by a light-headed Anne, is to go back to their office--to the room containing the large incubators where the plates of living cells are kept, in fact--and get to know each other better. They do.

What begins as a mild fancy soon blossoms into an affair, one that forces Anne to reevaluate her commitment to Kent, her position at a company overstocked with overachievers, and her thoughts on long-term commitments. Her journey through self-exploration is intertwined with a gallery of cleverly detailed supporting characters, each of whom is allowed a point of view that is, happily, never condescending.

Genres: Fiction

283 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Perri Klass is a pediatrician who writes fiction and non-fiction. She writes about children and families, about medicine, about food and travel, and about knitting. Her newest book is a novel, The Mercy Rule, and the book before that was a work of non-fiction, Treatment Kind and Fair: Letters to a Young Doctor, written in the form of letters to her older son as he starts medical school.
She lives in New York City, where she is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University, and she has three children of her own. She is also Medical Director of Reach Out and Read, a national literacy organization which works through doctors and nurses to promote parents reading aloud to young children.
source: www.perriklass.com

Reviews

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
While billed as a science-y tale in the blurbs, this 1985 book is mostly about relationships between twenty-somethings as they pair up or break up. The main character is a PhD scientist and she muses a bit about her work at the early era of recombinant DNA research, but nothing too intense. She likes her science, is good but not great, and many musings are about the company politics. More time is spent on her romantic/life and her attraction for a lab tech with "a 29 inch waist". I found it a quick read and a bit of fun.

[Kelly K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite novels. If it came out now, it would probably be called "chick lit" but it's better than most young women's contemporary fiction. Klass has a strong voice, a perceiving eye, and a sense for real life that makes this novel a pleasure to read. And anyone who's ever had an office crush and idly speculated about what "could" happen ... you'll enjoy it.

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable story about scientists pursuing their research and each other.

[Danusia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Medical thriller. Interesting but not great.