Andy Waite’s life has been in flux. A biology professor at a small New Jersey college, he is teaching an evolutionary course commonly known as, “There is No God.” He is immersed in academia, hoping for tenure as he engages in writing a grant proposal to research revenge-related alcohol abuse. At the same time he is learning the ropes of raising two young daughters alone, while constantly seeing and talking to the ghost of his dead wife, who was killed by a drunk driver. As he attempts to carefully and civilly reconcile his shaky relationships with colleagues, students, neighbors, and friends, he is sideswiped by two manipulative evangelical students who want to prove the truth of intelligent design and dispel Andy’s atheist views.
Richly drawn characters, who speak their minds and hearts and beckon us into their compelling lives, populate this well-plotted story. There’s brilliant and forceful Rosenbaum, desperate Melissa, shaky Lionel, tragic Anita, omnipresent Louisa, and just-trying-to-exist Sheila, who all play roles in Andy’s journey of searching, wavering, conflict, and hope. He must tackle the possibility of the existence of a divine being against all he has ever accepted and considered.
The Explanation for Everything is also a stimulating novel of ideas that handles difficult emotional and intellectual issues such as evolution vs. intelligent design and religion vs. science with insight, sensitivity, and respect. This book begs for continued discussion and stirs the reader to explore its questions.
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Renita Last is a member of the Nassau Region of Hadassah’s Executive Board. She has coordinated the Film Forum Series for the Region and served as Programming and Health Coordinators and as a member of the Advocacy Committee.
She has volunteered as a docent at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County teaching the all- important lessons of the Holocaust and tolerance. A retired teacher of the Gifted and Talented, she loves participating in book clubs and writing projects.