OF PAINT AND PANCAKES

In Arginteanu’s novel, a teacher with brain cancer refuses treatment that will endanger her pregnancy.

Jane McCorvey is an educator at prestigious private school Coolidge Academy, and a former athlete in her 20s with plenty of liveliness and optimism. Then one of her second-grade students, Erin Gustino, has a terrible biking accident; she suffers a brain injury that requires emergency surgery. Fortunately, it’s successfully performed by neurosurgeon Mike Silvers. Later, Erin’s affluent parents, Paul and Kelly, worried that Erin hasn’t psychologically recovered from her trauma, recruit Jane to help restore their daughter’s confidence. Jane and Erin became genuinely close, and in the process, Jane meets Mike, who’s a talented but brashly impolitic person. One day, Jane is stricken with a massive seizure, and Mike traces it to incurable brain cancer. Jane also learns that she’s pregnant from a recent tryst in Venice, Italy; she interprets this as miraculous, as doctors have long told her she’s incapable of having children. Mike implores her to accept cancer treatment, as it could extend her life by several years, but all the options present possible threats to her fetus, so she refuses. It’s an extraordinary conundrum that Arginteanu delicately portrays; Mike is devoted to keeping her alive, and considers the fetus a “parasite,” but Jane sees it as a blessing and seems immune to persuasion. Overall, this is a complex tale that’s weighed down by unnecessary entanglements—there are simply too many interconnected relationships and subplots, many of which finally become exasperating distractions. That said, the main story is philosophically rich, but not in a tedious, academic way; there’s no hint of didacticism here. Instead, Arginteanu brings to life a moving story that tackles profound questions. It’s an engrossing tale that’s intellectually provocative and emotionally affecting.

A dense but thoughtful and dramatic tale.