BookBrowse Reviews A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe

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In 1954 New York City, Katharina Edgeworth is ambivalent about her role as a wife and mother. Then she's recruited by the FBI to spy on her former college lover Jacob — a suspected communist.

Readers meet first-person narrator Katharina — Rina to her friends — juggling two young sons at a Central Park playground. She is chatting with her neighbor, Carrie, mom to a well-behaved daughter. Carrie can't grasp Rina's ambivalence about motherhood. It's 1955, an era that centers the American myth of happy, stay-at-home moms. Rina set aside her career when she married ambitious Tom Edgeworth. Tom — a pediatric surgeon dedicated to his hospital — is apprehensive about the welfare of his sons. And rightfully so — young Gerrit is prone to tantrums, as if expressing all the rage that his mom has been suppressing.

It quickly becomes apparent that Katharina is on the verge of a breakdown, with few outlets for coping, although drinking offers a temporary escape.

Some readers may think Rina bangs the "poor-me" drum a bit much considering that her husband sends her to visit Los Angeles for a "breather" and they often receive childcare help from Tom's parents, i.e., the Edgeworths' capable "Negro" housekeeper, Jilly.

Rina yearns for the excitement and independence of her 20s. She often daydreams about the past, when she shared an apartment with friends and worked full-time at City Hall, and then as an interpreter at the United Nations. Rina recalls one of her co-workers:

Like most of the other young female interpreters, Marianne lived downtown with roommates who were working girls, at least until they found the right man. But Marianne was looking for all the wrong men, and I was thrilled to join her.

What pulled me in is the situation of one woman at the edge of a massive wave of change simmering beneath the surface of 1950s American life. Much of the book's energy comes from Rina's conversations with girlfriends. As a reader, I know what's around the corner: civil rights activism, the women's movement, the pill, an ebb and flow of gender roles, impending war in Southeast Asia. These forces will soon tear open the fabric of the American flag to an extent never realized by the "communist infiltrators" tracked by the FBI at the time in which the story is set.

Yet, in A Woman of Intelligence, Karin Tanabe touches only lightly on the political discontent surrounding the fear of communism in general and the Soviet "red menace" in particular. While Rina doesn't express strong sympathies either for or against communism, she allows herself to be drawn into a thrilling mission to reconnect with her college lover, Jacob Gornev. The FBI suspects that Jacob is a Russian spy.

The narrative heats up when Rina is approached by undercover FBI agents who are infiltrating a network of communists sympathizers. Unexpected plot twists propel the narrator's sense that she must change her life or die trying. A handsome, married, "Negro" FBI special agent, Turner, sparks Rina's romantic interest. While there is a lot of hinting about Rina's past sexual affairs and a swoon-worthy embrace with Turner, there are no sex scenes in the novel. Furthermore, Katharina's attitudes about racial equity are not explored beyond a couple of conversations with Turner and a convenient reliance on Jilly as a babysitter.

This novel reads like a snapshot of 1950s New York City rather than a deep-dive into introspection. The Russian "red menace," Senator McCarthy's war on subversive activities, the media-fueled paranoia about communism in America, these things are never fully excavated. Readers don't learn why Jacob seems to be dedicated to communism; I wish he had more stage time. Even while carrying secret documents between NYC and Washington, Katharina remains preoccupied with how to behave at parties, how to parent a boy who loves tantrums, how to please an emotionally distant husband. (Despite a lack of intimate scenes, Tom Edgeworth comes across as a good catch in the husband department. He's a wealthy and altruistic surgeon with a heart for the underserved.)

Some notable secondary characters become role models for Rina. Ava Newman, the glamorous "Miss America of communism," serves as a confidante and friend. Rina is in awe of Ava, who is fashion-magazine gorgeous and also sparks intellectual conversations. Like Jacob, Ava deserves more scenes in the book. While visiting Los Angeles, Rina meets Faye Buckley Swan, who displays deft skills at Hollywood parties and is also a divorce lawyer. Dialogue between these friends is often cinematic, and adds tension to Rina's quest for liberation in this pre-feminist decade.

Tanabe renders NYC as a main character in itself in an era when cab rides cost a quarter, when moneyed and marbled halls of wealth coexist with grimy coffee houses, posh bars, and park benches perfect for flirtatious, clandestine meetings.

The city didn't rest in the evening, it glowed with electric lights and candlelight in cafes and restaurants, with cigarettes burning and headlights, with vice and possibility. Even when the world was growing dark in your mind, New York refused to agree. She always kept a light on for you.

Rina lives in a privileged fishbowl, contemplating the world beyond her high-end apartment. She is equally afraid of divorce and of suffocating in her marriage. She doesn't seem particularly afraid of communists, nor of shadowy figures following her on empty streets.

This novel opens many questions for discussion, especially among those who remember the 1950s (pre-feminist stirrings, the Cold War) and those who are daughters and granddaughters of that generation. While A Woman of Intelligence reveals 1950s tensions between homemaking versus outside employment, it's also relevant to the present, as definitions of family and parenthood are still being negotiated in the 21st century.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in August 2021, and has been updated for the August 2022 edition. Click here to go to this issue.