Exactly how steamy is this story?
PG
Sure, there's some mention of smooching in this book, but hardly any mention of sexytimes. It's true that Martin Arrowsmith is a bit of a dog, what with his flirting with nineteen-year old Orchid, plus his illicit smooching with Joyce while Leora is dying. But the sum of Martin's sexual activity is hardly enough to register as a blip on the ratings scale.
Now if we were rating Arrowsmith on how passionate its portrayal of a man's involvement with science is, then hoo boy. We'd have to give this a NC-17 rating, because of all the super-hot marathon lab sessions. If "steaminess" referred to the amount of steam generated by Martin Arrowsmith's body while he's double-checking the X Principle (more like XXX Principle, amirite?), then wow. Just wow.
But in terms of sex? Naww, not so much. Read Arrowsmith with your uptight Auntie Susan; you won't be embarrassed at all.