The Echo Maker
by Richard Powers
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Book Reviews of The Echo Maker
Book Review: When the cranes fly
Summary: 5 Stars
The Post-9/11 fiction has become a category of its own. Books and movies have dealt with this issue since 2001 with different approaches and results. To say that Richard Powers' "The Echo Maker" is one of the best novels about this is to understate his book and his talent. At the surface this novel hasn't much to do with that tragedy, but once one thinks about its aftermath the connection is clear.
This is a novel, above all, about paranoia. After a truck accident, Mark develops a condition called Capgras -and therefore he can't recognize his sister, Karin, his dog, or even his house. As a doctor explains, Mark is able to identify them, but somehow can't believe they are what they really are. Somehow, throughout the narrative, his paranoia contaminates other characters that start doubting themselves and people they know - everybody may be a potential terrorist in verge of attacking.
"The Echo Maker" is a novel about identity. What makes us: what we really are or what people believe we are? Who is Karin after all, if her brother can't recognize her? As she moves back to them old small town to take care of her convalescent brother, she begins to have her issues as well.
To help her brother she contacts a famous neuroscientist-cum-writer, Oliver Sacks-like, who is about to have a crisis as well, when he reads the poor reviews of his latest book. Dr Gerald Weber is famous and look for more status - which he could acquire from his latest patient.
It is incredible the way Powers ties and unties these strings. His novel is brainy but not inaccessible. It is also remarkable how he works the formal field. In Mark's sections, for instance, the dialogues accumulates line after line with no quotation marks or any other indication. The novel is divided into five parts, each opening with a segment about cranes, also known as the echo makers - the birds are very famous in the Nebraska region where the narrative is set.
When Mark is in a coma, somebody leaves a note beside in which reads "I am No One / but Tonight on North Line Road / GOD led me to you / so You could Live / and bring back someone else." The quest to find the author of the note is also very important to the narrative which unfolds beautifully.
"The Echo Maker" is a relevant book that tackles philosophical and political issues seriously. While it asks the reader to pay close attention, in the end, it will be as rewarding. It handles the 9/11 aftermath and its consequences in a different approach, therefore more effective than the explicit fiction.
Book Review: Too long for the brief story
Summary: 3 Stars
If you spent a week reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat while watching the Hallmark Channel, you might end up writing this novel. Mark Shluter has crashed his truck and his sister, Karin, quits her job and dumps her boyfriend to take care of him. But Mark suffered a brain injury in the accident and insists that his sister is not his sister but someone pretending to be his sister. A famous neurologist, Gerald Weber, arrives to see Mark so he can write about him in his next book. And some cranes fly through town on their way to Alaska.
The main problem with the story is that Powers does nothing with the story. His characters are uninteresting to start with and are completely unbelievable. They don't react to situations, they overreact. Everything that happens is the most important thing that has ever happened and every character reacts that way. And Powers doesn't tell a story, too often he tells us about a story. For example, when Weber goes on a television show, we only find out that he embarrasses himself during the interview but not what he said that was so terrible that it destroyed sales of his book. Weber, a crucial character in the story, is the weakest written character in the book. It is virtually impossible to justify or understand his actions. And if two people have sex in the mud, don't you think they might want to shower or at least change their clothes before going off to lunch and then on to some tourist attraction?
There are some good parts of the book. The mystery of the letter left at the hospital is interesting and is wrapped up quite nicely. In a clever and effective technique, Powers writes alternating sections from the point of view of the various characters. But the book would have been much better if Powers had reduced the length by about 200 pages. I found myself becoming bored with the characters and the story. Serious editing and the elimination of certain story threads could have kept the book short enough to make us not care that the characters are completely unlikeable and unbelievable. But at 450 pages, the holes in the characters shine through.
Book Review: Almost quit, glad I didn't. You have to glean from this book.
Summary: 4 Stars
About half-way through this book, I grew so weary of its repetitious and academic tone that I checked out the Goodreads and Amazon reviews, wondering if my reaction to it was just me. I'm vulnerable to that paranoia; but I found I had lots of company. Some people were ranting mad in their disappointment over this book. For some reason--stubbornness--I kept reading and ended up admiring the book. No, I don't think it didn't deserve the National Book Award, but there's mystery, keen and beautiful writing, and compelling speculation about the human mind and identity. As a birder, I loved the crane info too, tho I can see why it all the poetic images of them might seem blithering to many. Overall, the book fails. Powers fell prey after Gold Bug, I think, to a problem common to many phenomenally successful authors: His early brilliance intimidated his editors. They let him wander and detour and maunder on. They didn't keep him honest and true, didn't force him to put real life in his characters or think through his plot clearly. Powers' characters in this book--particularly Gerald Weber--are mere simulacra of real people. In Weber's case, this is a literal shortcoming, since Weber is based on the eminent neurologist Oliver Sacks. Neither Sacks nor his readers (Full disclosure: I love Sacks' books; his recent autobiography, Uncle Tungsten, is one of the finest I've read.) would recognize him here but for the rip-off of his appearance, his book titles and many of his case studies. If Powers had been doing the full work of imagining this character, Weber wouldn't be based on Sacks but inspired by him. Weber's head would be stuffed with human thoughts, not the cold substitutes Powers offers: case study after case study after case study. There was a great book lurking in the manuscript of The Echo Maker, but Powers' editors didn't bother to help him find it. Where's a brave editor when you need one?Book Review: Overwrought and overlong
Summary: 3 Stars
Psychology is my chosen profession, so I find meta-cognition fascinating. The brain studying itself, thinking about thinking, is such an interesting concept in itself. Therefore, I expected to truly enjoy The Echo Maker, but that was not the case. Thirty something Karen is something of a lost soul, her only real accomplishment having been her escape from her stifling home town. She rushes back, ignoring her own misgivings, to help her brother recover from a debilitating accident. Mark, at age 27, is locked in adolescence, and as he claws his way back to life and independent functioning, his most disturbing loss is his inability to recognize Karen as his sister. As time passes, Mark develops paranoia, and in desperation, Karen calls in an internationally renowned neurologist, Dr. Weber.
So far so good. But as the story progresses, at a snail's pace, it also bogs down. Although Mark seems capable of accepting his new status, his sister fails to adapt, remaining helplessly devoted to restoring their former relationship. In the process, she rekindles two former romances, making a series of dubious, self destructive choices. Assessing Mark has caused the arrogant Dr. Weber to reassess his own career motives, and when he meets Mark's aide, becomes obsessed with her seemingly wondrous ability to connect with Mark. Mistaking his feelings with love (transference?), he allows it to interfere with the stability of his heretofore happy marriage.
At heart, The Echo Maker is about crises of identity and the nature of perception. This novel is nicely written. There's just too much of it. Too much angst, too much rumination, too many pages. By the halfway point, the characters become more irritating than sympathetic. With judicious editing, such as the elimination of Weber's countless case studies, its readability could be vastly improved.
Book Review: Nonfiction Book About Brain Injuries and Consciousness Wrapped into a Fiction Format
Summary: 3 Stars
It's hard for me to know who would like this book. It contains a great deal of information about how the brain works, consciousness is created, and the quirks of various mental disorders . . . but someone interested in those subjects would typically read a nonfiction book on the subject instead.
At the same time, those who like novels generally are looking for a story that moves through actions rather faster than the repeated ramblings in the characters' minds on the same subjects. With three narrators, you get to read about three sets of repetitive ramblings.
I must agree that I've never read a book quite like this, and I enjoy learning more about the latest in the neurosciences and how unusual conditions arise. Much of the book, however, reminded me of the paranoid ravings of a schizophrenic I knew once. Realizing the similarity to what a schizophrenic would say and do . . . and what the treatments are, I became skeptical about how accurate this book's fiction is for this particular brain injury.
There's some poetic material tying our common genetic heritages together between the human and animal worlds, but that's clearly secondary to the main messages.
I felt, too, that the book took too long to develop: Seemingly trying to make us suffer along with some of the characters by having to bear up with the problems for a long time.
I certainly agree with those who are impressed by the scope of the book's vision . . . I just don't agree with how well that vision was implemented. There are instances of fine writing in the book, but the overall plan didn't satisfy me as a way to communicate those points.
Unless you feel compelled to read this book because of the disagreements about it, I suggest you skip it.