The Echo Maker
by Richard Powers
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Book Reviews of The Echo Maker
Book Review: I have mixed feelings about this
Summary: 3 Stars
The author does an OK job of trying to convince us of how all living creatures share common neuronal synaptic pathways, while at the same time doing it by telling us a story about a science expanding exponentially while at the same time, a story telling neurologist, is coming to grips with his own, previously heralded, inept grasp on the "science". This is done cleverly though a trauma induced psychotic break in a Nebraskan truck driver who struggles with that part of his brain that is "human" and that part that is primitive like the migrating cranes in his backyard. The victim's sister plays a pivotal role of centering this novel, however, it starts falling apart in the author's desire to lure us with his unnecessary verbosity and side stories of no relevance to the material, or for that matter, the story he is telling us.
While I felt the book to be indulging and enjoyed reading it, I also found myself feeling-enough already, it should have ended a hundred pages earlier.
While being somewhat harsh on this book, understand, that I am doing so because the author chose such a complex topic and instead of sticking with a fascinating subject, inexplicably chose to lead the reader down endless and useless side stories. If you don't mind all the detail of this useless banter, the book is a must read as the author does a very good job of presenting a most complex topic to his audience.
Book Review: Who's Who Anyway
Summary: 4 Stars
This is quite a book. I'm not even sure I liked it but I couldn't stop reading it. The characters are so clearly crafted that I'd wake up each day and wonder how Mark was doing. How's Karin today? I truly believed that if I flew to Nebraska tomorrow, they'd be there in Mark's crummy little trailer near the Platte River. The plot of the novel is quite convoluted and I think many people will find it hard to follow. I had to read many sections over again to try to understand what the heck was going on. But, in some ways, that's what the whole story is about...what do we understand and who are we really anyway. The books is filled with imposters. There are no heroes in this story, just flawed human beings groping each other and the world around them to figure out what they are doing here on Earth. The only constant, and maybe the only heroes of the story, are the cranes who migrate through Nebraska every year on a schedule that was drawn up about 2.5 million years ago. The cranes provide the only comfort for both the reader and the characters because they are a purposeful constant in the otherwise swirling mess of ambiguity the human brain creates to navigate the passge of time and people.Book Review: Don't Loan This Book To Someone You Like
Summary: 1 Stars
A friend of mine loaned this book to me, and I finally got around to reading it. Well, sort of reading it. I got about halfway through and was in pain from the overly verbose language that seemed to be coming to no real point. Eventually I skipped to the last quarter of the book to see if it was even worth my while to finish. It wasn't. The solution to the "mystery", which ends up being the real driving force to keep reading (since the characters are generally paper-thin) was a huge disappointment. And the wrap-up of what happened to Mark was glossed over to apparently make more room for pointless descriptions of the behavior of cranes and a bizarre environmentalist sub-plot.
There is supposed to be some great metaphor with the cranes...I think...but I found the descriptions to just be excessive play-time with language.
I have an advanced degree in English and whizzed through Lolita with no great difficulty so I have a hard time believing I'm missing something here. And judging by the fair number of bad reviews, I think it's more likely that Richard Powers missed his mark and the National Book Award missed someone who was much more deserving.
Book Review: Well worth the effort and thought
Summary: 4 Stars
Second only to his seminal "Goldbug Variations," this is my favorite novel from Powers. Some people here are complaining that the plot is slow and the characters are not life-like. I'll agree that at times the plot is slow, although it was always interesting to me just the same; I disagree about the characters, finding something in all of them to like and be interested in, and finding them all complex, believable people. The story itself works on so many levels, but I especially found the unraveling connection between the recognition of the human self and our subsequent treatment of the environment, and the creatures in it, powerful and timely. And frightening. This isolating novel creates an ominous portrait of our current state of being now in 2007, one that is both precarious - on the edge of destruction for so much of the natural world; and what about ourselves? - and yet holds hope that we will end up finding the right path. The atmosphere created has stayed with me long after reading the book. Like the best novels, this was an experience, even if it revealed itself slowly and thoughtfully.Book Review: I Liked It Despite Lots of Faults
Summary: 3 Stars
I'll start by saying I liked the book. I did have lots of problems with it though. As several people have pointed out, it's way too slow especially in the middle. I also think that there are a lot of different angles that don't quite mix. The cranes, a strange mystery, the struggle to choose between a virtuous man and a more selfish man with whom there is an animal attraction, neurology, being a writer, mid life crisis etc. The themes are all over the map and don't quite hold together perfectly. I also didn't get some of the attractions between characters.
On the other hand, I've never read a book quite like it. It was very original and even though it was slow, I never found it to be too much work. I found the snapshots from the neurologists life to be somewhat tiring but found the basic Capgras idea and Mark's struggle to be very interesting. I also really liked the cranes and how it served very well as a center point of the novel.
So, lots of faults but its originality ultimately won me over.