About Me

My photo
Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Monday, October 01, 2007

The Echo Maker

To my shame, the fiction of Richard Powers was off my radar until recently, but I've just finished Powers' most recent novel, The Echo Maker, which won the 2006 National Book Award, and I'm an instant fan. It's about science, specifically cognitive neurology (one of the main characters is a kind of Oliver Sacks figure), has vividly-realised, involving, and interestingly flawed characters, with some tour-de-force dialogue involving a young man with Capgras syndrome, and contains more than its fair share of page-turning mystery and suspense. I'm going to read some more novels by Powers as soon as I can grab a bit of spare time.

Thanks to my good pal over in Poland, Pawel Frelik, for drawing this book to my attention.

No comments: