Serious psychology in a novel, 21 Oct 2008
American author Richard Powers explores the ideas of mind, soul and self in this prize-winning novel. Mark Schluter suffers a near-fatal car crash one cold night and awakes unable to recognise his only sister, Karen. In fact, he believes that Karen is a doppelganger of the version he has in his memories. He is diagnosed as suffering from the extremely rare disorder known as Capgras Syndrome. Over the course of the novel his paranoia develops even further.

Karen, who has given up her house and job to come take care of her brother, is deeply hurt by his inability to acknowledge her as his sister, contacts famous popular author and neurologist Gerald Weber.

Weber's character and his battle with his demons add a further strand to this deftly woven novel. After a series of well-received popular science books, he now faces some critical rejection and struggles to deal with it. Each character is suffering through their own mental problems and this allows the book to expand and examine the nature of memory, reality and identity.

Add in the mystery character of Barbara, who fights her own demons, which are revealed at the end of the book, and we have a host of characters struggling with their own mental problems and issues. Over the course of a year, the author invokes some beautiful imagery as he describes the cyclical journey of the threatened crane. Every year the crane return to the Nebraska town where this novel is set, as they move on their migrational path.

Despite the grand scale of this book, and the weighty topics that it tackles (self-identity, memory and love), it somehow fails to ultimately satisfy. It is a demanding read, and we do become more and more involved as Mark struggles to deal with the differences in his memory and to find out what happened to him that cold night. However, there is some spark of emotion missing in the novel that would fully bind you to the characters.

Outstanding, 31 Aug 2008
Ignore all the negative comments here and read the (proper) reviews on the book itself. It's a book about people and their relationships, about emotions, identity and memory and thought. It also has interesting stuff to say about how the brain works. What's not to like?

Too Long & Too Much Jargon, and Where did the Plot Go?, 19 Aug 2008
I enjoyed the start of this book - and then it just seemed to drift, and go nowhere fast. There was two much technical information that did nothing for the plot. I found this agrravating and eventually started speed reading through these bits.

After reading 400 plus pages, I found that I was not particularly bothered about finishing the book. However, after reading so much of it I thought that it would be shame not to finish it. I wish I hadn't bothered. There is no real conclusion - it becomes so crytic it is very difficult to follow what is going on. Yes you do learn the truth about what happened on the night of the accident, but by this point I didn't really care.



A Patchy Novel of the Mind, 23 Jul 2008
This book is like an extremely slow roller-coaster, there are highs, lows and the odd sharp turn, but ultimately moments of exhilaration are few and far between, and it's all a bit dull.

The writing and use of language is excellent; Powers seems to really appreciate every single strand of his diverse subject matter. He manages to convey perfectly, the simultaneous claustrophobic/agoraphobic feeling of life in Mid-West America. He also gives a scary insight into how tenuous our grip on reality might be. The strongest sections of the book are when he turns the microscope on his character's insecurities, highlighting Powers' accurate perception of human nature

On the down side, there is far too much technical detail on the brain and neurology. It often feels as though the author has swallowed a few text books and felt the need to regurgitate them, in order to prove how clever he is. The whole novel is also too long, between pages 100-300 the novel really drags. After the opening car crash, almost nothing significant happens for the entire 550 pages of the book. Although clearly an excellent writer, Powers is not a strong enough wordsmith to sustain the reader's interest for the entirety of the novel.

I enjoyed the first one hundred pages and was preparing, myself to be blown away, only to become bogged down as the plot stagnated. Then from about page 350, things picked up again; I discovered I really cared about the characters and wanted to know how everything would resolve itself. With fifty to go, I was desperate to see how things would turn out and was thoroughly enjoying reading the Echo Maker. Sadly the ending didn't quite hold up as everything petered out. A conclusion is reached but after the effort it took to arrive there, it seemed rushed and ill conceived. In the end, I put the book down, left mainly with a sense of disappointment.


Extremely unimpressed, 07 Jun 2008
I found this book very very slow in pace and hugely frustrating. I've never read a book until now that I've actually wanted to rip in half!! The story was intriguing for the first 200 pages but the remaining 300+ pages left me extremely bored. The language was peppered with clinical jargon that was infuratingly complex and at times gratutitous. The characters were not that likeable and the ending was disappointing, at best, and I cannot understand why it is has had such big acclaim!

On the whole I found it boring, self-indulgant and it left me completely cold. My copy is heading for amazon.

Richard Powers' novel The Time of Our Singing has had the kind of pre-publishing hype that few literary novels enjoy. "One of the greatest American novels ever written" is the sort of praise that has been laid at the feet of this one, but this enthusiasm for the work of Richard Powers is nothing new. In books such as Plowing the Dark, Powers has shown himself capable of a remarkable balancing act: his books have had a strong scientific underpinning, carefully balanced with allusions to classical art and couched in narratives that have the sweep of the great nineteenth-century novelists. Here, the complex plot manages to take in the demands of artistic talent, familial conflict and a nation divided by racism.

The central character is Jonah Strom, a highly talented tenor of mixed-race born to Jewish physicist David Strom (who has fled Germany) and Delia Dailey, a middle-class black opera singer. The relationship of Jonah's parents began at the famous recital given by the great black soprano Marion Anderson when she was rejected by the classical music establishment. David and Delia are very different people, but their love of music becomes central to the lives of their sons; the singer Jonah and his younger brother Joseph, who becomes a pianist and accompanies his brother. While Jonah struggles for the acceptance of the white establishment, his rebellious younger sister Ruth takes a different path and confronts the issues of race in her life by marrying a Black Panther and taking on her enemies. It is left to Joseph to find an accommodation somewhere between these two extremes.

While all the younger characters here are drawn with the kind of lucid detail that is Powers' particular speciality, the real skill of the narrative lies in the parents David and Delia. The former is, in fact, the most richly drawn character, with his humanity and intellect triumphantly brought to life. The discursive narrative needs careful attention from the reader, and this is not a book for those seeking undemanding reading. But the rewards here are many: this is a biting and exuberant novel that isn't afraid to tackle many uncomfortable issues. --Barry Forshaw

Serious psychology in a novel, 21 Oct 2008
American author Richard Powers explores the ideas of mind, soul and self in this prize-winning novel. Mark Schluter suffers a near-fatal car crash one cold night and awakes unable to recognise his only sister, Karen. In fact, he believes that Karen is a doppelganger of the version he has in his memories. He is diagnosed as suffering from the extremely rare disorder known as Capgras Syndrome. Over the course of the novel his paranoia develops even further.

Karen, who has given up her house and job to come take care of her brother, is deeply hurt by his inability to acknowledge her as his sister, contacts famous popular author and neurologist Gerald Weber.

Weber's character and his battle with his demons add a further strand to this deftly woven novel. After a series of well-received popular science books, he now faces some critical rejection and struggles to deal with it. Each character is suffering through their own mental problems and this allows the book to expand and examine the nature of memory, reality and identity.

Add in the mystery character of Barbara, who fights her own demons, which are revealed at the end of the book, and we have a host of characters struggling with their own mental problems and issues. Over the course of a year, the author invokes some beautiful imagery as he describes the cyclical journey of the threatened crane. Every year the crane return to the Nebraska town where this novel is set, as they move on their migrational path.

Despite the grand scale of this book, and the weighty topics that it tackles (self-identity, memory and love), it somehow fails to ultimately satisfy. It is a demanding read, and we do become more and more involved as Mark struggles to deal with the differences in his memory and to find out what happened to him that cold night. However, there is some spark of emotion missing in the novel that would fully bind you to the characters.

Outstanding, 31 Aug 2008
Ignore all the negative comments here and read the (proper) reviews on the book itself. It's a book about people and their relationships, about emotions, identity and memory and thought. It also has interesting stuff to say about how the brain works. What's not to like?

Too Long & Too Much Jargon, and Where did the Plot Go?, 19 Aug 2008
I enjoyed the start of this book - and then it just seemed to drift, and go nowhere fast. There was two much technical information that did nothing for the plot. I found this agrravating and eventually started speed reading through these bits.

After reading 400 plus pages, I found that I was not particularly bothered about finishing the book. However, after reading so much of it I thought that it would be shame not to finish it. I wish I hadn't bothered. There is no real conclusion - it becomes so crytic it is very difficult to follow what is going on. Yes you do learn the truth about what happened on the night of the accident, but by this point I didn't really care.



A Patchy Novel of the Mind, 23 Jul 2008
This book is like an extremely slow roller-coaster, there are highs, lows and the odd sharp turn, but ultimately moments of exhilaration are few and far between, and it's all a bit dull.

The writing and use of language is excellent; Powers seems to really appreciate every single strand of his diverse subject matter. He manages to convey perfectly, the simultaneous claustrophobic/agoraphobic feeling of life in Mid-West America. He also gives a scary insight into how tenuous our grip on reality might be. The strongest sections of the book are when he turns the microscope on his character's insecurities, highlighting Powers' accurate perception of human nature

On the down side, there is far too much technical detail on the brain and neurology. It often feels as though the author has swallowed a few text books and felt the need to regurgitate them, in order to prove how clever he is. The whole novel is also too long, between pages 100-300 the novel really drags. After the opening car crash, almost nothing significant happens for the entire 550 pages of the book. Although clearly an excellent writer, Powers is not a strong enough wordsmith to sustain the reader's interest for the entirety of the novel.

I enjoyed the first one hundred pages and was preparing, myself to be blown away, only to become bogged down as the plot stagnated. Then from about page 350, things picked up again; I discovered I really cared about the characters and wanted to know how everything would resolve itself. With fifty to go, I was desperate to see how things would turn out and was thoroughly enjoying reading the Echo Maker. Sadly the ending didn't quite hold up as everything petered out. A conclusion is reached but after the effort it took to arrive there, it seemed rushed and ill conceived. In the end, I put the book down, left mainly with a sense of disappointment.


Extremely unimpressed, 07 Jun 2008
I found this book very very slow in pace and hugely frustrating. I've never read a book until now that I've actually wanted to rip in half!! The story was intriguing for the first 200 pages but the remaining 300+ pages left me extremely bored. The language was peppered with clinical jargon that was infuratingly complex and at times gratutitous. The characters were not that likeable and the ending was disappointing, at best, and I cannot understand why it is has had such big acclaim!

On the whole I found it boring, self-indulgant and it left me completely cold. My copy is heading for amazon.

Is Powers a polymath?, 10 Aug 2008
As a 63 year old English man with a considerable academic background I was truly over-whelmed by this book. I hit on it quite by accident & it did indeed take careful thoughtful reading but it was truly worth the effort. The lengthy reviews say all that needs to be said about the story line and all I wish to add is that it offered both literary and intellectual benefits. Maybe I learned some nuances about black American experiences and it might have a didactic role but it is ultimately a magnificent literary creation. Richard Powers has a masterly touch in music (musicology as well) and psychology. A polymath?

Lyrical brilliance, 31 Mar 2008
The very structure of this book reveals the complexity of thought behind this poignant, perceptive and riveting account of a family of extraordinary talent, seen through the eyes of Joseph, a child of the baby-boomer years. For someone, like myself, whose grasp of race issues has been syncopated by current history as shown in TV and news reports, the account is a revelation. The totality of the racial divide is experienced through the impossible marriage, consummated just before the Second World War, of David a refugee (white) German Jewish man to Delia, a young (black) musician. The impossible universe thus created by this love in an unlovely world, is explored by Powers. The marriage has been born out of a passion for music and the making of music is the substance of much of this amazing narrative.
Powers has a facility with language that is a great rarity. Again and again he conjures up the experience of wonderful music being created. This never palls and becomes a leitmotif throughout the tale. He manages to explore and reveal complexity of character and motive, in a way that is both unflinching and compassionate.
This is a wonderful read. A book to ponder for months and years. It sustains its power right up to the very end - as you would expect for a book that is as much about the mystery of time as it is about the nature of music.


One of the best books I've ever read., 30 Jan 2008
A lap breaking book about racism, classical music and the theory of relativity. It didn't really sound like my cup of tea to be honest. But I was genuinely engrossed from the moment I delved beneath the cover. If you like your fiction intelligent and well written, seek out `Time of Our Singing' - it's a must read.

MORE VALLEYS NEEDED?, 22 Mar 2007
It's very difficult not to be impressed with this novel. Depth, breadth, some highly affecting writing about the emotional power of music, a complex,satisfying structure, trenchant analysis of race and US social problems. Here comes the but. There's a passage where Powers talks about a composer having too many peaks and not enough valleys. That's often what I felt about this book. In fact it's often what I feel about a lot of American novels. Every sentence is so....overstuffed. Every action is so vital. Every comment so pregnant. You long for a character to have a cup of tea or pick their nose or say something pointless. Like, you know, real people do. Roth is the same. These powerful, brilliant characters with their historic lives on a Polaris trajectory. At least Pynchon is often funny and ridiculous and throwaway. But these other guys (and they are all guys aren't they) - all seem to be hell bent on out muscling eachother. Shock and awe, baby. Strangely it makes me think less of Powers' critique of America....his book (and I haven't read the others) is so AMERICAN...big, flashy, self important, overpowering. I shouldn't carp. We need serious, thought provoking writers. America definitely needs them. It's just I sometimes wonder if they need their hearing checked.

not a perfect novel, but a brilliant one nonetheless, 10 Jan 2007
This novel actually changed the way I think about race and, to a lesser extent, about twentieth century American history. I don't think you can really ask any more of a work of art than that. It has the kind of sweeping ambition that puts modern British novelists to shame, but is grounded throughout in the warm depiction of a nuclear family. Despite all this, I must say I thought Powers was a lot weaker when describing the 1990s than the 1950s and 1960s. There are passing references to hip hop culture, which I think play down its significance or, at least, potential to be a positive force before it got bastardised and exploited by people like 50 cent. Great novel though and highly recommended.

Serious psychology in a novel, 21 Oct 2008
American author Richard Powers explores the ideas of mind, soul and self in this prize-winning novel. Mark Schluter suffers a near-fatal car crash one cold night and awakes unable to recognise his only sister, Karen. In fact, he believes that Karen is a doppelganger of the version he has in his memories. He is diagnosed as suffering from the extremely rare disorder known as Capgras Syndrome. Over the course of the novel his paranoia develops even further.

Karen, who has given up her house and job to come take care of her brother, is deeply hurt by his inability to acknowledge her as his sister, contacts famous popular author and neurologist Gerald Weber.

Weber's character and his battle with his demons add a further strand to this deftly woven novel. After a series of well-received popular science books, he now faces some critical rejection and struggles to deal with it. Each character is suffering through their own mental problems and this allows the book to expand and examine the nature of memory, reality and identity.

Add in the mystery character of Barbara, who fights her own demons, which are revealed at the end of the book, and we have a host of characters struggling with their own mental problems and issues. Over the course of a year, the author invokes some beautiful imagery as he describes the cyclical journey of the threatened crane. Every year the crane return to the Nebraska town where this novel is set, as they move on their migrational path.

Despite the grand scale of this book, and the weighty topics that it tackles (self-identity, memory and love), it somehow fails to ultimately satisfy. It is a demanding read, and we do become more and more involved as Mark struggles to deal with the differences in his memory and to find out what happened to him that cold night. However, there is some spark of emotion missing in the novel that would fully bind you to the characters.

Outstanding, 31 Aug 2008
Ignore all the negative comments here and read the (proper) reviews on the book itself. It's a book about people and their relationships, about emotions, identity and memory and thought. It also has interesting stuff to say about how the brain works. What's not to like?

Too Long & Too Much Jargon, and Where did the Plot Go?, 19 Aug 2008
I enjoyed the start of this book - and then it just seemed to drift, and go nowhere fast. There was two much technical information that did nothing for the plot. I found this agrravating and eventually started speed reading through these bits.

After reading 400 plus pages, I found that I was not particularly bothered about finishing the book. However, after reading so much of it I thought that it would be shame not to finish it. I wish I hadn't bothered. There is no real conclusion - it becomes so crytic it is very difficult to follow what is going on. Yes you do learn the truth about what happened on the night of the accident, but by this point I didn't really care.



A Patchy Novel of the Mind, 23 Jul 2008
This book is like an extremely slow roller-coaster, there are highs, lows and the odd sharp turn, but ultimately moments of exhilaration are few and far between, and it's all a bit dull.

The writing and use of language is excellent; Powers seems to really appreciate every single strand of his diverse subject matter. He manages to convey perfectly, the simultaneous claustrophobic/agoraphobic feeling of life in Mid-West America. He also gives a scary insight into how tenuous our grip on reality might be. The strongest sections of the book are when he turns the microscope on his character's insecurities, highlighting Powers' accurate perception of human nature

On the down side, there is far too much technical detail on the brain and neurology. It often feels as though the author has swallowed a few text books and felt the need to regurgitate them, in order to prove how clever he is. The whole novel is also too long, between pages 100-300 the novel really drags. After the opening car crash, almost nothing significant happens for the entire 550 pages of the book. Although clearly an excellent writer, Powers is not a strong enough wordsmith to sustain the reader's interest for the entirety of the novel.

I enjoyed the first one hundred pages and was preparing, myself to be blown away, only to become bogged down as the plot stagnated. Then from about page 350, things picked up again; I discovered I really cared about the characters and wanted to know how everything would resolve itself. With fifty to go, I was desperate to see how things would turn out and was thoroughly enjoying reading the Echo Maker. Sadly the ending didn't quite hold up as everything petered out. A conclusion is reached but after the effort it took to arrive there, it seemed rushed and ill conceived. In the end, I put the book down, left mainly with a sense of disappointment.


Extremely unimpressed, 07 Jun 2008
I found this book very very slow in pace and hugely frustrating. I've never read a book until now that I've actually wanted to rip in half!! The story was intriguing for the first 200 pages but the remaining 300+ pages left me extremely bored. The language was peppered with clinical jargon that was infuratingly complex and at times gratutitous. The characters were not that likeable and the ending was disappointing, at best, and I cannot understand why it is has had such big acclaim!

On the whole I found it boring, self-indulgant and it left me completely cold. My copy is heading for amazon.

Is Powers a polymath?, 10 Aug 2008
As a 63 year old English man with a considerable academic background I was truly over-whelmed by this book. I hit on it quite by accident & it did indeed take careful thoughtful reading but it was truly worth the effort. The lengthy reviews say all that needs to be said about the story line and all I wish to add is that it offered both literary and intellectual benefits. Maybe I learned some nuances about black American experiences and it might have a didactic role but it is ultimately a magnificent literary creation. Richard Powers has a masterly touch in music (musicology as well) and psychology. A polymath?

Lyrical brilliance, 31 Mar 2008
The very structure of this book reveals the complexity of thought behind this poignant, perceptive and riveting account of a family of extraordinary talent, seen through the eyes of Joseph, a child of the baby-boomer years. For someone, like myself, whose grasp of race issues has been syncopated by current history as shown in TV and news reports, the account is a revelation. The totality of the racial divide is experienced through the impossible marriage, consummated just before the Second World War, of David a refugee (white) German Jewish man to Delia, a young (black) musician. The impossible universe thus created by this love in an unlovely world, is explored by Powers. The marriage has been born out of a passion for music and the making of music is the substance of much of this amazing narrative.
Powers has a facility with language that is a great rarity. Again and again he conjures up the experience of wonderful music being created. This never palls and becomes a leitmotif throughout the tale. He manages to explore and reveal complexity of character and motive, in a way that is both unflinching and compassionate.
This is a wonderful read. A book to ponder for months and years. It sustains its power right up to the very end - as you would expect for a book that is as much about the mystery of time as it is about the nature of music.


One of the best books I've ever read., 30 Jan 2008
A lap breaking book about racism, classical music and the theory of relativity. It didn't really sound like my cup of tea to be honest. But I was genuinely engrossed from the moment I delved beneath the cover. If you like your fiction intelligent and well written, seek out `Time of Our Singing' - it's a must read.

MORE VALLEYS NEEDED?, 22 Mar 2007
It's very difficult not to be impressed with this novel. Depth, breadth, some highly affecting writing about the emotional power of music, a complex,satisfying structure, trenchant analysis of race and US social problems. Here comes the but. There's a passage where Powers talks about a composer having too many peaks and not enough valleys. That's often what I felt about this book. In fact it's often what I feel about a lot of American novels. Every sentence is so....overstuffed. Every action is so vital. Every comment so pregnant. You long for a character to have a cup of tea or pick their nose or say something pointless. Like, you know, real people do. Roth is the same. These powerful, brilliant characters with their historic lives on a Polaris trajectory. At least Pynchon is often funny and ridiculous and throwaway. But these other guys (and they are all guys aren't they) - all seem to be hell bent on out muscling eachother. Shock and awe, baby. Strangely it makes me think less of Powers' critique of America....his book (and I haven't read the others) is so AMERICAN...big, flashy, self important, overpowering. I shouldn't carp. We need serious, thought provoking writers. America definitely needs them. It's just I sometimes wonder if they need their hearing checked.

not a perfect novel, but a brilliant one nonetheless, 10 Jan 2007
This novel actually changed the way I think about race and, to a lesser extent, about twentieth century American history. I don't think you can really ask any more of a work of art than that. It has the kind of sweeping ambition that puts modern British novelists to shame, but is grounded throughout in the warm depiction of a nuclear family. Despite all this, I must say I thought Powers was a lot weaker when describing the 1990s than the 1950s and 1960s. There are passing references to hip hop culture, which I think play down its significance or, at least, potential to be a positive force before it got bastardised and exploited by people like 50 cent. Great novel though and highly recommended.

An audacious novel, 20 Aug 2004
Mr Powers begins his novel by following a narrator travelling by train from Chicago to Boston. He has to change trains in Detroit and since he has several hours at his leisure, he decides to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts. There, he is puzzled by a photograph taken by Augustus Sander in 1914 showing three farmers on their way to a dance. The reader follows the narrator's progress as he tries to find answers to the questions that preoccupy him about the photograph: who took it, why was it taken, who are the three farmers appearing in the picture.
On another level, Mr Powers gives a fictional account - or it may also be the result of the narrator's research, it is not explicit in the text - of the action taking place at the time the photograph was taken and also what happens subsequently. And so the reader gets to know the three farmers Hubert, Peter and Adolphe.
Yet on another level, the author introduces various contemporary characters working in the Powell Building for a magazine called "Micro Monthly News": Mays, Moseley, Delaney. After having at first the impression that the events at this level are unrelated to the two other levels, the reader soon realises that there is a connection indeed.
What makes Mr Powers's novel interesting are his many reflections on various topics. These range from the situation of a small Belgian village called Petit Roi during the First World War, the part that Henry Ford played in that war, various personalities like Darwin, Freud, Gödel, Planck or Sarah Bernhardt, to the Industrial Revolution and the changes that mechanisation brought to our civilisation. And because the main protagonist so to speak of the novel is a photograph, Mr Powers also deals in detail in the history of photography.
A very instructive novel, plenty of interesting points of view that show Mr Powers's broad knowledge.

In Plowing the Dark, Richard Powers returns to the richly promising realm of cyber-invention, one of our age's few remaining frontiers and a siren call to restless intellects. No one who enjoyed his remarkable breakthrough novel, Galatea 2.2, will be surprised by this. Here, an old friend recruits a disillusioned New York artist named Adie Klarpol to work on "the Cavern". TeraSys, a Seattle-based company, is building this virtual environment at great expense in the hope that it will lower its enormous tax liability as well as, in the long run, provide the template for all such virtual playrooms. "Millions of dollars of funding," Adie's friend Steve tells her when she arrives on the job, "and nobody around this dump can draw worth squat." Suitably impressed by the Cavern's programming, and slowly absorbing its dazzling capacity to project vivid and convincing illusions, she sets herself the task of creating a faithful 3-D version of Rousseau's Dream. Her painstaking efforts in the Realization Lab are aided by a host of supporting characters, one of whom, Spider Lim, proves so sensitive that he gets a bruise from bumping into one of Adie's virtual tree branches. And when the central female figure appears among the foliage, Lim is irresistibly drawn in, marvelling that

their first successful leaf, twirling in the Cavern darkness, had led to this--this pale, lentil body turning in his mind's dark. This scapular profile, these tow-line braids. Her hips fell somewhere on the Limaçon of Pascal. The squares of her breasts' abscissas and ordinates summed to an integer. This was the math of women, a field he'd given up studying, female equations whose complexities had long ago surpassed his ability to differentiate.

Powers' lush language corresponds to Adie's vision of Rousseau's jungle, and in turn to Rousseau's own ecstatic vision. Yet there is also something elegiac in the author's lavish descriptions of the Cavern's miracles, as if he were offering a late, last flowering of words before the cultural ascendancy of the image. Great, quotable chunks weight every page. Even readers fond of extravagant prose may find Powers's verbal persistence wearying, though it suggests that there are still contradictions and subtleties of mind that no image can track. --Regina Marler, Amazon.com

Serious psychology in a novel, 21 Oct 2008
American author Richard Powers explores the ideas of mind, soul and self in this prize-winning novel. Mark Schluter suffers a near-fatal car crash one cold night and awakes unable to recognise his only sister, Karen. In fact, he believes that Karen is a doppelganger of the version he has in his memories. He is diagnosed as suffering from the extremely rare disorder known as Capgras Syndrome. Over the course of the novel his paranoia develops even further.

Karen, who has given up her house and job to come take care of her brother, is deeply hurt by his inability to acknowledge her as his sister, contacts famous popular author and neurologist Gerald Weber.

Weber's character and his battle with his demons add a further strand to this deftly woven novel. After a series of well-received popular science books, he now faces some critical rejection and struggles to deal with it. Each character is suffering through their own mental problems and this allows the book to expand and examine the nature of memory, reality and identity.

Add in the mystery character of Barbara, who fights her own demons, which are revealed at the end of the book, and we have a host of characters struggling with their own mental problems and issues. Over the course of a year, the author invokes some beautiful imagery as he describes the cyclical journey of the threatened crane. Every year the crane return to the Nebraska town where this novel is set, as they move on their migrational path.

Despite the grand scale of this book, and the weighty topics that it tackles (self-identity, memory and love), it somehow fails to ultimately satisfy. It is a demanding read, and we do become more and more involved as Mark struggles to deal with the differences in his memory and to find out what happened to him that cold night. However, there is some spark of emotion missing in the novel that would fully bind you to the characters.

Outstanding, 31 Aug 2008
Ignore all the negative comments here and read the (proper) reviews on the book itself. It's a book about people and their relationships, about emotions, identity and memory and thought. It also has interesting stuff to say about how the brain works. What's not to like?

Too Long & Too Much Jargon, and Where did the Plot Go?, 19 Aug 2008
I enjoyed the start of this book - and then it just seemed to drift, and go nowhere fast. There was two much technical information that did nothing for the plot. I found this agrravating and eventually started speed reading through these bits.

After reading 400 plus pages, I found that I was not particularly bothered about finishing the book. However, after reading so much of it I thought that it would be shame not to finish it. I wish I hadn't bothered. There is no real conclusion - it becomes so crytic it is very difficult to follow what is going on. Yes you do learn the truth about what happened on the night of the accident, but by this point I didn't really care.



A Patchy Novel of the Mind, 23 Jul 2008
This book is like an extremely slow roller-coaster, there are highs, lows and the odd sharp turn, but ultimately moments of exhilaration are few and far between, and it's all a bit dull.

The writing and use of language is excellent; Powers seems to really appreciate every single strand of his diverse subject matter. He manages to convey perfectly, the simultaneous claustrophobic/agoraphobic feeling of life in Mid-West America. He also gives a scary insight into how tenuous our grip on reality might be. The strongest sections of the book are when he turns the microscope on his character's insecurities, highlighting Powers' accurate perception of human nature

On the down side, there is far too much technical detail on the brain and neurology. It often feels as though the author has swallowed a few text books and felt the need to regurgitate them, in order to prove how clever he is. The whole novel is also too long, between pages 100-300 the novel really drags. After the opening car crash, almost nothing significant happens for the entire 550 pages of the book. Although clearly an excellent writer, Powers is not a strong enough wordsmith to sustain the reader's interest for the entirety of the novel.

I enjoyed the first one hundred pages and was preparing, myself to be blown away, only to become bogged down as the plot stagnated. Then from about page 350, things picked up again; I discovered I really cared about the characters and wanted to know how everything would resolve itself. With fifty to go, I was desperate to see how things would turn out and was thoroughly enjoying reading the Echo Maker. Sadly the ending didn't quite hold up as everything petered out. A conclusion is reached but after the effort it took to arrive there, it seemed rushed and ill conceived. In the end, I put the book down, left mainly with a sense of disappointment.


Extremely unimpressed, 07 Jun 2008
I found this book very very slow in pace and hugely frustrating. I've never read a book until now that I've actually wanted to rip in half!! The story was intriguing for the first 200 pages but the remaining 300+ pages left me extremely bored. The language was peppered with clinical jargon that was infuratingly complex and at times gratutitous. The characters were not that likeable and the ending was disappointing, at best, and I cannot understand why it is has had such big acclaim!

On the whole I found it boring, self-indulgant and it left me completely cold. My copy is heading for amazon.

Is Powers a polymath?, 10 Aug 2008
As a 63 year old English man with a considerable academic background I was truly over-whelmed by this book. I hit on it quite by accident & it did indeed take careful thoughtful reading but it was truly worth the effort. The lengthy reviews say all that needs to be said about the story line and all I wish to add is that it offered both literary and intellectual benefits. Maybe I learned some nuances about black American experiences and it might have a didactic role but it is ultimately a magnificent literary creation. Richard Powers has a masterly touch in music (musicology as well) and psychology. A polymath?

Lyrical brilliance, 31 Mar 2008
The very structure of this book reveals the complexity of thought behind this poignant, perceptive and riveting account of a family of extraordinary talent, seen through the eyes of Joseph, a child of the baby-boomer years. For someone, like myself, whose grasp of race issues has been syncopated by current history as shown in TV and news reports, the account is a revelation. The totality of the racial divide is experienced through the impossible marriage, consummated just before the Second World War, of David a refugee (white) German Jewish man to Delia, a young (black) musician. The impossible universe thus created by this love in an unlovely world, is explored by Powers. The marriage has been born out of a passion for music and the making of music is the substance of much of this amazing narrative.
Powers has a facility with language that is a great rarity. Again and again he conjures up the experience of wonderful music being created. This never palls and becomes a leitmotif throughout the tale. He manages to explore and reveal complexity of character and motive, in a way that is both unflinching and compassionate.
This is a wonderful read. A book to ponder for months and years. It sustains its power right up to the very end - as you would expect for a book that is as much about the mystery of time as it is about the nature of music.


One of the best books I've ever read., 30 Jan 2008
A lap breaking book about racism, classical music and the theory of relativity. It didn't really sound like my cup of tea to be honest. But I was genuinely engrossed from the moment I delved beneath the cover. If you like your fiction intelligent and well written, seek out `Time of Our Singing' - it's a must read.

MORE VALLEYS NEEDED?, 22 Mar 2007
It's very difficult not to be impressed with this novel. Depth, breadth, some highly affecting writing about the emotional power of music, a complex,satisfying structure, trenchant analysis of race and US social problems. Here comes the but. There's a passage where Powers talks about a composer having too many peaks and not enough valleys. That's often what I felt about this book. In fact it's often what I feel about a lot of American novels. Every sentence is so....overstuffed. Every action is so vital. Every comment so pregnant. You long for a character to have a cup of tea or pick their nose or say something pointless. Like, you know, real people do. Roth is the same. These powerful, brilliant characters with their historic lives on a Polaris trajectory. At least Pynchon is often funny and ridiculous and throwaway. But these other guys (and they are all guys aren't they) - all seem to be hell bent on out muscling eachother. Shock and awe, baby. Strangely it makes me think less of Powers' critique of America....his book (and I haven't read the others) is so AMERICAN...big, flashy, self important, overpowering. I shouldn't carp. We need serious, thought provoking writers. America definitely needs them. It's just I sometimes wonder if they need their hearing checked.

not a perfect novel, but a brilliant one nonetheless, 10 Jan 2007
This novel actually changed the way I think about race and, to a lesser extent, about twentieth century American history. I don't think you can really ask any more of a work of art than that. It has the kind of sweeping ambition that puts modern British novelists to shame, but is grounded throughout in the warm depiction of a nuclear family. Despite all this, I must say I thought Powers was a lot weaker when describing the 1990s than the 1950s and 1960s. There are passing references to hip hop culture, which I think play down its significance or, at least, potential to be a positive force before it got bastardised and exploited by people like 50 cent. Great novel though and highly recommended.

An audacious novel, 20 Aug 2004
Mr Powers begins his novel by following a narrator travelling by train from Chicago to Boston. He has to change trains in Detroit and since he has several hours at his leisure, he decides to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts. There, he is puzzled by a photograph taken by Augustus Sander in 1914 showing three farmers on their way to a dance. The reader follows the narrator's progress as he tries to find answers to the questions that preoccupy him about the photograph: who took it, why was it taken, who are the three farmers appearing in the picture.
On another level, Mr Powers gives a fictional account - or it may also be the result of the narrator's research, it is not explicit in the text - of the action taking place at the time the photograph was taken and also what happens subsequently. And so the reader gets to know the three farmers Hubert, Peter and Adolphe.
Yet on another level, the author introduces various contemporary characters working in the Powell Building for a magazine called "Micro Monthly News": Mays, Moseley, Delaney. After having at first the impression that the events at this level are unrelated to the two other levels, the reader soon realises that there is a connection indeed.
What makes Mr Powers's novel interesting are his many reflections on various topics. These range from the situation of a small Belgian village called Petit Roi during the First World War, the part that Henry Ford played in that war, various personalities like Darwin, Freud, Gödel, Planck or Sarah Bernhardt, to the Industrial Revolution and the changes that mechanisation brought to our civilisation. And because the main protagonist so to speak of the novel is a photograph, Mr Powers also deals in detail in the history of photography.
A very instructive novel, plenty of interesting points of view that show Mr Powers's broad knowledge.

I waited several days prior to writing about this book, 04 Nov 2002
I don't think it matters how long you wait, general thoughts are the best people seem to do with this Author. This is the first book of his I have read, and I agree with those that say it is unlike anything they have read before.

I have never read prose that is so frenetic in it's pace, and to make the experience more interesting, each sentence is so engorged with words, that are carefully even artfully chosen, that dense does not begin to describe this Author's use of language. Once you become accustomed to the pace and richness of what he writes, he becomes readable. Umberto Eco comes to mind, but this Author is not as burdensome, you participate as a reader more quickly. I also love Mr. Eco's work; I just never find the reading comfortable.

His knowledge of his material is encyclopedic. He creates characters that are as unique and varied and sometimes eccentric, as any other Author I have read. And what does he create with this?

There is a group building "The Cavern", think of it as a very early Beta version of the Holodeck on The Enterprise. This is not a place for recreation; their goals are varied and constantly evolving. This room of no time, which is supposed to eventually be the perfect VR World, the perfect forecaster of whatever you like, Or for others an apocalyptic place, its potential too horrible to imagine.

All of this plays with another story in the background that superficially could not be less related, and this is probably the genius of the book. There are a number of Authors writing that try to be clever and original; they fail with the former as they lack the latter. Their stories don't hold up because you know the end, halfway or even less into the book. This time even when you think you know, even after the end has revealed itself, the book stays with you and you continue to sort out the dozens of thoughts and philosophies, which the characters from Countries as different as Armenia, and Ireland, and Korea bring to the story.

The book pulls all of your emotional strings, and most of your moral and ethical ones as well. If you find yourself immersed in this Author's writing you are in for one very enigmatic, puzzling, fantastical ride.

a tale of two books, 29 Jun 2001
Powers is a literary superstar in the US, regarded alongside the likes of DeLillo, John Barth & William Gaddis. Here in the UK his books are (criminally) almost unobtainable, but demand being sought out for the power of his literary visions and the beauty of his prose.

Plowing The Dark (typically for Powers) tells two separate stories which parallel, rather than merge with one another. Both are set on the cusp of the 1990's and examine the nature of identity and imagination in a world of rapidly changing political forces.

More than 2/3 of the novel is given over to the story of an artist who is recruited to assist in the construction of a virtual reality room. Whilst certainly interesting this aspect of the book is not always successfully realised, the various characters tend to merge into one another and the dialogue, jammed full of techno-speak, sometimes seems jarringly unrealistic.

However, interwoven with this is the other story, that of an English teacher kidnapped in Beirut, and this is nothing short of astonishing. The power and beauty of the writing is just overwhelming, and the story itself perfectly paced and ultimately deeply moving.

Whilst Powers' experiment is far from flawless the scope and ambition of the novel is admirable, something that seems so lacking in much European literatute.

So, in short, read 'Plowing The Dark', and then check out Powers' greatest work: 'Gain', 'Galatea 2.2' & 'The Gold-Bug Variations'.

Serious psychology in a novel, 21 Oct 2008
American author Richard Powers explores the ideas of mind, soul and self in this prize-winning novel. Mark Schluter suffers a near-fatal car crash one cold night and awakes unable to recognise his only sister, Karen. In fact, he believes that Karen is a doppelganger of the version he has in his memories. He is diagnosed as suffering from the extremely rare disorder known as Capgras Syndrome. Over the course of the novel his paranoia develops even further.

Karen, who has given up her house and job to come take care of her brother, is deeply hurt by his inability to acknowledge her as his sister, contacts famous popular author and neurologist Gerald Weber.

Weber's character and his battle with his demons add a further strand to this deftly woven novel. After a series of well-received popular science books, he now faces some critical rejection and struggles to deal with it. Each character is suffering through their own mental problems and this allows the book to expand and examine the nature of memory, reality and identity.

Add in the mystery character of Barbara, who fights her own demons, which are revealed at the end of the book, and we have a host of characters struggling with their own mental problems and issues. Over the course of a year, the author invokes some beautiful imagery as he describes the cyclical journey of the threatened crane. Every year the crane return to the Nebraska town where this novel is set, as they move on their migrational path.

Despite the grand scale of this book, and the weighty topics that it tackles (self-identity, memory and love), it somehow fails to ultimately satisfy. It is a demanding read, and we do become more and more involved as Mark struggles to deal with the differences in his memory and to find out what happened to him that cold night. However, there is some spark of emotion missing in the novel that would fully bind you to the characters.

Outstanding, 31 Aug 2008
Ignore all the negative comments here and read the (proper) reviews on the book itself. It's a book about people and their relationships, about emotions, identity and memory and thought. It also has interesting stuff to say about how the brain works. What's not to like?

Too Long & Too Much Jargon, and Where did the Plot Go?, 19 Aug 2008
I enjoyed the start of this book - and then it just seemed to drift, and go nowhere fast. There was two much technical information that did nothing for the plot. I found this agrravating and eventually started speed reading through these bits.

After reading 400 plus pages, I found that I was not particularly bothered about finishing the book. However, after reading so much of it I thought that it would be shame not to finish it. I wish I hadn't bothered. There is no real conclusion - it becomes so crytic it is very difficult to follow what is going on. Yes you do learn the truth about what happened on the night of the accident, but by this point I didn't really care.



A Patchy Novel of the Mind, 23 Jul 2008
This book is like an extremely slow roller-coaster, there are highs, lows and the odd sharp turn, but ultimately moments of exhilaration are few and far between, and it's all a bit dull.

The writing and use of language is excellent; Powers seems to really appreciate every single strand of his diverse subject matter. He manages to convey perfectly, the simultaneous claustrophobic/agoraphobic feeling of life in Mid-West America. He also gives a scary insight into how tenuous our grip on reality might be. The strongest sections of the book are when he turns the microscope on his character's insecurities, highlighting Powers' accurate perception of human nature

On the down side, there is far too much technical detail on the brain and neurology. It often feels as though the author has swallowed a few text books and felt the need to regurgitate them, in order to prove how clever he is. The whole novel is also too long, between pages 100-300 the novel really drags. After the opening car crash, almost nothing significant happens for the entire 550 pages of the book. Although clearly an excellent writer, Powers is not a strong enough wordsmith to sustain the reader's interest for the entirety of the novel.

I enjoyed the first one hundred pages and was preparing, myself to be blown away, only to become bogged down as the plot stagnated. Then from about page 350, things picked up again; I discovered I really cared about the characters and wanted to know how everything would resolve itself. With fifty to go, I was desperate to see how things would turn out and was thoroughly enjoying reading the Echo Maker. Sadly the ending didn't quite hold up as everything petered out. A conclusion is reached but after the effort it took to arrive there, it seemed rushed and ill conceived. In the end, I put the book down, left mainly with a sense of disappointment.


Extremely unimpressed, 07 Jun 2008
I found this book very very slow in pace and hugely frustrating. I've never read a book until now that I've actually wanted to rip in half!! The story was intriguing for the first 200 pages but the remaining 300+ pages left me extremely bored. The language was peppered with clinical jargon that was infuratingly complex and at times gratutitous. The characters were not that likeable and the ending was disappointing, at best, and I cannot understand why it is has had such big acclaim!

On the whole I found it boring, self-indulgant and it left me completely cold. My copy is heading for amazon.

Is Powers a polymath?, 10 Aug 2008
As a 63 year old English man with a considerable academic background I was truly over-whelmed by this book. I hit on it quite by accident & it did indeed take careful thoughtful reading but it was truly worth the effort. The lengthy reviews say all that needs to be said about the story line and all I wish to add is that it offered both literary and intellectual benefits. Maybe I learned some nuances about black American experiences and it might have a didactic role but it is ultimately a magnificent literary creation. Richard Powers has a masterly touch in music (musicology as well) and psychology. A polymath?

Lyrical brilliance, 31 Mar 2008
The very structure of this book reveals the complexity of thought behind this poignant, perceptive and riveting account of a family of extraordinary talent, seen through the eyes of Joseph, a child of the baby-boomer years. For someone, like myself, whose grasp of race issues has been syncopated by current history as shown in TV and news reports, the account is a revelation. The totality of the racial divide is experienced through the impossible marriage, consummated just before the Second World War, of David a refugee (white) German Jewish man to Delia, a young (black) musician. The impossible universe thus created by this love in an unlovely world, is explored by Powers. The marriage has been born out of a passion for music and the making of music is the substance of much of this amazing narrative.
Powers has a facility with language that is a great rarity. Again and again he conjures up the experience of wonderful music being created. This never palls and becomes a leitmotif throughout the tale. He manages to explore and reveal complexity of character and motive, in a way that is both unflinching and compassionate.
This is a wonderful read. A book to ponder for months and years. It sustains its power right up to the very end - as you would expect for a book that is as much about the mystery of time as it is about the nature of music.


One of the best books I've ever read., 30 Jan 2008
A lap breaking book about racism, classical music and the theory of relativity. It didn't really sound like my cup of tea to be honest. But I was genuinely engrossed from the moment I delved beneath the cover. If you like your fiction intelligent and well written, seek out `Time of Our Singing' - it's a must read.

MORE VALLEYS NEEDED?, 22 Mar 2007
It's very difficult not to be impressed with this novel. Depth, breadth, some highly affecting writing about the emotional power of music, a complex,satisfying structure, trenchant analysis of race and US social problems. Here comes the but. There's a passage where Powers talks about a composer having too many peaks and not enough valleys. That's often what I felt about this book. In fact it's often what I feel about a lot of American novels. Every sentence is so....overstuffed. Every action is so vital. Every comment so pregnant. You long for a character to have a cup of tea or pick their nose or say something pointless. Like, you know, real people do. Roth is the same. These powerful, brilliant characters with their historic lives on a Polaris trajectory. At least Pynchon is often funny and ridiculous and throwaway. But these other guys (and they are all guys aren't they) - all seem to be hell bent on out muscling eachother. Shock and awe, baby. Strangely it makes me think less of Powers' critique of America....his book (and I haven't read the others) is so AMERICAN...big, flashy, self important, overpowering. I shouldn't carp. We need serious, thought provoking writers. America definitely needs them. It's just I sometimes wonder if they need their hearing checked.

not a perfect novel, but a brilliant one nonetheless, 10 Jan 2007
This novel actually changed the way I think about race and, to a lesser extent, about twentieth century American history. I don't think you can really ask any more of a work of art than that. It has the kind of sweeping ambition that puts modern British novelists to shame, but is grounded throughout in the warm depiction of a nuclear family. Despite all this, I must say I thought Powers was a lot weaker when describing the 1990s than the 1950s and 1960s. There are passing references to hip hop culture, which I think play down its significance or, at least, potential to be a positive force before it got bastardised and exploited by people like 50 cent. Great novel though and highly recommended.

An audacious novel, 20 Aug 2004
Mr Powers begins his novel by following a narrator travelling by train from Chicago to Boston. He has to change trains in Detroit and since he has several hours at his leisure, he decides to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts. There, he is puzzled by a photograph taken by Augustus Sander in 1914 showing three farmers on their way to a dance. The reader follows the narrator's progress as he tries to find answers to the questions that preoccupy him about the photograph: who took it, why was it taken, who are the three farmers appearing in the picture.
On another level, Mr Powers gives a fictional account - or it may also be the result of the narrator's research, it is not explicit in the text - of the action taking place at the time the photograph was taken and also what happens subsequently. And so the reader gets to know the three farmers Hubert, Peter and Adolphe.
Yet on another level, the author introduces various contemporary characters working in the Powell Building for a magazine called "Micro Monthly News": Mays, Moseley, Delaney. After having at first the impression that the events at this level are unrelated to the two other levels, the reader soon realises that there is a connection indeed.
What makes Mr Powers's novel interesting are his many reflections on various topics. These range from the situation of a small Belgian village called Petit Roi during the First World War, the part that Henry Ford played in that war, various personalities like Darwin, Freud, Gödel, Planck or Sarah Bernhardt, to the Industrial Revolution and the changes that mechanisation brought to our civilisation. And because the main protagonist so to speak of the novel is a photograph, Mr Powers also deals in detail in the history of photography.
A very instructive novel, plenty of interesting points of view that show Mr Powers's broad knowledge.

I waited several days prior to writing about this book, 04 Nov 2002
I don't think it matters how long you wait, general thoughts are the best people seem to do with this Author. This is the first book of his I have read, and I agree with those that say it is unlike anything they have read before.

I have never read prose that is so frenetic in it's pace, and to make the experience more interesting, each sentence is so engorged with words, that are carefully even artfully chosen, that dense does not begin to describe this Author's use of language. Once you become accustomed to the pace and richness of what he writes, he becomes readable. Umberto Eco comes to mind, but this Author is not as burdensome, you participate as a reader more quickly. I also love Mr. Eco's work; I just never find the reading comfortable.

His knowledge of his material is encyclopedic. He creates characters that are as unique and varied and sometimes eccentric, as any other Author I have read. And what does he create with this?

There is a group building "The Cavern", think of it as a very early Beta version of the Holodeck on The Enterprise. This is not a place for recreation; their goals are varied and constantly evolving. This room of no time, which is supposed to eventually be the perfect VR World, the perfect forecaster of whatever you like, Or for others an apocalyptic place, its potential too horrible to imagine.

All of this plays with another story in the background that superficially could not be less related, and this is probably the genius of the book. There are a number of Authors writing that try to be clever and original; they fail with the former as they lack the latter. Their stories don't hold up because you know the end, halfway or even less into the book. This time even when you think you know, even after the end has revealed itself, the book stays with you and you continue to sort out the dozens of thoughts and philosophies, which the characters from Countries as different as Armenia, and Ireland, and Korea bring to the story.

The book pulls all of your emotional strings, and most of your moral and ethical ones as well. If you find yourself immersed in this Author's writing you are in for one very enigmatic, puzzling, fantastical ride.

a tale of two books, 29 Jun 2001
Powers is a literary superstar in the US, regarded alongside the likes of DeLillo, John Barth & William Gaddis. Here in the UK his books are (criminally) almost unobtainable, but demand being sought out for the power of his literary visions and the beauty of his prose.

Plowing The Dark (typically for Powers) tells two separate stories which parallel, rather than merge with one another. Both are set on the cusp of the 1990's and examine the nature of identity and imagination in a world of rapidly changing political forces.

More than 2/3 of the novel is given over to the story of an artist who is recruited to assist in the construction of a virtual reality room. Whilst certainly interesting this aspect of the book is not always successfully realised, the various characters tend to merge into one another and the dialogue, jammed full of techno-speak, sometimes seems jarringly unrealistic.

However, interwoven with this is the other story, that of an English teacher kidnapped in Beirut, and this is nothing short of astonishing. The power and beauty of the writing is just overwhelming, and the story itself perfectly paced and ultimately deeply moving.

Whilst Powers' experiment is far from flawless the scope and ambition of the novel is admirable, something that seems so lacking in much European literatute.

So, in short, read 'Plowing The Dark', and then check out Powers' greatest work: 'Gain', 'Galatea 2.2' & 'The Gold-Bug Variations'.

A powerful novel, 24 May 2004
In this heart-wrenching and epic novel, Mr Powers tells two parallel stories both set in the town of Lacewood, Illinois. The first one is about Laura Rowen Bodey, divorced mother of Ellen, aged seventeen, and Tim, aged twelve. Laura is a successful real-estate agent at Next Millennium Realty. But one day, doctors tell Laura that she has ovarian cancer.
The other story is about a company begun by three merchant brothers in the 1850s in Boston, Clare Soap and Chemical. By the turn of the Millennium, this company has turned into a large multiconglomerate with factories in Lacewood, Laura Bodey’s hometown.
A powerful, subtle and provocative novel accurately depicting the messianism of corporate America. Laura’s story is one of the excruciating depth of vulnerability whereas the one about Clare Chemicals shows Mr Powers’ horizon-busting breath of knowledge. His prose is erudite, penetrating and splendidly written.

People want everything, that is their problem, 03 Nov 2002
I have not read all of the books that Mr. Powers has written. This is the fourth, and while the writing is not as complex, with each subsequent phrase attempting to make its predecessor seem inferior, he has created a book that begins with two stories widely separated in time and brings them together with final pages that are emotionally devastating.

The wealth of knowledge this Author is known for is again evident in "Gain". The difference this time is that he shows an understanding of the human condition, its pain and its suffering as though he experiences the trauma as he writes. He writes about an experience we all will face, and it reads as though it is documented fact, not some mystic farce substituted for weak writing that lacks the skill that Mr. Powers has. His writing does not read as opinion, it feels as though you are reading the truth, that you are being told by someone who knows, and not just an authority on the topic, an articulate dandified product of academe, an erudite poser.

A man and his wife arrive in Boston. Over a century later the son of another woman, working across the river in Cambridge, will take the money from a legal outcome that is a direct result of that first man's arrival, and likely set in motion events that are orders of magnitude more powerful. It could be argued that the moment the first man decided to emigrate; the countless number of steps, the cascade of effects were irrevocably put in motion.

This tale could be dressed up as a form of Chaos Theory, the Butterfly in China whose delicate movements cause the East Coast of the US to be flooded. Mr. Powers does not need a curtain that wrapped the city of the Oz Wizard to conceal what he was unable to do. If Mr. Powers were a magician, he could conjure all that illusionists do. Rolling up his sleeves would be meaningless, as he would require none.

Mr. Powers has demonstrated he can write at any level of complexity, on subjects that only token numbers of people can get their minds around. In this work he tells a story that we all have heard countless times. However this is the first time we have heard him tell it, and the similarities are almost nil. The real world is not black and white, and neither is this writer's prose. The quote that is the title of my comments is spoken at a moment, and by a person that will demonstrate how powerful a simple statement can be. But this is a Richard Powers' book, where even a simple declarative sentence is unbounded.

An incredible Author and I have yet to read the book that almost all reviewers say is his best.

A new kind of fiction - and much needed, 20 Aug 1999
Powers tackles one of the most underwritten subjects in fiction - business. We live in an age of triumphal capitalism, yet few writers have undertaken to examine it. Our lives are dominated by institutions that are quite literally unimagined. Powers puts his imagination to that task.

His project is to make an epic of a major corporation's rise, not as a story of individuals, though the family that made the corporation is beautifully realized, but as a story of people and institutions moving through a context, a society, an economy. What a job for a novelist!

Yet Powers brings it off, intercutting his wholly-absorbing history of the Clare Corporation, a Proctor&Gamble-like mega-corp, with a more personalized story of a family who live with the company and its products.

Gain is worth reading and I think probably re-reading. It's going to last.

Powers' American tragic vision ranks with Fitzgerald's, 03 Aug 1999
Serious American novelists are compelled to confront certain questions: what is right about America? What is wrong with us? A select company of writers are distinguished by their ability to recognize that the answers to these questions are virtually identical. I am thinking about Dreiser, Fitzgerald and, now, Richard Powers. In Gain, Powers tells two stories in one, one historical and one contemporary: the first tells of the seemingly irresistible rise of Clare, a multi-national corporation; and the second examines the life of a working mother afflicted with ovarian cancer -- a disease evidently caused by chemicals released by Clare's manufacturing processes. The book reads somewhat like a novelistic rendering of Hardy's poem "The Convergence of the Twain." Like the iceberg and liner in Hardy's work, heroine and corporation are on a collision course plotted by human vanity and outraged nature. As in the very best of classical tragedies, the action seems both sadly unnecessary and starkly inevitable. As the soap-selling business of the Clare brothers gathers momentum, one feels both the thrill of its financial triumph and the horror of the humam cost its growth exacts. In this novel, the conditions of American society enable characters to conceive great visions and to pursue them with courage and enthusiasm. At the end of the day, however, they cannot escape either their mortality or the prosaic, banal truth of their existence. Did so many brave, intelligent people labor and die just so that the heroine's teenage son can play video wargames in the comfort of a suburban bedroom? It is troubling, Powers suggests, that all our hopes and strivings should take us no further than this. Even-handedly, however, Powers shows us the benefits of industry as well as its dark side. Also deeply impressive is the sheer knowledge conveyed by this novel, ranging from insights into Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" to informed commentary on the process of making a bar of soap. While some readers may grow impatient with Powers' erudition, I found it fascinating to be in the presence of a poet who is also a technician. Gain is linked in my mind with the tragic quest of Gatsby and the life and death of Clyde Griffiths. Like Fitzgerald's novel and Dreiser's, it probes the core of the American Dream -- a dream that irresistibly calls its followers onward, a dream too mighty to escape but too fantastic to fully achieve. The book is a powerful jeremiad against those who gain the world and lose their souls, but it also acknowledges that this kind of self-destruction may be inherent in the human, or at least the American, condition. Gain is one of the very best business novels I have read. In my view, it is one of the best American books of the last 25 years, maybe longer.

Ontology 101, 02 Aug 1999
I have read all but 2 of Powers' books. I am trying to save them, since I never want to be in the position of having nothing further to read! Each of the books I have read is intellectually right on target in its own way. Operation Wandering Soul is probably the most moving emotionally. I would very much like to see Powers someday go outside the business/science box and apply his searching intelligence to an arena of a wildly different sort--a cloister, maybe, or a pagan enclave or a deep ecology or animal rights group. He exposes remarkable connections and meanings wherever he looks, and I would love to see what he makes of a nonlinear worldview.

Serious psychology in a novel, 21 Oct 2008
American author Richard Powers explores the ideas of mind, soul and self in this prize-winning novel. Mark Schluter suffers a near-fatal car crash one cold night and awakes unable to recognise his only sister, Karen. In fact, he believes that Karen is a doppelganger of the version he has in his memories. He is diagnosed as suffering from the extremely rare disorder known as Capgras Syndrome. Over the course of the novel his paranoia develops even further.

Karen, who has given up her house and job to come take care of her brother, is deeply hurt by his inability to acknowledge her as his sister, contacts famous popular author and neurologist Gerald Weber.

Weber's character and his battle with his demons add a further strand to this deftly woven novel. After a series of well-received popular science books, he now faces some critical rejection and struggles to deal with it. Each character is suffering through their own mental problems and this allows the book to expand and examine the nature of memory, reality and identity.

Add in the mystery character of Barbara, who fights her own demons, which are revealed at the end of the book, and we have a host of characters struggling with their own mental problems and issues. Over the course of a year, the author invokes some beautiful imagery as he describes the cyclical journey of the threatened crane. Every year the crane return to the Nebraska town where this novel is set, as they move on their migrational path.

Despite the grand scale of this book, and the weighty topics that it tackles (self-identity, memory and love), it somehow fails to ultimately satisfy. It is a demanding read, and we do become more and more involved as Mark struggles to deal with the differences in his memory and to find out what happened to him that cold night. However, there is some spark of emotion missing in the novel that would fully bind you to the characters.

Outstanding, 31 Aug 2008
Ignore all the negative comments here and read the (proper) reviews on the book itself. It's a book about people and their relationships, about emotions, identity and memory and thought. It also has interesting stuff to say about how the brain works. What's not to like?

Too Long & Too Much Jargon, and Where did the Plot Go?, 19 Aug 2008
I enjoyed the start of this book - and then it just seemed to drift, and go nowhere fast. There was two much technical information that did nothing for the plot. I found this agrravating and eventually started speed reading through these bits.

After reading 400 plus pages, I found that I was not particularly bothered about finishing the book. However, after reading so much of it I thought that it would be shame not to finish it. I wish I hadn't bothered. There is no real conclusion - it becomes so crytic it is very difficult to follow what is going on. Yes you do learn the truth about what happened on the night of the accident, but by this point I didn't really care.



A Patchy Novel of the Mind, 23 Jul 2008
This book is like an extremely slow roller-coaster, there are highs, lows and the odd sharp turn, but ultimately moments of exhilaration are few and far between, and it's all a bit dull.

The writing and use of language is excellent; Powers seems to really appreciate every single strand of his diverse subject matter. He manages to convey perfectly, the simultaneous claustrophobic/agoraphobic feeling of life in Mid-West America. He also gives a scary insight into how tenuous our grip on reality might be. The strongest sections of the book are when he turns the microscope on his character's insecurities, highlighting Powers' accurate perception of human nature

On the down side, there is far too much technical detail on the brain and neurology. It often feels as though the author has swallowed a few text books and felt the need to regurgitate them, in order to prove how clever he is. The whole novel is also too long, between pages 100-300 the novel really drags. After the opening car crash, almost nothing significant happens for the entire 550 pages of the book. Although clearly an excellent writer, Powers is not a strong enough wordsmith to sustain the reader's interest for the entirety of the novel.

I enjoyed the first one hundred pages and was preparing, myself to be blown away, only to become bogged down as the plot stagnated. Then from about page 350, things picked up again; I discovered I really cared about the characters and wanted to know how everything would resolve itself. With fifty to go, I was desperate to see how things would turn out and was thoroughly enjoying reading the Echo Maker. Sadly the ending didn't quite hold up as everything petered out. A conclusion is reached but after the effort it took to arrive there, it seemed rushed and ill conceived. In the end, I put the book down, left mainly with a sense of disappointment.


Extremely unimpressed, 07 Jun 2008
I found this book very very slow in pace and hugely frustrating. I've never read a book until now that I've actually wanted to rip in half!! The story was intriguing for the first 200 pages but the remaining 300+ pages left me extremely bored. The language was peppered with clinical jargon that was infuratingly complex and at times gratutitous. The characters were not that likeable and the ending was disappointing, at best, and I cannot understand why it is has had such big acclaim!

On the whole I found it boring, self-indulgant and it left me completely cold. My copy is heading for amazon.

Is Powers a polymath?, 10 Aug 2008
As a 63 year old English man with a considerable academic background I was truly over-whelmed by this book. I hit on it quite by accident & it did indeed take careful thoughtful reading but it was truly worth the effort. The lengthy reviews say all that needs to be said about the story line and all I wish to add is that it offered both literary and intellectual benefits. Maybe I learned some nuances about black American experiences and it might have a didactic role but it is ultimately a magnificent literary creation. Richard Powers has a masterly touch in music (musicology as well) and psychology. A polymath?

Lyrical brilliance, 31 Mar 2008
The very structure of this book reveals the complexity of thought behind this poignant, perceptive and riveting account of a family of extraordinary talent, seen through the eyes of Joseph, a child of the baby-boomer years. For someone, like myself, whose grasp of race issues has been syncopated by current history as shown in TV and news reports, the account is a revelation. The totality of the racial divide is experienced through the impossible marriage, consummated just before the Second World War, of David a refugee (white) German Jewish man to Delia, a young (black) musician. The impossible universe thus created by this love in an unlovely world, is explored by Powers. The marriage has been born out of a passion for music and the making of music is the substance of much of this amazing narrative.
Powers has a facility with language that is a great rarity. Again and again he conjures up the experience of wonderful music being created. This never palls and becomes a leitmotif throughout the tale. He manages to explore and reveal complexity of character and motive, in a way that is both unflinching and compassionate.
This is a wonderful read. A book to ponder for months and years. It sustains its power right up to the very end - as you would expect for a book that is as much about the mystery of time as it is about the nature of music.


One of the best books I've ever read., 30 Jan 2008
A lap breaking book about racism, classical music and the theory of relativity. It didn't really sound like my cup of tea to be honest. But I was genuinely engrossed from the moment I delved beneath the cover. If you like your fiction intelligent and well written, seek out `Time of Our Singing' - it's a must read.

MORE VALLEYS NEEDED?, 22 Mar 2007
It's very difficult not to be impressed with this novel. Depth, breadth, some highly affecting writing about the emotional power of music, a complex,satisfying structure, trenchant analysis of race and US social problems. Here comes the but. There's a passage where Powers talks about a composer having too many peaks and not enough valleys. That's often what I felt about this book. In fact it's often what I feel about a lot of American novels. Every sentence is so....overstuffed. Every action is so vital. Every comment so pregnant. You long for a character to have a cup of tea or pick their nose or say something pointless. Like, you know, real people do. Roth is the same. These powerful, brilliant characters with their historic lives on a Polaris trajectory. At least Pynchon is often funny and ridiculous and throwaway. But these other guys (and they are all guys aren't they) - all seem to be hell bent on out muscling eachother. Shock and awe, baby. Strangely it makes me think less of Powers' critique of America....his book (and I haven't read the others) is so AMERICAN...big, flashy, self important, overpowering. I shouldn't carp. We need serious, thought provoking writers. America definitely needs them. It's just I sometimes wonder if they need their hearing checked.

not a perfect novel, but a brilliant one nonetheless, 10 Jan 2007
This novel actually changed the way I think about race and, to a lesser extent, about twentieth century American history. I don't think you can really ask any more of a work of art than that. It has the kind of sweeping ambition that puts modern British novelists to shame, but is grounded throughout in the warm depiction of a nuclear family. Despite all this, I must say I thought Powers was a lot weaker when describing the 1990s than the 1950s and 1960s. There are passing references to hip hop culture, which I think play down its significance or, at least, potential to be a positive force before it got bastardised and exploited by people like 50 cent. Great novel though and highly recommended.

An audacious novel, 20 Aug 2004
Mr Powers begins his novel by following a narrator travelling by train from Chicago to Boston. He has to change trains in Detroit and since he has several hours at his leisure, he decides to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts. There, he is puzzled by a photograph taken by Augustus Sander in 1914 showing three farmers on their way to a dance. The reader follows the narrator's progress as he tries to find answers to the questions that preoccupy him about the photograph: who took it, why was it taken, who are the three farmers appearing in the picture.
On another level, Mr Powers gives a fictional account - or it may also be the result of the narrator's research, it is not explicit in the text - of the action taking place at the time the photograph was taken and also what happens subsequently. And so the reader gets to know the three farmers Hubert, Peter and Adolphe.
Yet on another level, the author introduces various contemporary characters working in the Powell Building for a magazine called "Micro Monthly News": Mays, Moseley, Delaney. After having at first the impression that the events at this level are unrelated to the two other levels, the reader soon realises that there is a connection indeed.
What makes Mr Powers's novel interesting are his many reflections on various topics. These range from the situation of a small Belgian village called Petit Roi during the First World War, the part that Henry Ford played in that war, various personalities like Darwin, Freud, Gödel, Planck or Sarah Bernhardt, to the Industrial Revolution and the changes that mechanisation brought to our civilisation. And because the main protagonist so to speak of the novel is a photograph, Mr Powers also deals in detail in the history of photography.
A very instructive novel, plenty of interesting points of view that show Mr Powers's broad knowledge.

I waited several days prior to writing about this book, 04 Nov 2002
I don't think it matters how long you wait, general thoughts are the best people seem to do with this Author. This is the first book of his I have read, and I agree with those that say it is unlike anything they have read before.

I have never read prose that is so frenetic in it's pace, and to make the experience more interesting, each sentence is so engorged with words, that are carefully even artfully chosen, that dense does not begin to describe this Author's use of language. Once you become accustomed to the pace and richness of what he writes, he becomes readable. Umberto Eco comes to mind, but this Author is not as burdensome, you participate as a reader more quickly. I also love Mr. Eco's work; I just never find the reading comfortable.

His knowledge of his material is encyclopedic. He creates characters that are as unique and varied and sometimes eccentric, as any other Author I have read. And what does he create with this?

There is a group building "The Cavern", think of it as a very early Beta version of the Holodeck on The Enterprise. This is not a place for recreation; their goals are varied and constantly evolving. This room of no time, which is supposed to eventually be the perfect VR World, the perfect forecaster of whatever you like, Or for others an apocalyptic place, its potential too horrible to imagine.

All of this plays with another story in the background that superficially could not be less related, and this is probably the genius of the book. There are a number of Authors writing that try to be clever and original; they fail with the former as they lack the latter. Their stories don't hold up because you know the end, halfway or even less into the book. This time even when you think you know, even after the end has revealed itself, the book stays with you and you continue to sort out the dozens of thoughts and philosophies, which the characters from Countries as different as Armenia, and Ireland, and Korea bring to the story.

The book pulls all of your emotional strings, and most of your moral and ethical ones as well. If you find yourself immersed in this Author's writing you are in for one very enigmatic, puzzling, fantastical ride.

a tale of two books, 29 Jun 2001
Powers is a literary superstar in the US, regarded alongside the likes of DeLillo, John Barth & William Gaddis. Here in the UK his books are (criminally) almost unobtainable, but demand being sought out for the power of his literary visions and the beauty of his prose.

Plowing The Dark (typically for Powers) tells two separate stories which parallel, rather than merge with one another. Both are set on the cusp of the 1990's and examine the nature of identity and imagination in a world of rapidly changing political forces.

More than 2/3 of the novel is given over to the story of an artist who is recruited to assist in the construction of a virtual reality room. Whilst certainly interesting this aspect of the book is not always successfully realised, the various characters tend to merge into one another and the dialogue, jammed full of techno-speak, sometimes seems jarringly unrealistic.

However, interwoven with this is the other story, that of an English teacher kidnapped in Beirut, and this is nothing short of astonishing. The power and beauty of the writing is just overwhelming, and the story itself perfectly paced and ultimately deeply moving.

Whilst Powers' experiment is far from flawless the scope and ambition of the novel is admirable, something that seems so lacking in much European literatute.

So, in short, read 'Plowing The Dark', and then check out Powers' greatest work: 'Gain', 'Galatea 2.2' & 'The Gold-Bug Variations'.

A powerful novel, 24 May 2004
In this heart-wrenching and epic novel, Mr Powers tells two parallel stories both set in the town of Lacewood, Illinois. The first one is about Laura Rowen Bodey, divorced mother of Ellen, aged seventeen, and Tim, aged twelve. Laura is a successful real-estate agent at Next Millennium Realty. But one day, doctors tell Laura that she has ovarian cancer.
The other story is about a company begun by three merchant brothers in the 1850s in Boston, Clare Soap and Chemical. By the turn of the Millennium, this company has turned into a large multiconglomerate with factories in Lacewood, Laura Bodey’s hometown.
A powerful, subtle and provocative novel accurately depicting the messianism of corporate America. Laura’s story is one of the excruciating depth of vulnerability whereas the one about Clare Chemicals shows Mr Powers’ horizon-busting breath of knowledge. His prose is erudite, penetrating and splendidly written.

People want everything, that is their problem, 03 Nov 2002
I have not read all of the books that Mr. Powers has written. This is the fourth, and while the writing is not as complex, with each subsequent phrase attempting to make its predecessor seem inferior, he has created a book that begins with two stories widely separated in time and brings them together with final pages that are emotionally devastating.

The wealth of knowledge this Author is known for is again evident in "Gain". The difference this time is that he shows an understanding of the human condition, its pain and its suffering as though he experiences the trauma as he writes. He writes about an experience we all will face, and it reads as though it is documented fact, not some mystic farce substituted for weak writing that lacks the skill that Mr. Powers has. His writing does not read as opinion, it feels as though you are reading the truth, that you are being told by someone who knows, and not just an authority on the topic, an articulate dandified product of academe, an erudite poser.

A man and his wife arrive in Boston. Over a century later the son of another woman, working across the river in Cambridge, will take the money from a legal outcome that is a direct result of that first man's arrival, and likely set in motion events that are orders of magnitude more powerful. It could be argued that the moment the first man decided to emigrate; the countless number of steps, the cascade of effects were irrevocably put in motion.

This tale could be dressed up as a form of Chaos Theory, the Butterfly in China whose delicate movements cause the East Coast of the US to be flooded. Mr. Powers does not need a curtain that wrapped the city of the Oz Wizard to conceal what he was unable to do. If Mr. Powers were a magician, he could conjure all that illusionists do. Rolling up his sleeves would be meaningless, as he would require none.

Mr. Powers has demonstrated he can write at any level of complexity, on subjects that only token numbers of people can get their minds around. In this work he tells a story that we all have heard countless times. However this is the first time we have heard him tell it, and the similarities are almost nil. The real world is not black and white, and neither is this writer's prose. The quote that is the title of my comments is spoken at a moment, and by a person that will demonstrate how powerful a simple statement can be. But this is a Richard Powers' book, where even a simple declarative sentence is unbounded.

An incredible Author and I have yet to read the book that almost all reviewers say is his best.

A new kind of fiction - and much needed, 20 Aug 1999
Powers tackles one of the most underwritten subjects in fiction - business. We live in an age of triumphal capitalism, yet few writers have undertaken to examine it. Our lives are dominated by institutions that are quite literally unimagined. Powers puts his imagination to that task.

His project is to make an epic of a major corporation's rise, not as a story of individuals, though the family that made the corporation is beautifully realized, but as a story of people and institutions moving through a context, a society, an economy. What a job for a novelist!

Yet Powers brings it off, intercutting his wholly-absorbing history of the Clare Corporation, a Proctor&Gamble-like mega-corp, with a more personalized story of a family who live with the company and its products.

Gain is worth reading and I think probably re-reading. It's going to last.

Powers' American tragic vision ranks with Fitzgerald's, 03 Aug 1999
Serious American novelists are compelled to confront certain questions: what is right about America? What is wrong with us? A select company of writers are distinguished by their ability to recognize that the answers to these questions are virtually identical. I am thinking about Dreiser, Fitzgerald and, now, Richard Powers. In Gain, Powers tells two stories in one, one historical and one contemporary: the first tells of the seemingly irresistible rise of Clare, a multi-national corporation; and the second examines the life of a working mother afflicted with ovarian cancer -- a disease evidently caused by chemicals released by Clare's manufacturing processes. The book reads somewhat like a novelistic rendering of Hardy's poem "The Convergence of the Twain." Like the iceberg and liner in Hardy's work, heroine and corporation are on a collision course plotted by human vanity and outraged nature. As in the very best of classical tragedies, the action seems both sadly unnecessary and starkly inevitable. As the soap-selling business of the Clare brothers gathers momentum, one feels both the thrill of its financial triumph and the horror of the humam cost its growth exacts. In this novel, the conditions of American society enable characters to conceive great visions and to pursue them with courage and enthusiasm. At the end of the day, however, they cannot escape either their mortality or the prosaic, banal truth of their existence. Did so many brave, intelligent people labor and die just so that the heroine's teenage son can play video wargames in the comfort of a suburban bedroom? It is troubling, Powers suggests, that all our hopes and strivings should take us no further than this. Even-handedly, however, Powers shows us the benefits of industry as well as its dark side. Also deeply impressive is the sheer knowledge conveyed by this novel, ranging from insights into Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" to informed commentary on the process of making a bar of soap. While some readers may grow impatient with Powers' erudition, I found it fascinating to be in the presence of a poet who is also a technician. Gain is linked in my mind with the tragic quest of Gatsby and the life and death of Clyde Griffiths. Like Fitzgerald's novel and Dreiser's, it probes the core of the American Dream -- a dream that irresistibly calls its followers onward, a dream too mighty to escape but too fantastic to fully achieve. The book is a powerful jeremiad against those who gain the world and lose their souls, but it also acknowledges that this kind of self-destruction may be inherent in the human, or at least the American, condition. Gain is one of the very best business novels I have read. In my view, it is one of the best American books of the last 25 years, maybe longer.

Ontology 101, 02 Aug 1999
I have read all but 2 of Powers' books. I am trying to save them, since I never want to be in the position of having nothing further to read! Each of the books I have read is intellectually right on target in its own way. Operation Wandering Soul is probably the most moving emotionally. I would very much like to see Powers someday go outside the business/science box and apply his searching intelligence to an arena of a wildly different sort--a cloister, maybe, or a pagan enclave or a deep ecology or animal rights group. He exposes remarkable connections and meanings wherever he looks, and I would love to see what he makes of a nonlinear worldview.

Serious psychology in a novel, 21 Oct 2008
American author Richard Powers explores the ideas of mind, soul and self in this prize-winning novel. Mark Schluter suffers a near-fatal car crash one cold night and awakes unable to recognise his only sister, Karen. In fact, he believes that Karen is a doppelganger of the version he has in his memories. He is diagnosed as suffering from the extremely rare disorder known as Capgras Syndrome. Over the course of the novel his paranoia develops even further.

Karen, who has given up her house and job to come take care of her brother, is deeply hurt by his inability to acknowledge her as his sister, contacts famous popular author and neurologist Gerald Weber.

Weber's character and his battle with his demons add a further strand to this deftly woven novel. After a series of well-received popular science books, he now faces some critical rejection and struggles to deal with it. Each character is suffering through their own mental problems and this allows the book to expand and examine the nature of memory, reality and identity.

Add in the mystery character of Barbara, who fights her own demons, which are revealed at the end of the book, and we have a host of characters struggling with their own mental problems and issues. Over the course of a year, the author invokes some beautiful imagery as he describes the cyclical journey of the threatened crane. Every year the crane return to the Nebraska town where this novel is set, as they move on their