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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
I picked up this book after having just finished [b:Cryptonomicon|816|Cryptonomicon|Neal Stephenson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327931476s/816.jpg|1166797], not knowing anything about it except that it was another very long book that was supposed to be very good. Powers is a different kind of writer than Stephenson; while they both use scientific topics as the basis of their work, Powers also has a background in the humanities, which means he looks a little deeper under the surface of things and writes in a slightly more intellectual style.
The main character of this book is a librarian named Jan who falls in love with a younger patron. He asks her to investigate a coworker of his who used to be a brilliant scientist before turning his back on academia. She agrees, and the three of them fall into an uneasy companionship, eventually revealing many secrets to each other. This is really the only surface-level plot of the book, but along the way we learn a lot about music, genetics, and computer programming circa 1985. Powers' writing on each of these topics is very masterful technically but also very poetic, and he eventually shows the reader the similarities in the patterns underlying each of these seemingly different phenomena. I'll never think of DNA or Bach in the same way again!
May 2019 addendum: This remains one of my favorite books of all time. I hadn’t read [b: Possession|41219|Possession|A.S. Byatt|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391124124s/41219.jpg|2246190] yet when I wrote this review, but I wanted to mention it now. Although the two novels are written very differently, one thing that unites them is that both are about the thrill of academic research, especially when done in tandem with someone you love. I think more of my friends need to read this book, so if you love Possession, as so many of you do, maybe you should give this one a shot.
The main character of this book is a librarian named Jan who falls in love with a younger patron. He asks her to investigate a coworker of his who used to be a brilliant scientist before turning his back on academia. She agrees, and the three of them fall into an uneasy companionship, eventually revealing many secrets to each other. This is really the only surface-level plot of the book, but along the way we learn a lot about music, genetics, and computer programming circa 1985. Powers' writing on each of these topics is very masterful technically but also very poetic, and he eventually shows the reader the similarities in the patterns underlying each of these seemingly different phenomena. I'll never think of DNA or Bach in the same way again!
May 2019 addendum: This remains one of my favorite books of all time. I hadn’t read [b: Possession|41219|Possession|A.S. Byatt|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391124124s/41219.jpg|2246190] yet when I wrote this review, but I wanted to mention it now. Although the two novels are written very differently, one thing that unites them is that both are about the thrill of academic research, especially when done in tandem with someone you love. I think more of my friends need to read this book, so if you love Possession, as so many of you do, maybe you should give this one a shot.
Complicated beautiful story of genetics and music and love. Goldberg variations plus the goldbug plus ACTG equals excellence.
I’m just over halfway through just finished this brick, and so much has happened that I feel justified in taking some time to reflect. Richard Powers’ work resonates with me on so many levels, and I particularly admire his devotion to concept. In The Gold Bug Variations, he’s turned his focus on the information encoded in DNA, exploring the hodgepodge of mechanics, mystery, and miracle that is genetic heredity. How do four letters — A, C, G, T — account for all life on earth? How does this non-conscious string of nucleotides encode the infrastructure of its own replication? And how, at the level of the conscious organism, does that same encoded self-replication translate to desire, romance, and sexual longing? In true Powers fashion everything — including his characters, the structure of the novel, and even the punning style of his prose — is designed to develop these explorations further.
At the structural level, GBV is comprised of two interlocking complementary narratives: in the mid-fifties, a geneticist working in Illinois seeks to crack the genetic code and falls in love with a married coworker. Thirty years later that scientist dies, and a reference librarian at a public library in Brooklyn Heights quits her job so that she can better understand him, his life’s work, and the way that their friendship (and the affair she had with his present-day coworker) uprooted her marriage and rekindled her excitement for living. I can’t say much more because the two time-displaced couples have only just gotten together, though I know it will not end happily for either.
Regardless, Powers has thus far done an incredible job of describing and depicting what it’s like to fall in love, and pairing both love stories with themes of seasonality and cycle has added a naturalism and nostalgia that I enjoy. The characters have gone through a lot, but the emotionally fraught decisions, recollections, couplings, and dissolutions are all handled with such nuance and understatement that I am regularly heartbroken by the beauty of moments that would wither in the hands of a lesser artist. I also love the strong musical through line of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which both drive the plot forward and even lend the novel its structure.
Richard Powers’ books are so intelligent, emotionally resonant, and informative. They unify huge scientific and cultural trends with historical marginalia and individual experience in a way that is so humbling and makes you marvel at the world in a way you didn’t see before opening the pages. This novel is utterly sublime.
At the structural level, GBV is comprised of two interlocking complementary narratives: in the mid-fifties, a geneticist working in Illinois seeks to crack the genetic code and falls in love with a married coworker. Thirty years later that scientist dies, and a reference librarian at a public library in Brooklyn Heights quits her job so that she can better understand him, his life’s work, and the way that their friendship (and the affair she had with his present-day coworker) uprooted her marriage and rekindled her excitement for living. I can’t say much more because the two time-displaced couples have only just gotten together, though I know it will not end happily for either.
Regardless, Powers has thus far done an incredible job of describing and depicting what it’s like to fall in love, and pairing both love stories with themes of seasonality and cycle has added a naturalism and nostalgia that I enjoy. The characters have gone through a lot, but the emotionally fraught decisions, recollections, couplings, and dissolutions are all handled with such nuance and understatement that I am regularly heartbroken by the beauty of moments that would wither in the hands of a lesser artist. I also love the strong musical through line of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which both drive the plot forward and even lend the novel its structure.
Richard Powers’ books are so intelligent, emotionally resonant, and informative. They unify huge scientific and cultural trends with historical marginalia and individual experience in a way that is so humbling and makes you marvel at the world in a way you didn’t see before opening the pages. This novel is utterly sublime.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Amidst the incredibly, painfully, infuriatingly dense and overwritten prose, there is a beautiful story with wonderful characters. I just wish Powers’ editor had understood their job.
I could have read this forever. It’s so easy to get lost in.
On this day in History:
1884 – Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average.
1938 – World speed record for a steam locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 miles per hour (202.58 km/h).
1970 – Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashes into the Les Agudes mountain in the Montseny Massif near the village of Arbúcies in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard.[1]
1884 – Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average.
1938 – World speed record for a steam locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 miles per hour (202.58 km/h).
1970 – Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashes into the Les Agudes mountain in the Montseny Massif near the village of Arbúcies in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard.[1]
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Yes it's probably too long and yes the portrayal of research isn't all that accurate (at least in parts) but there is something admirable about the way Powers writes, taking as much time and as many words as he feels he needs to explore the relative importance of science and art and human progress.
This one was a big of a slog for me. There were two parallel connected love stories built around the love of science and music as interconnected disciplines. The characters are almost alienatingly clever - I often felt lost in the dense parts. I was tempted to drop the book during the first half, but challenged myself to stay with it and it was OK. (January 13, 2007)
I'm not sure what to say about a book that took me a year, off and on, to finish, except: I finished it. I'm glad I read it. I even cried a little at the end. It's all pretty beautiful.