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snowmaiden 's review for:
The Gold Bug Variations
by Richard Powers
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.