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A review by paulap
Generosity by Richard Powers
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The writing is great, as I come to expect from Richard Powers. But the story is a different matter.
The story focuses on a woman that seems to always be happy, and a collection of people working in the university that notice and end up encouraging research on if happiness is genetic and hereditary. These results downspiral into undesired fame and more damaging situations. It is posed in a very reflective way to discuss what is nature and what is nurture, but also challenge the ideas that we have of a happy generous person. She is not angelic, but spirited and fisty.
In terms of the characters, the story and the themes, although they were well developed, I did not connect with them as much as I was hoping. I don’t know if it was because of my personal interests of because of the way it was written, but overall, it was ok for me.
The story focuses on a woman that seems to always be happy, and a collection of people working in the university that notice and end up encouraging research on if happiness is genetic and hereditary. These results downspiral into undesired fame and more damaging situations. It is posed in a very reflective way to discuss what is nature and what is nurture, but also challenge the ideas that we have of a happy generous person. She is not angelic, but spirited and fisty.
In terms of the characters, the story and the themes, although they were well developed, I did not connect with them as much as I was hoping. I don’t know if it was because of my personal interests of because of the way it was written, but overall, it was ok for me.