A review by amycrea
Orfeo by Richard Powers

3.0

My rating of this varies throughout the book. There are some spots I'd rank 5 stars. Powers is an incredible writer. This tale of an elderly man, avant-garde composer and chemistry enthusiast, who finds himself the subject of a Homeland Security-type search after his attempts to discover music in bacteria are misinterpreted, has some hypnotic moments and wonderful characters. It also has some intensely long, deep segments about composing, which were waaaaaaay over my head. Powers also not only used one of my pet peeves--no quotation marks--he upped the ante by having all dialogue in italics. Which served no purpose that I can see.

Still, I'm glad I read it, as the parts that I would have ranked 5 stars were well worth the read.