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Trust no-one
Book Review: The Echo Maker, by Richard Powers
This had a strange provenance. Some years ago - if my memory of what I was reading at the time is correct, it was 2015 - I was talking to someone in the Proms queue who recommended to me Orfeo by Richard Powers. The rate at which "to-read" books are added to my list generally outpaces the "read" rate, so nothing has yet happened there. But, when going through a shelf of R's books last year I came across this, by the same author, so I thought I should pull it out. At any rate, it might give me an idea of the author, and whether to seek out the other work.
Reading the description of the story, it's probably not the most natural of material for me. In early 2002, in small-town Nebraska, Mark Schluter turns his truck over in a mysterious night-time road accident. His sister Karin is summoned to the hospital, and although Mark survives the accident, he has sustained a brain injury. As he recovers, it becomes apparent that Mark does not believe Karin is his sister, but some impostor. The doctors diagnose Capgras syndrome. Karin persuades academic and popular author Gerald Weber to visit. She hopes his specialist skills will point to a successful treatment; he, on the other hand, is initially interested at least in part because it might give him more case material for a new book.
It can be dangerous to approach a book with high expectations, but it can be rewarding to approach a good book with scepticism. I found this offered me the right level of escapism, hovering on the edge of belief. The multiple threads all pick at the sense of self: Weber's consciousness rambling through all manner of disorders but battling insecurity over mediocre reviews and media appearances, Mark's increasing slide into paranoia and conspiracy theory, Karin's despair and self-doubt. Perhaps the ending is rather too neat and clever, but it's necessary for a story that leads everyone to question themselves, to wonder at the largely successful confederation of the brain's systems.
This had a strange provenance. Some years ago - if my memory of what I was reading at the time is correct, it was 2015 - I was talking to someone in the Proms queue who recommended to me Orfeo by Richard Powers. The rate at which "to-read" books are added to my list generally outpaces the "read" rate, so nothing has yet happened there. But, when going through a shelf of R's books last year I came across this, by the same author, so I thought I should pull it out. At any rate, it might give me an idea of the author, and whether to seek out the other work.
Reading the description of the story, it's probably not the most natural of material for me. In early 2002, in small-town Nebraska, Mark Schluter turns his truck over in a mysterious night-time road accident. His sister Karin is summoned to the hospital, and although Mark survives the accident, he has sustained a brain injury. As he recovers, it becomes apparent that Mark does not believe Karin is his sister, but some impostor. The doctors diagnose Capgras syndrome. Karin persuades academic and popular author Gerald Weber to visit. She hopes his specialist skills will point to a successful treatment; he, on the other hand, is initially interested at least in part because it might give him more case material for a new book.
It can be dangerous to approach a book with high expectations, but it can be rewarding to approach a good book with scepticism. I found this offered me the right level of escapism, hovering on the edge of belief. The multiple threads all pick at the sense of self: Weber's consciousness rambling through all manner of disorders but battling insecurity over mediocre reviews and media appearances, Mark's increasing slide into paranoia and conspiracy theory, Karin's despair and self-doubt. Perhaps the ending is rather too neat and clever, but it's necessary for a story that leads everyone to question themselves, to wonder at the largely successful confederation of the brain's systems.