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Original Essays | October 18, 2009

Victoria Hislop: IMG From Leprosy to Lorca — Strange Inspiration



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The Echo Maker

by Richard Powers

The Echo Maker Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

On a winter night on a remote Nebraska road, 27-year-old Mark Schluter flips his truck in a near-fatal accident. His older sister Karin, his only near kin, returns reluctantly to their hometown to nurse Mark back from a traumatic head injury. But when he emerges from a protracted coma, Mark believes that this woman-who looks, acts, and sounds just like his sister-is really an identical impostor. Shattered by her brother's refusal to recognize her, Karin contacts the cognitive neurologist Gerald Weber, famous for his case histories describing the infinitely bizarre worlds of brain disorder. Weber recognizes Mark as a rare case of Capgras Syndrome, a doubling delusion, and eagerly investigates. What he discovers in Mark slowly undermines even his own sense of being. Meanwhile, Mark, armed only with a note left by an anonymous witness, attempts to learn what happened the night of his inexplicable accident. The truth of that evening will change the lives of all three beyond recognition. Set against the Platte River's massive spring migrations-one of the greatest spectacles in nature-The Echo Maker is a gripping mystery that explores the improvised human self and the even more precarious brain that splits us from and joins us to the rest of creation.

Synopsis:

Winner of the 2006 National Book Award

 

The Echo Maker is "a remarkable novel, from one of our greatest novelists, and a book that will change all who read it" (Booklist, starred review).

 

On a winter night on a remote Nebraska road, twenty-seven-year-old Mark Schluter has a near-fatal car accident. His older sister, Karin, returns reluctantly to their hometown to nurse Mark back from a traumatic head injury. But when Mark emerges from a coma, he believes that this woman--who looks, acts, and sounds just like his sister--is really an imposter. When Karin contacts the famous cognitive neurologist Gerald Weber for help, he diagnoses Mark as having Capgras syndrome. The mysterious nature of the disease, combined with the strange circumstances surrounding Mark's accident, threatens to change all of their lives beyond recognition. In The Echo Maker, Richard Powers proves himself to be one of our boldest and most entertaining novelists.

About the Author

Richard Powers is the author of nine novels and has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Historical Fiction. He lives in Illinois.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Cheryl Klein, May 13, 2008 (view all comments by Cheryl Klein)
I love the work of Richard Powers because he combines reams of research (in this case on ecology and the latest neurological developments) with the most intricate of human emotions. In lesser hands, either could easily be lost. The Echo Maker is one part mystery, one part narrativized science, but the part that resonates the most with me is the quiet manifesto at its heart, about people's need for stories.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780312426439
Author:
Powers, Richard
Publisher:
Picador USA
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Psychological
Subject:
Suspense
Subject:
Neurologists
Subject:
Nebraska
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Medical novels
Publication Date:
August 2007
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
451
Dimensions:
8.30x5.56x.80 in. .81 lbs.

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