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The Echo Maker: A Novel
by Richard Powers
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780374146351 |
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Awards
 | 2007 Morning News Tournament of Books Nominee |
Powells.com Staff Pick
The Echo Maker is the story of Mark Schluter, a 27-year-old man who has a mysterious accident in his hometown in Nebraska, the site of the magnificent Sandhill Crane migration along the river. When he comes to, he has developed Capgras syndrome, a condition in which loved ones — and only loved ones — are seen as imposters played by look-alike actors, or perhaps robots. It's a fascinating set-up, and the novel delivers completely, weaving an engrossing, enlightening, and tender mystery out of strands of ecology, neurology, and the very nature of identity. Powers's prose is a marvel, lyrical and lucid. If you haven't yet read this extraordinary author, which Kirkus calls "one of our best novelists," The Echo Maker is the ideal place to begin.
Recommended by Jill, Powells.com (See all of our Staff Top 5s of 2006)
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.
Review:
"A truck jackknifes off an 'arrow straight country road' near Kearney, Nebr., in Powers's ninth novel, becoming the catalyst for a painstakingly rendered minuet of self-reckoning. The accident puts the truck's 27-year-old driver, Mark Schluter, into a 14-day coma. When he emerges, he is stricken with Capgras syndrome: he's unable to match his visual and intellectual identifications with his emotional ones. He thinks his sister, Karin, isn't actually his sister — she's an imposter (the same goes for Mark's house). A shattered and worried Karin turns to Gerald Weber, an Oliver Sacks — like figure who writes bestsellers about neurological cases, but Gerald's inability to help Mark, and bad reviews of his latest book, cause him to wonder if he has become a 'neurological opportunist.' Then there are the mysteries of Mark's nurse's aide, Barbara Gillespie, who is secretive about her past and seems to be much more intelligent than she's willing to let on, and the meaning of a cryptic note left on Mark's nightstand the night he was hospitalized. MacArthur fellow Powers (Gold Bug Variations, etc.) masterfully charts the shifting dynamics of Karin's and Mark's relationship, and his prose — powerful, but not overbearing — brings a sorrowful energy to every page." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"Richard Powers' new novel — a kind of neuro-cosmological adventure — is an exhilarating narrative feat. The ease with which the author controls his frequently complex material is sometimes as thrilling to watch as the unfolding of the story itself. Yet it opens quietly enough, on the banks of the Platte River in Nebraska, where the cranes are preparing for their annual migration. Powers clearly..." Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)
Review:
"A remarkable novel, from one of our greatest novelists, and a book that will change all who read it." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review:
"One of our best novelists...once again extends his unparalleled range." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"[A] muscularly ambitious book, one that scatters small yet piercing revelations among the more thunderous ideas....Powers may well be one of the smartest novelists now writing." Los Angeles Times
Review:
"Cleverly, this novel isn't simply about Mark's damaged brain...instead, it sheds light generally on the human mind and our struggle to make sense of both the past and the present." Library Journal
Review:
"[A] mad symphony on the fragility of human identity....There's far too much happening in The Echo Maker...but the chaotic novel is nonetheless one of the year's most engrossing. (Grade: A-)" Entertainment Weekly
Review:
"It's a tribute to Powers's nimble plotting that the mysteries unfold so organically and stealthily that you are unaware of his machinations until they come to stunning fruition.... Powers accomplishes something magnificent." Colson Whitehead, The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis:
On a remote Nebraska road, 27-year-old Mark Schluter flips his truck in a near-fatal accident. His older sister Karin returns reluctantly to their hometown to nurse Mark back from a traumatic head injury. 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.
About the Author
Richard Powers is the author of eight previous novels that have received numerous honors including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Historical Fiction.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
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welshsinger, June 21, 2007 (view all comments by welshsinger)
In this prize-winning novel Richard Powers interweaves several narrative strands, along with neurological and scientific themes. It is very difficult to read and must be read slowly and then reread and then reread. And then read again. Reading it inspired me to return to reading his first, "Three Farmers on the Way to a Dance." This is an investigation of the point in time when the paradigm changed with WW I. "The Echo Maker" is a depiction of post-911 America. Each of his novels is intellectually dense, almost to the point of being turgid. Yet each is a tour de force. He doesn't repeat himself. But there is definitely a recognizeable voice here, which resonates in all his work. He is interdisciplinary in his background and interests. At the same time, he is cool but empathetic, intellectual but involved. "The Echo Maker" is musical in its form as well, and its structure could be compared to a sonata perhaps? He has been compared to Joyce (whose work also was influenced by musical forms, perhaps chamber music); but "Ulysses" is simple to read compared to "The Echo Maker," a combination of "Sound and the Fury," "Ulysses," and Oliver Sachs. I look forward to reading his next novel. Access to the novel is possible but like climbing Mount Everest. Sorry for all the comparisons, but it's hard to articulate my reaction to this novel, without resorting to metaphor or allusion, even simple metaphors and allusions. One final comparison! George Bush to Thomas Jefferson! What more can I say? This novel is not summer reading but well worth the effort. I heartily recommend it but with all these cautions.
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wandaz, March 27, 2007 (view all comments by wandaz)
This book deserved the award. I enjoyed finally reading a decent piece of literature that wasn't overly simplified. Having a science and English background, I enjoyed the references to the mind and how it works. Also his interest in the Sandhill Cranes. His quotes were from books that I have read and have on my shelf. Even the "Who is Sylvia?" reference. I sang it at one time. Great literature.
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cdomal, February 7, 2007 (view all comments by cdomal)
It took winning the National Book Award this year for me to give this author a try. The Echo Maker is so different from anything else I've ever read. This is not the kind of book one simply "skims". You want to savor every word. Every sentence. That's the difference between being a writer and just being a novelist. On the surface the book is a mystery which was both absorbing and entertaining, but there is an underlying theme of miscomunication woven throughout. The mamilian brain sure is an interesting place to probe I can't wait to read all his other books.
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Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780374146351
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Farrar Straus Giroux
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Psychological
- Subject:
- Suspense
- Subject:
- Nebraska
- Subject:
- Neurologists
- Copyright:
- 2006
- Publication Date:
- October 17, 2006
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 451
- Dimensions:
- 9.28x6.34x1.39 in. 1.67 lbs.
