Books
by Richard Powers
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Playground |
My favorite writer, and he continues to dazzle with his prose prowess. Every page thrills with wonderful description and insight. Still, to what end? The argument is that technology and corporations have gotten dangerous. Powers hopes for a simpler world, à la Rousseau. A great read, but he didn't win me over to his viewpoint.
(Herb Roselle - bwl 115 Winter 2025) |
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The Overstory |
Nine wanderers range across cultures, history, science, landscapes, artificial intelligence, ecology, love, and especially TREES, arriving independently at a redwood forest. It is a sweeping narrative filled with poetic language and awe. Their stories are absorbing, and the arboreal themes skilfully woven. This is not a book to be gulped down - you chew each paragraph and savour. You will never see a TREE in the same way again. My vote for America's best writer today.
(Herb Roselle - bwl 99 Winter 2021) |
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The Time of Our Singing |
Powers uses a landmark event in US racial history, Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial to create a marriage between a black woman and singer from Philadelphia and a Jewish physicist at Columbia University. Their twins are musical prodigies, but the novel is also a historical perspective of the civil rights movement told in especially gripping prose. Powers at his best.
(Herb Roselle - bwl 113 Summer 2024) |
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Three Farmers on the Way to a Dance |
Richard Powers sees a photo in a museum exhibit and creates three paths of existence for the three farmers in the photo. It is a virtuosic novel, filled with wonder on every page. Their lives are compelling, and the times they live through are told in riveting style. Powers is America's best these days. A new novel coming out this fall. Confession: my favorite writer.
(Herb Roselle - bwl 113 Summer 2024) |
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