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Orfeo (2014)

by Richard Powers(Favorite Author)

3.65 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0393349845 (ISBN13: 9780393349849)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: I give huge points to books that surprise me, that juxtapose ideas in a way I haven't seen before, and this one certainly does that. One barrier for me to really plug into it was the extensive descriptions of music pieces, structure, and sound. I am not music-illiterate by any means- I would put myself at a solid medium level of understanding, but those music-related passages were a stretch for me to feel moved. However, if you're a person that can truly go there, I would highly recommend this one.
review 2: This book blew my mind. I don't know if that is a recommendation or not. I don't know if a lot of people who aren't knowledgeable about science and music history/composition would have the patience for it. I did, though. I think that's because it's such a g... morereat story: 70-year-old retired man--composer, divorced, offbeat--mistakenly calls 911 when his beloved dog dies and that act sets off a series of events that unfold in a matter of days and a look back at six decades of his life. All the while, the narrator reflects on his favorite orchestral compositions, the history of avant-garde music, privacy issues, bioterrorism, and a lot of science that went way over my head. But you root for the man, Peter Els, as he unravels his past while his future is also unraveling. It's funny and touching and sad and disturbing. I don't know if I'd read other Powers novels because this really made my brain hurt, but I learned so much (the book will make music/science illiterates like me jump to wiki and youtube to understand the author's references) and was so happy to keep on reading--there was a real suspense to the story as well as to the narrator's past. Incredible, all of it. Highly recommended. less

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