New Reviews: Viriconium, Cloud Atlas, The Intuitionist
February 8, 2007 (11:53 PM) ( link )

ADDED reviews of M John Harrison's Viriconium, David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, and Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist.

I've begun reading Richard Powers's The Echo Maker, which recently won the National Book Award. This book seems much more mainstream than The Gold Bug Variations, which I had a hard time even starting.

The Echo Maker doesn't have an auspicious beginning. Like many books it tries to tug at your heartstrings by starting with a tragedy. But the more I read these openings, the more I think they're a mistake. We don't know enough about the characters to care that heartbreak has befallen them, and all the pretty language in the world won't persuade us otherwise. But I think I'll stick this one out. Because I was apprehensive after the first few pages, I read the jacket description, and the synopsis there sounds much more interesting than the first chapter would suggest.

Not counting The Echo Maker, there are only five more reviews that I plan to write before I'm caught up, including two books that I absolutely loved. (And two that I hated, but let's focus on the positive.) I might be able to finish the reviews in the next two weeks.