Generosity. Richard Powers (2009)

Book Info

Author

Richard Powers

Genre

Science Fiction

Rating

3.5 of 5 Votes: 2

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ISBN

1848871279 (ISBN13: 9781848871274)

Language

English

Publisher

Atlantic

Shops

Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble

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About book Generosity. Richard Powers (2009)

Teacher and writer Russell Stone meets a young woman who is taking his class and basically decides she is too happy, and from that one judgment comes a whole world of trouble for the young woman. There are people who will decide they must have whatever she has, and others who decide that she must be destroyed, neither side willing to accept that there isn't really anything spectacular about her, and that really, all humans have the capacity to be as happy as she is. After finishing this happiness speculation I started Behind the Beautiful Forevers which prompts more speculation about the sources of happiness, especially those that encourage it to blossom in dire real life circumstances. I didn't plan the comparison but I am glad it happened. Enjoyed Powers interposed author's voice, and most of the book, but thought the endings for some of the characters raised the shallowness quotient. Still an extremely interesting work.