Geoff reviewed Orfeo by Richard Powers
Review of 'Orfeo' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
Orfeo is plagued by some of the same linguistic pretense that is found in The Gold Bug Variations (pretense that thrilled me in my 20s but I now find a bit grating). But it does not have the same dramatic power of that earlier book, and so it fell a little flat for me.
I’m a big fan of Richard Powers and in a sense as he has evolved as a writer, I have evolved as a reader. I suspect I would have enjoyed this more had I read it when it was first written fifteen years ago. But now I find it lacking in things his later novels exemplify. It doesn’t have the scope, awe, and moving beauty of The Overstory or the sparkling emotional perfection of Bewilderment. And for early Powers it lacks the wonder and deeply moving characterizations of Gold Bug. And so I turned the last …
Orfeo is plagued by some of the same linguistic pretense that is found in The Gold Bug Variations (pretense that thrilled me in my 20s but I now find a bit grating). But it does not have the same dramatic power of that earlier book, and so it fell a little flat for me.
I’m a big fan of Richard Powers and in a sense as he has evolved as a writer, I have evolved as a reader. I suspect I would have enjoyed this more had I read it when it was first written fifteen years ago. But now I find it lacking in things his later novels exemplify. It doesn’t have the scope, awe, and moving beauty of The Overstory or the sparkling emotional perfection of Bewilderment. And for early Powers it lacks the wonder and deeply moving characterizations of Gold Bug. And so I turned the last page thinking I head read smart work by a brilliant writer that I know can and will do so much better.
