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Richard Powers has written an engaging story about an aging avant-garde musician on the run from the authorities. Modern science and technology combine with the soaring beauty of music and art in this remarkable book.
Peter Els calls 911 when his dog dies, and the police officers notice he has a room full of lab equipment that he bought online. Els is attempting to insert a sequence of musical patterns into the DNA of a common bacteria that thrives around water sources, Serratia marcescens. A few ...more
Peter Els calls 911 when his dog dies, and the police officers notice he has a room full of lab equipment that he bought online. Els is attempting to insert a sequence of musical patterns into the DNA of a common bacteria that thrives around water sources, Serratia marcescens. A few ...more
Jan 19, 2014
Karen Michele Burns
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
my-5-star-books
I’m not sure you could love Orfeo by Richard Powers as much as I did if you can’t “hear” the book:
Through that clatter came a news flash. Three strong notes descended in a major triad, then riffed on the tonic in a dotted rhythm:
Sol, mi, do-do-do-do-do-do… p 76
That is just a simple example of how Powers brings this book to life through music. I found myself amazed by his ability to describe in words what I heard when I studied Mahler in college and to describe Peter’s avant-garde compositions so ...more
Through that clatter came a news flash. Three strong notes descended in a major triad, then riffed on the tonic in a dotted rhythm:
Sol, mi, do-do-do-do-do-do… p 76
That is just a simple example of how Powers brings this book to life through music. I found myself amazed by his ability to describe in words what I heard when I studied Mahler in college and to describe Peter’s avant-garde compositions so ...more
Wow. I don’t know what else to say. I just finished this book, wrapped in a coat and hat, sitting in my car overwhelmed with this book, because I just had to push through to the end before going upstairs. This book resisted and resisted me – I must have started and set it aside at least three times in the past six months, but once I got going, it was amazing. The first part of the amazing was the way the writing felt like music, echoing the plot and details. Some of the passages of description w
...more
Aug 10, 2014
Claire Jefferies
marked it as to-read
Nov 02, 2014
Kat (A Journey In Reading)
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Nov 02, 2014
Theresa~OctoberLace
marked it as to-read
Jan 28, 2015
Dave
marked it as to-read
Dec 25, 2016
gam s (Haveyouread.bkk)
marked it as to-read
Nov 01, 2017
Abdullah
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Nov 22, 2017
Susan
marked it as to-read
Aug 30, 2021
Meg
marked it as to-read
