Richard powers is the author of ten novels, including his most recent title, generosity. Gain provides an indepth, fascinating history of the development of a soap company, from humble 18thcentury beginnings to a modern conglomerate. Richard powers novel is a fascinating and profound exploration of the interaction of an individual human life and a corporate one. Richard powers born june 18, 1957 is an american novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. Powers has received a macarthur fellowship and a lannan literary award. Mar 12, 2020 gain is a blast at the destruction, ecological and otherwise, wrought by the bonnieandclydelike partnership between american technology and american capitalism. In one, laura body, divorced mother of two and a realestate agent in the small town of lacewood, illinois, plunges into a new existence when she learns that she has ovarian cancer. Read gain a novel by richard powers available from rakuten kobo. Gain is erudite, penetrating and splendidly written. Richard powers is a macarthur fellow and the author of three farmers on their way to a dance, prisoners dilemma, the gold bug variations, the national book awardnominated operation wandering soul, galatea 2. Gain by richard powers overdrive rakuten overdrive.
Best of richard powers score a book s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. Enjoy the best richard powers quotes at brainyquote. In gain, richard powers simply shows the reader how technology and big corporations entered into modern america, and how they affect both individual and collective circles of life. Get this book free when you sign up for a 30day trial. Powers hovers impossibly between extremes with a tightrope walkers perfect balance. Richard powers books list of books by author richard powers. Digital rights management drm the publisher has supplied this book in encrypted form, which means that you need to install free software in order to unlock and read it. Richard powers is such a great novelist that a reading of any of his novels, at whatever juncture, is bound to draw comparison with other masterpieces such as the gold bug variations, the time of our singing and the echo maker. Richard powers is an american author that writes novels which explore the impact science and technology have on ordinary life. Powers has won numerous awards for his fictional works. Gain tells two stories separately and intertwines them.
His most recent, the overstory, won the pulitzer prize in fiction. Richard powers gain exemplifies the kind of book i love to read a beautifully written narrative combined with a compelling story in this case two disparate stories that are headed for each other. Buy richard powers ebooks to read online or download in pdf or epub on your pc, tablet or mobile device. One narrative tells the story of the clare family and their development of a soap making and eventually chemical business. Gain is a blast at the destruction, ecological and otherwise, wrought by the bonnieandclydelike partnership between american technology and american capitalism. Mar 21, 2018 powers is a writer of blistering intellect. His novel the echo maker won the 2006 national book award for fiction. He was only one of five children and powers remembers never feeling quite at home wherever he went. As is often the case in powers novels, there are two seemingly unconnected or tenuously connected at best threads, seperated by time.
He lives in the foothills of the great smoky mountains. Richard powers in the great smoky mountains, tennessee. Gain isbn 9780099284468 pdf epub richard powers ebook. A novel of the american century richard powers, author farrar. Having earned a bit of a reputation for being the reclusive genius type he didnt give interviews until he had published his third book, and didnt consent to having his photo on the jacket until his fifth novelist richard powers explains to the new york times, i wanted the books to speak for themselves. Stream and download audiobooks to your computer, tablet or mobile phone. Reading richard powers novels often puts me in mind of that story, and perhaps there is no better example than gain. Never one to tread lightly or think small, powers galatea 2. Gain by richard powers 1999, paperback, revised for sale. He centers this exposition on the clare soap and chemical company, following it for 170 years, from its. The candleandsoap outfit begun in boston in the 1830s by the three clare brothers first built a reputation on its medicinal soap. He is also the recipient of a macarthur fellowship and the national book award, and he has been a fourtime national book critics circle award finalist. It isnt easy to characterize richard powers in a single sentence. Gain gain braids together two stories on very different scales.
In his sixth novel, powerss antagonists are a 42yearold real estate broker and a corporation. Disch, washington post book world gain consists equally of horizonbusting breadth of knowledge and excruciating depth of vulnerability. Powers has sometimes been criticized for being a topdown novelist, one who presents characters from the high or long perspective of history, science, or music. Richard powers offers a fictional treatment of a classic american riseandfall story. Jun 16, 2018 richard powers in the great smoky mountains, tennessee.
The overstory of richard powerss title is a term for the canopy of a forest, the foliage at the top of the trees. The fiction of richard powers sometimes resembles a dying satyrabove the waist is a mind full of serious thought, philosophical reflection, deep exploration of music and science. Apr 03, 2018 the overstory of richard powerss title is a term for the canopy of a forest, the foliage at the top of the trees. In the other, we learn about clare soap and chemical company, a soap manufacturer that is established in the mid1800s and grows over the next century. Richard powers powerful and peculiar novel, gain, is the largest compliment any author has paid to the american reading public in decades. Gain isbn 0374159963 is a novel by richard powers published by in 1998. True to form in gain, powers has two stories running parallel throughout the novel. My reading, therefore, of gain powers sixth novel ultimately drew comparison. Quotations by richard powers, american novelist, born june 18, 1957. Mining the same rich, longneglected vein of sociallyaware fiction once plumbed. Gain and loss in the circle of life in richard powers novel, gain, he intertwines two fictional stories to analyze the growth of large corporation in america and the deterioration of the individual as a potential result.
In one story, were introduced to laura bodey, a real estate agent and mother who discovers she has ovarian cancer. Gain and loss in the circle of life in richard powers novel, gain, he intertwines two fictional stories to analyze the growth of large corporation in america and the deterioration of the individual as a. He has also won many other awards over the course of his career, including a macarthur fellowship. Richard powers born 1957 is an american novelist known for ambitious, erudite and intricate works that often explore how science and technology and deeper patterns of the universe especially as revealed through music affect humanity. Gain ebook by richard powers 9781429941693 rakuten kobo. At the beginning of richard powerss first novel, published in 1985. Gain braids together two stories on very different scales. This tangled epic about diverse lives is rooted in environmental principles. To that end, powers hopes his book will be part of the restoration of a tradition that has all but ceased to exist in modern literature. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
Written by richard powers, audiobook narrated by elisabeth rodgers. Richard powers booklist richard powers message board. Nobody talks much about the quest for great american novel anymore. Sep 29, 2009 richard powers is such a great novelist that a reading of any of his novels, at whatever juncture, is bound to draw comparison with other masterpieces such as the gold bug variations, the time of our singing and the echo maker. With gain, richard powers launches his own strong bid for entry into the canon of americas best novelists, delivering a work both epic in scope and universal in emotional resonance, a contemporary book drawing upon timeless, and often uniquely american, themes. Gain by richard powers and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Signin to download and listen to this audiobook today. Divorcee laura bodey lives with her 17yearold daughter and 12yearold son in lacewood, illinois. The echo maker won the national book award and was a finalist for the pulitzer prize.
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