Ghost World & The Echo Maker

Finished up two more books:

First we have Ghost World by Daniel Clowes -- a graphic novel about youth culture.  I may be a bit old to fully appreciate the characters, but some of what they say and do brought me back to my post high school days.  The characters really ring true and I think this book would be great for people in their teens and 20's and a must for parents of teens.  While I enjoyed the book quite a bit, my favorite graphic novel is still Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (if you haven't read it, what are you waiting for?  Seriously!)

I also finished The Echo Maker by Richard Powers which won the National Book Award for 2006.  Now, I have mixed feelings about this award.  I really didn't care for The Corrections which won in 2001, but I loved Waiting which won in 1999.  This book was somewhere in the middle.  I wans't bad, but it also wasn't what I would think of as an award winner. 

Powers main concepts in the novel have to do with identity and the lack thereof.  Each of the main characters has a part to play and while one has lost his ability to recognize people due to a neurological problem resulting from a car accident -- you quickly see that most of the characters have lost their own identity.  It wraps up a bit too neatly in the end as Powers attempts to incorporate a mystery into the storyline -- which I didn't really care for.  The book was also a bit longer than it needed to be -- the neurologist sometimes blathers on for far too long -- and the sister of the accident victim is annoying to a fault at times.

All in all it was good and I could see where he was trying to go with the story -- I just think he took the scenic route -- too bad the scenery was a bit monotonous.

Up next is Camouflage by Joe Haldeman -- winner of the 2005 Nebula award (sci-fi).

Comments

[rebecca]

finally! someone else who agrees with me on the corrections. man... i just could not get into that book. i've tried - twice! i'm just i don't know... it's not at all interesting. maybe i'll try again this summer