isabelrstev's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
5.0
nonlinearpaolo's review
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
cindypager's review against another edition
4.0
Another amazing story from Richard Powers... Genetic engineering meets the search for the "happiness gene."
paulap's review
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The writing is great, as I come to expect from Richard Powers. But the story is a different matter.
The story focuses on a woman that seems to always be happy, and a collection of people working in the university that notice and end up encouraging research on if happiness is genetic and hereditary. These results downspiral into undesired fame and more damaging situations. It is posed in a very reflective way to discuss what is nature and what is nurture, but also challenge the ideas that we have of a happy generous person. She is not angelic, but spirited and fisty.
In terms of the characters, the story and the themes, although they were well developed, I did not connect with them as much as I was hoping. I don’t know if it was because of my personal interests of because of the way it was written, but overall, it was ok for me.
The story focuses on a woman that seems to always be happy, and a collection of people working in the university that notice and end up encouraging research on if happiness is genetic and hereditary. These results downspiral into undesired fame and more damaging situations. It is posed in a very reflective way to discuss what is nature and what is nurture, but also challenge the ideas that we have of a happy generous person. She is not angelic, but spirited and fisty.
In terms of the characters, the story and the themes, although they were well developed, I did not connect with them as much as I was hoping. I don’t know if it was because of my personal interests of because of the way it was written, but overall, it was ok for me.
settingshadow's review against another edition
5.0
Richard Powers' writing prowess is a delight. So while I have complaints that strike to the heart of the novel, they seemed trivial in the face of the most powerful prose I've read in a long time. Generosity is one of the tightest novels I've ever read. Every sentence is honed to perfection - imagery, flow, scanning, and purpose in the overall story. His commentary is both timely on the matters of genetic engineering, the growing expanse of the internet and culture globalization and timeless on the matters of what it truly means to be happy and what we should be searching for in life, any way. The research is also impeccable, down to the percentage of the human genome that is patented as of his writing.
The flaws? The first is the title, and overall the theme of "generosity" - I know that Powers is using it for the wordplay potential, in that Genetics and Generosity share a Latin root; however, Congeniality might be a better bang for the same pun-based buck. Nowhere does he show that Thassa is generous, despite her label of "Miss Generosity." In fact, the primary flaw is that he does not really show Thassa, the congenitally happy woman, to be much of anything at all. So while other characters run about fawning over her, the reader is still struggling to "get it."
In a lesser writers hands, these flaws would be fatal. In Powers' case it's merely an annoyance, in an otherwise superb novel.
The flaws? The first is the title, and overall the theme of "generosity" - I know that Powers is using it for the wordplay potential, in that Genetics and Generosity share a Latin root; however, Congeniality might be a better bang for the same pun-based buck. Nowhere does he show that Thassa is generous, despite her label of "Miss Generosity." In fact, the primary flaw is that he does not really show Thassa, the congenitally happy woman, to be much of anything at all. So while other characters run about fawning over her, the reader is still struggling to "get it."
In a lesser writers hands, these flaws would be fatal. In Powers' case it's merely an annoyance, in an otherwise superb novel.
bab275's review against another edition
1.0
The writing in this book is all over the place. I listened to 3 CDs out of about 8 or 9 and gave up. I constantly had to go back and listen again because it couldn't hold my attention.
lisagray68's review against another edition
1.0
Gave it 75 pages, and it's gone. I forgot that I didn't like Echo Maker either...guess I'm just not Richard Powers' target audience...
mhall's review against another edition
4.0
Powers writes fiction about ideas and science. This is about a woman who is uncommonly happy, even with a difficult background involving war and loss. Is it her genes?
dllh's review against another edition
1.0
I really want to like Powers, but just about every book winds up falling flat for me. As far as I recall, The Time of our Singing is the only one (of the half dozen or so that I've read) that really knocked my socks off, and the rest have been sort of a bad mashup of mediocre genre fiction and attempted (failed) literary fiction -- and have disappointed at both ends.
Generosity read to me like something written by an alien who had access to Earth's culture, science, technology, and social interactions only via a few outdated television programs. There's not an authentic feeling moment in the book. I can forgive so-so character development if there's interesting science fiction. I can forgive so-so science fiction and character development if the style is great (I can forgive almost anything if the style is great or the approach novel). But this book is at the very best so-so on all counts.
Powers tries to blend science writing with literary fiction and happens to do neither particularly well. I wish he'd commit to one or the other and do it well. The subtitle of the book was, for me, a misnomer. Had it been named as I ultimately received it (Generosity: A Disappointment), I might have saved myself some frustration.
Generosity read to me like something written by an alien who had access to Earth's culture, science, technology, and social interactions only via a few outdated television programs. There's not an authentic feeling moment in the book. I can forgive so-so character development if there's interesting science fiction. I can forgive so-so science fiction and character development if the style is great (I can forgive almost anything if the style is great or the approach novel). But this book is at the very best so-so on all counts.
Powers tries to blend science writing with literary fiction and happens to do neither particularly well. I wish he'd commit to one or the other and do it well. The subtitle of the book was, for me, a misnomer. Had it been named as I ultimately received it (Generosity: A Disappointment), I might have saved myself some frustration.
ajlewis2's review
I'm not understanding what is going on and am not drawn to find out.