Music And Chemistry Are An Explosive Combination In ‘Orfeo’
Richard Powers, whose novels combine the wonders of science with the marvels of art, astonishes us in different ways with each new book. … The questions he raises about biological and artistic culture are deeply intelligent, yet his characters in Orfeo are sympathetically human. (His female characters – including Els’s ex-wife and daughter — are particularly appealing, competent and strong.) His mastery of his subjects is so complete that you never smell the research. … Bravo, Richard Powers, for hitting so many high notes with Orfeo and contributing to the fraction of books that really matter.