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Product Description
Product Description
The Gold Bug Variations is a double love story of two young couples separated by a distance of twenty-five years. Stuart Ressler, a brilliant young molecular biologist, sets out in 1957 to crack the genetic code. His efforts are sidetracked by other, more intractable codes - social, moral, musical, spiritual - and he falls in love with a member of his research team. Years later, another young man and woman team up to investigate a different scientific mystery - why did the eminently promising Ressler suddenly disappear from the world of science? Strand by strand, these two love stories twist about each other in a double helix of desire.
About the Author
Richard Powers has been a recipient of a Lannan Literary Award and a MacArthur Fellowship, as well as a winner of the US National Book Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is the author of nine novels, most recently Generosity (Atlantic Books, 2010). He lives in Los Angeles.
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First Sentence
Word came today: four lines squeezed on a three-by-five. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Word came today: four lines squeezed on a three-by-five. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this book, Richard Powers is able to capture both a complex world of science as well as the wonderful yet destructive power of love. The way he deals with issues such as infertility, lust for knowledge, affairs of the heart, infidelity, and friendship cannot be surpassed by any other author I've read. I read this book before his others, and although they are all fabulous (especially Galatea 2.2), this remains my favorite.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Reminiscent of James Joyce's "Ulysses," The Gold Bug Variations (which has 32 chapters) loosely parallels the structure of Bach's Goldberg Variations while echoing the code-breaking imperatives which drive Poe's short story "The Gold Bug." Powers, like Joyce, uses erudite wordplay and arcane allusions not for their own sake, but to create vivid, three-dimensional characters and to explore the nature of interpretation. The Gold Bug Variations is a thoroughly engaging study of three vital and complex characters whose lives become entangled in a Gordian Knot of a narrative which challenges the reader who would solve it. A former pioneer in genetics research (Stuart Ressler -- aka "wrestler") is the book's protagonist, and his attempts to decipher the DNA code in the 1950s shape the motivations/desires of his two present-day friends, a quirky fine-arts doctoral candidate and a reclusive librarian.
The introductory chapter is a poetic microcosm (a seed-germ) of the entire book, and evokes a sense of wonder which is fully commensurate with Power's vision. If you've ever wondered how an entire encyclopedia can be contained on a CD, or how many angels can stand on the head of a pin, I believe that you will find some answers in this incredible book.
The introductory chapter is a poetic microcosm (a seed-germ) of the entire book, and evokes a sense of wonder which is fully commensurate with Power's vision. If you've ever wondered how an entire encyclopedia can be contained on a CD, or how many angels can stand on the head of a pin, I believe that you will find some answers in this incredible book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A combination of stimulating scientific insight and breath-taking emotional turmoil, this book dissects the triangular relationship between a terminally inquisitive librarian, a genetics professor with a past and their initial go-between, a young computer operator at odds with the world.
Once more, Powers has written an omnidimensional and witty masterpiece that will leave the reader craving for more. I read the Dutch translation, which is, although not flawless, very true to the original in its depth, brilliance and humour.
Take a couple of days off and take your time to read this book - it's like an endless supply of vitamins for the mind and soul.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very, very good
Easily the best novel I read in 2010. The fact that I was studying human biology A level at the time may have helped, but I think I'd have enjoyed it almost as much anyway. Read more
Published 14 months ago by dino
High quality stuff, but should have been shorter
The Goldbug variations is a novel about two romances and about the search for the genetic code. Jan works at the reference desk of a NY public library branch and is asked to find... Read more
Published on 27 July 2009 by Charles Deckers
Simply Brilliant but not for Everyone
Why read and review Richard Powers' The Gold Bug Variations after 18 years since publication? I undertook both activities for a number of reasons: first, I was very impressed by... Read more
Published on 5 July 2009 by Herman Norford
Here are two possibilities
Firstly, contrary to a recent book that documented the trip that Einstein's Brain took cross-country, said brain is still functioning and is writing novels. Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2002 by taking a rest
Outstanding
I have read this book twice, and will probably read it again (I reread my favourite books - Anna Karenina 4x, War and Peace 2x, Lord of the Rings 4 or 5x - it is like taking a... Read more
Published on 16 Mar 1999
Challenging, but stunningly outstanding, work of fiction
For lovers of great fiction, this book is a must. The beauty of its language, the compelling nature of its plot, and the power of its themes are pure magic. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 1999
This is the best novel I've read in a dozen years.
Wow! What a book! This is one of the most complex but satisfying novels I've read. Powers makes the trip so enjoyable that the reader hardly knows he's gaining knowledge at the... Read more
Published on 20 Dec 1998
Modernism disguised as Pynchon
Powers' book is thick. Probably too thick. It seems to strive for the impossible and takes this quest too seriously. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 1998
Pedantic literary eruditism, thy name is Powers
Gold-Bug Variations is easily the most effective book I have read in a decade, effective in that I was utterly engrossed by its myriad twists and turns, madly turning the pages... Read more
Published on 20 Oct 1998
A world unto itself
When I finished this book for the first time, I was greatly let down. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the novel, but rather that Powers' writing is so compelling as to give... Read more
Published on 22 July 1998
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