Maybe the birds did it!

I finished The Echo Maker, by Richard Powers, and I think the nicest thing I can say about the book is that it was written very well. Did I care about any of the characters? Not really. Did I relate to any of them? Again, not especially. Did the plot explore any topics I find fascinating? Nope. So why keep going? Because the writing was that good. I think a good comparison would be this: imagine sitting at a dinner party, listening to a not-terribly interesting story, but the storyteller is James Earl Jones. With a voice like that, I would listen to a reading of the phone book for a little while.

Same with this book. I finished it about a week ago, and I already would be hard pressed to remember large portions of the plot, but what I do remember is enjoying the voice. I will certainly look at other works by this author, but I wouldn't necessarily give this book a strong recommendation. I'll go B-.