Generosity: An Enhancement

Richard Powers' work has pursued the singular premise that fiction can not only entertain, but educate. His novels have delved into subjects diverse as: music, race relations, and temporal physics (//Time of Our Singing//); environmentalism, organic structures of the mind, the meaning of the self, and bird migrations (//Echo Maker//); the evolution of the corporation and the history of soap (//Gain//); just to name a few. His provocatively titled //Generosity: An Enhancement//, delves into genomics, the way technology alters society, and what it means to be human. If you're struck by these topics magnitude, welcome to Richard Powers -- pick up the book, hang on, and enjoy the ride. Thassadit Amzwar, a young refugee of the Algerian civil war, walks into Russell Stone's class in Creative Nonfiction, and he, like her classmates, can't help but be awestruck by her radiant happiness. Dubbing her Miss Generosity, everyone with whom she comes in contact can't help but fall in love with her, drawn to her bottomless well of joy. Russell does not trust his feelings and, after further research, concludes that she may "suffer" from hyperthymia, a condition of overabundant bliss. Here the novel's two narrative threads meet. The second follows Thomas Kurton, a rich entrepreneurial geneticist, vitamin-popper, and "born salesman" who advocates for the potential of "genomic enhancements" with an enthusiasm that puts him somewhere between an evangelist and a huckster. Examining Thassadit, Kurton concludes that she possesses the "optimal allele assortment--the happiness jackpot." Kurton then announces her existence to the world under the pseudonym "Jen." Who owns Thassadit's "allele assortment?" If people can screen and correct their unborn children for genetic disease, shouldn't they likewise program them for happiness? What would it mean for humanity if every person lived in a state of perpetual bliss? These are only some of the questions explored in the novel. In one of the brilliant scenes that pepper all Powers' work, Kurton attacks Aldous Huxley as fetishizing suffering, leaving the reader to wish Huxley could be on the page to offer a response. Powers explores modern celebrity's many aspects from Oprah (though Powers, perhaps imagining himself on her couch, creates the Irish talk show powerhouse Oona, to sit in her place) all the way to the affect on texting where "u r so jen" becomes a new tagline. In the hands of a lesser writer, //Generosity: an Enhancement// would almost surely have become oppressively didactic and polemical, yet Powers works tirelessly to make sure science never overwhelms the story, even as at times it comes close to overwhelming the characters who are struggling to understand its implications. One can imagine few things more difficult and potentially lethal to a novel than having a character that is by her very nature over-joyous, making it even more impressive that Powers succeeds in making Thassadit her at once

Richard Powers never fails to satisfy on several levels at once. Generosity revisits some of his earlier themes and I was most reminded of Galatea 2.2.and the Echo Maker He effortlessly shifts registers in his writing, summarising and clarifying many complex ideas and theories with wit and concision. In one page he brilliantly summarises the history of written language packing a few lines with dazzling insights humour and aphorism. His explorations of ideas never , for me, impedes the satisfying flow of the tale. The characters were well drawn and did live for me although I wouldn't say they were the most fully realised people I have encountered in fiction. Thassa is a difficult personality to convey and we are not given much access to her interior life. There is a difficult balance to be struck here. This book succeeds brilliantly in all its themes and demands to be read more than once. It is shorter and more accessible than any of his novels since Gain. I can't understand why such an important writer does not receive more attention in the UK. I strongly recommend this book.

Powers takes a swing at several of today's areas of 'study' including: genetics; relationships; psychology; education and writing. Even his style of writing the book seems to be a nose-thumbing at some of today's pretensions in print. Meta-fiction meets unknown narrator which eventually meets some amount of the magical. He visits the nature vs nurture battle and if any conclusion is drawn it's maybe described as "nurturally natural". Ethics in science and medicine (or its lack - you decide) joins with convenient self-fulfilling prophecy in diagnosis. The bulk of the characters are everyday if flawed folks put in the presence of the prime mover of the novel, Thassadit Amzwar. They are all players in the question of how far man can go in determining the genetic make-up of future generations. And, what traits are possibly determined through genetics. Is the ability to do something sufficient reason to actually do it? Powers has written on the edge with this one, and the style is likely to turn some readers off. I had to slow down from my normal reading speed to let this penetrate as I went. I found it well worth the investment in thought and time that were required.

This is my first exposure to Mr. Powers' prose. I purchased after reading a WSJ review and read in one sitting. Powers seems a cross between Eliot Pearlman (Seven Types of Ambiguity) and Michael Crichton (the real-seeming science stuff). Powers is a gifted writer and the story is revealed with power and subtly. This is the best work of fiction I've read this year. His story reveals the fissures of our new "globally-wired" culture and the increasing impossibility of uniqueness. Extraordinarily well done and highly recommended.

(4.5 stars) Once again, Richard Powers has reinvigorated the whole concept of the "novel of ideas,' writing yet another intellectual novel, based on neuroscience but defying facile categorization into genres. In some respects GENEROSITY is a social satire, and in others, it verges on science-fiction, but it also incorporates elements of metafiction, and its intellectual focus keeps the reader on his/her toes as Powers develops and expands themes and plot lines about the human genome that are both fascinating and original. Russell Stone, a dweebish "nice guy," is teaching a course at Chicago's Mesquakie College of Art in "creative non-fiction," a genre formerly known as the "personal essay." His class consists of the usual assortment of art students of various ages with various goals, and, as they read their journal entries on successive class meetings, they soon become close. Thassadit Amzwar, a twenty-three-year-old Algerian Berber from Kabylie, however, quickly becomes the focus of the group for her perennial good humor and upbeat attitudes. Thassa has survived the ongoing Algerian Civil War, which began in 1991, supported by Islamist fundamentalists. An entry in her journal includes the discovery of her father's executed body after he wrote a letter to the newspaper challenging governmental policies, and it shocks the class, but it is her unconquerable good humor which leaves the longest-lasting impression on her classmates. In Boston, Thomas Kurton, a pure scientist, is investigating the chemistry that underlies emotions and the genome which may be responsible for human happiness. Kurton believes that "aging is not just a disease; it's the mother of all maladies. And humankind may finally have a shot at curing it." The concept of deliberately "adjusting" the genome to produce happier, longer-living people with less disease, drives him relentlessly. Tonia Schiff, regarded as "America's most irreverent science television journalist," often features Kurton on her programs, "humanizing" him so that non-scientific viewers can identify with his discoveries. Back in Chicago, Russell Stone begins to wonder if Thassa's constant cheerfulness can be a sign of mental illness, and he contacts Candace Weld, an on-call college counselor, for insights. These three main plot lines converge when Kurton hears about Thassa and wants to map her genes, looking for the ephemeral "happiness gene" he believes she may have. Powers writes a cerebral and challenging novel which incorporates much new science regarding the human genome, and his emphasis on provable data contrasts with the position of Russell Stone who is trying to free the minds of his students to their imaginations and creativity. The ethical questions that Powers raises regarding the effects of tinkering with the genome, and how one must redefine reality (and even the arts) in light of that are thought-provoking and get at the heart of the (threatened) values which have endured for