Operation Wandering Soul

In his next, semi-autobiographical novel, Powers' persona says that "[Opereation Wandering Soul] was fast becoming a bleak, baroque fairy tale about wandering and disappearing children." A few pages later he describes mailing in the MS and wonders, "who in their right mind would want to read an ornate, suffocating allegory about dying pedes at the end of history." We all should. Operation Wandering Soul is one of Powers' most powerful novels, both for its representation of those lost and wandering children and for a gut-wrenching portrayal of the emotional collapse of Dr. Richard Kraft, the central adult character. His title comes from the Vietnam War. Google it to see the relevance to Powers' novel.

This is the third book by Mr. Powers I have read recently, the options I have at this point are to either, let my mind heal before starting another of his works, or read only a few pages a day. I cannot begin to imagine where he harvests these ideas, or by what type of neural net hat trick he uses to store them, so they can be recalled in the sequencing he desires. He must remember everything his five senses have ever identified without any detail filtered, none at all.The menagerie that is his Pediatric Ward, the holding pen for the "Pedes" makes George Lucas's Cantina at Mos Eisley look like the local coffee shop. And while there is no music there is "the Rapparition" who not only rhymes but also when he moves, he, "concocts this elaborate triple-level, supersyncopated, free-falling gymnastic routine". And that's about as slow and mellow as this book ever gets.This is the most emotional book of his I have read. Previous works held the possibility of futures that were none too pleasant, and pasts that may have stung, but this time the tale is in real time. The assault is constant, no quarter given. The Pied Piper of Hamelin fame makes his appearance, but compared to the hopelessness that Dr. Kraft presides over, the Piper is Opera Buffa, comedic relief. The 13th century tale of terror first becomes a light story, and then a play with the real world's broken children of Angel City playing their fictional counterparts. No method acting just be your broken self.Richard Powers portrays a world that deserves nothing but condemnation. A world where the Children would be better off were they lead away rather than live the lives they have. Adults have done nothing but inflict damage, including our 5th year resident Dr. Kraft.He supplies this book with questions for further study at the end of a chapter, and then a literal word-by-word definition of the story of Peter Pan. And yes you guessed it, a child whose body is ten times its age in appearance while maintaining the age appropriate size. A girl named Joy who never experiences the feeling as she is gradually taken apart.This is as about as up close and personal to a Richard Powers nightmare as this reader would like to get. I have no claim on a particularly vivid imagination, but the Author drills down so vividly he could disturb the victim of a coma.A unique Author with a very unique mind.

Gold Bug may be Richard Powers' most accomplished and dazzling novel, but for sheer depth of feeling and emotional wallop, Operation Wandering Soul is unequalled. Told with the author's usual technical brilliance and command of novelistic structure, Wandering Soul distinguishes itself in the way Powers' command of language turns into devastatingly effective passages that you don't so much read as feel. The chapter introducing Joy is absolutely heartbreaking, and the novel's conclusion is stunning, one of the top passages of sustained emotional intensity of the last few decades, in my opinion. Richard Powers is a novelist with both heart and head; Operation Wandering Soul has both in abundance.

Powers took a lot of criticizm in '93 for this book, and it doesn't take long to figure out why. The plotline, setting, and flow are muddled, at best. But these things, for a change, aren't central to the book. The book is a quest, and if the brilliant _Goldbug Variations_ represented Power's search for Moonlight in a Chamber, then it could be said that _Wandering Soul_ searches for any sort of light at all. That light is found in the children Power's characterizes. After reading _Galatea 2.2_, one understands the massive emotional stress Powers was under, (probably a good reason for the bleakness), and Powers seems to want to reclaim his childhood, only to realize he can't. Bipass the stumbling story connectors and non-present plot explanations, and view the child within you trapped in a world it cannot survive. Powers may yet be the most passionate writer in the world, feel it here, if you dare.

A novel about caring and its consequences, Richard Powers explores the meaning of childhood and its innocence, in this moving novel about children and their stories. It should be required reading for anyone considering adulthood and the rearing of children