Generosity: An Enhancement Hardcover – September 29, 2009

Generosity: An Enhancement Many fans, myself included, appreciate Richard Powers as a humanist who can artfully bridge his understanding of sciences into his fiction, as he did in Gold Bug Variations and Galatea 2.2: A Novel, for example. In his new novel, Generosity: An Enhancement, Powers explores issues entangled in genetic engineering, questions about what it means to be human and to be happy.The principal characters are a young Algerian woman who appears happiness gifted, Thassadit Amzwar (Thassa), and her writing teacher at a fictional Chicago college ("Mesquakie"), Russell Stone. Based on just a few exposures to Thassa in his writing class Russell begins to worry that she is too happy, which he somehow perceives to put her at risk. He involves a college counselor, Candace Weld, who after a brief informal meeting assigns a diagnostic name to Thassa's condition, "hyperthymia." The plot proceeds along two main lines from there, as television personalities and bio-engineering entrepreneurs fasten on to Thassa to serve their own ends and as a romance between Russell and Candace inches along.Powers brings in a fair amount of what psychologists, neuroscientists, and geneticists have to say these days about the causal correlates and manifestations of happiness. His chief vehicle is his fictional genomics entrepreneur, Thomas Kurton, who takes on Thassa as an object of study and potential profit. Kurton believes there are happiness genes and he advocates market access to them for parents who want to bestow such blessings upon their children.Powers is more satirically critical of contemporary culture in Generosity than in his earlier works. In addition to over-reaching bio-engineers, he particularly targets mass communications: cell phones, blogs, streaming "news," "time shifting," "user generated" content, social networking sites, television news, science celebrity shows, the Oprah show, and more.One other significant thing is going on in Generosity: Powers writes about writing. Interlocutions from an author character are staggered throughout. We are frequently reminded that it is just a story, that the author hasn't figured out yet what will happen, and that he cares about his characters. Remember too that Russell teaches (the course is "creative non-fiction"), so the class scenes and his assigned text ("Make Your Writing Come Alive") offer opportunities for further commentary on the enterprise of writing. One wonders whether this aspect reflects Powers' own doubts and concerns about the story he is constructing.Powers has been criticized in the past for failing to fully animate his characters. Here Thassa might appear to rescue him from that charge. But it is never credibly demonstrated for us why people are so convinced of her elevated and persistent happiness almost immediately upon meeting her. For the most part we are simply told that they are. When Russell and Candace quickly become concerned about her they have insufficient evidence either that she has some sort of unique endowment or that she is exposed because of it. Consequently they become rather too frantic about Thassa's fate very early on when nothing was yet out of hand.Russell himself is not the sort of dynamic protagonist that might ease the author's task. At one juncture we are told that, "He's forgotten exactly what subassembly of the collective human project he is responsible for, or when exactly it might be due," a characterization that seems applicable more or less throughout. Candace is the responsible adult, a consummate professional in her counseling work and a dutiful single mother. Powers writes that together Russell and Candace "... stand there awkwardly, two more victims of natural selection, caught between negativity bias and the eternal belief that the future will be slightly better than the present." As you might surmise, this hardly makes for a sizzling romantic relationship.Most of the other characters basically represent stereotypes, particularly Kurton and Thassa's classmates. The most fully-realized may be Tonia Schiff, a television science journalist -- we learn enough about her upbringing and the changes she's gone through that she seems authentic, even if we may not like her. Russell's brother Robert makes only a few appearances, but delivers the funniest passages in the book.Typically it is the fundamentals that carry good fiction, the plot and characters. With Powers it is more the intellectual superstructure. If you have read him before and enjoyed it you will likely find Generosity satisfying as well. If you are looking for some breakthrough in his writing you may be disappointed. If you are new to him, this book will show you how he works.

I can't remember where I heard that Richard Powers was an author to read, but wherever it was, I am glad it came my way. I started with this one, purely for the title. It made me curious. After reading it, I would definitely go for another Powers book.There are a lot of topics brought up in this story, and the ones I likes the most were about genetic manipulation/engineering. It made me think about where we are headed and where we came from, and how we pretty much don't learn our lessons very well.There is also a lot of interplay between technology, social media, and other "modern" distractions and habits.The wall between story and reader is thin, and gets broken down a number of times in the book, which at first annoyed me [I come from a pretty classical reading experience], but after a while, I liked it a lot. It reminded me of those movies where one or all of the characters break down the wall between the movie and the audience and talk to the screen, as if they were inviting us to share some secret, behind the scenes information about the story. They do it a lot on Modern Family for instance.The main character is majorly flawed and pitted against another major character who is "perfect" in mood and resilience. The pitch and tone of the story are enhanced by this dichotomy. A thoughtful pleasant and innovative read.

I've read every one of Richard Powers' novels (I think 10 in all). I've read more Powers than any other author, except for Shakespeare. His earliest books read a bit like writing exercises, but, as a writer myself, I felt some generosity toward a beginner is appropriate. My first experience with him, The Goldbug Variations, hooked me forever after. It's been said of Powers that his books are the reader's reward for having secured a good general education. Indeed, his books in themselves nearly provide the same. Along with fascinating enterprises and love affairs, you get lectures on Moravian folk music, computer science, sand hill cranes, genetics, brain research, and on and on. There seems to be no end to the subjects about which Powers has a burning fascination. While reading him, I tend to forget to eat and sleep.Generosity: An Enhancement, is no exception. Thassa, a young Algerian woman, is perpetually happy despite the perpetual terror of growing up in a war-torn country and losing both parents. She enrolls in a class in creative non-fiction taught by Chicagoan, Russell Stone, who, a rather depressed sort himself, is fascinated by Thassa's constantly radiant presence. Enter college counselor, Candace Weld, who becomes Stone's love interest, and Thomas Kurton, genetic researcher and entrepreneur in hot pursuit of the genetic causes of happiness, and you have the makings of an unforgettable book, with Thassa the center of everyone's focus, love, and greed. Read the book; you'll love it. My only complaint with Powers' writing is that it's too slow.

I’d give 3.5 stars if I could, but any rounding here is down. Not to say that I didn’t deeply enjoy the book, or that I think any less of the great Mr Powers, certainly among our greatest novelists (and I don’t just mean greatest novelists now; I mean he’s among the greats). Yet the book has such a deep fatal flaw even he cannot write around it. The central drama is built around people’s perceptions of a young woman, Thassa, and their actions based on their perceptions. But from the start, Powers tells us about Thassa; he fails until some incidents towards the end to show us Thassa. We never see her ecstatic joy that so moves and threatens others. She is simply a collection of adjectives (and a very precise accent - I know, I married a similar accent). No book can overcome such a central flaw. And yet ... I loved the provocative ideas and gorgeous language and forward-movement of this book. I recommend, with caveats.

Many reviewers are taken with the topicality of Power's books - his interest in science and music, his command of detail, his obvious research and intellect, his clever writing. My belief is that Powers is a master of trying to unravel human nature and that his novels are his canvas for this.The story of Generosity is this - a nerdy writer takes a college class in creative non-fiction and meets two unusual women. His student, an Algerian refugee seems afflicted by permanent happiness despite her terrible personal story. He brings this up with a student psychology counsellor, Candace, and the pair decide to explore whether she is 'suffering' from a medical condition. They turn to a famous Ventnor type to test her and the ensuing action turns her life upside down and miserable.In all this, Powers demonstrates his prowess at exploring what is natural in human beings. The writer stands for the arts and human nature, Candace for reason and science - and they fall in love. It is obvious role reversal. Thomas Kurton (the Ventnor character) is pure masculine science - let's improve on mother nature - and the female science reporter who breaks the story is conflicted and changes sides from science to nature in the course of the plot. None of this feels contrived.At the heart of the drama is the lovely Thassa - the ultimate woman - a natural uniter, a charismatic lover of life who seems unstoppable until her encounter with science almost destroys her. She is not a real person, you think while reading, yet she sets off this amazing tale and keeps you involved.The Echo Makers is one of the finest novels I've read, and Generosity, though slightly behind it, contains enough stunning writing and intelligence to make me recommend the book warmly.

Richard Powers is very distinctive in style and certainly unusual in approach. His books delve into a particular arena, which will form the background to the characters and the story. Whatever he engages with, he does so at depth. This makes him a writer who thinks, and who appeals to people who like to think at the same time as reading a story. I really like this, and have enjoyed several of his books. If one purpose of a novel is to take you into places that you wouldn't normally go, and enrich your feeling for the world, then he accomplishes that consistently.I enjoyed Generosity more than any, because his writing is particularly crystalline, his characters very accessible, and the underlying investigation of what makes us happy is a worthwhile theme, underpinned with some interesting perspectives on what genetics can or cannot determine. If you haven't read any of his work, this is a great one to try first. If you have liked any before then I don't think this would disappoint. But if you have tried and truly not been engaged by his style and approach, then this probably won't win you over. Ripping Yarns is not what he does. But most of those are soon forgotten. His books aren't.

A fascinating book in search of the happiness gene but in order to fully understand it some knowledge of Genetics, American business practice, the structure of a novel, the arts and media as well as the Algerian War would be helpful. There are several threads in this book so difficult to grasp in one reading but still worthwhile.

Brilliant. Enjoyed this more than Orfeo, which was also very good. Very well researched for the latest science, history and culture, with convincing characters and an absorbing tale. The device of seeing the story unfold through the eyes of the author worked very well, giving an extra dimension to the reading experience and demonstrating that it is the storytelling that matters, not any illusion of reality.

Good science fiction novel