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Orfeo is plagued by some of the same linguistic pretense that is found in The Gold Bug Variations (pretense that thrilled me in my 20s but I now find a bit grating). But it does not have the same dramatic power of that earlier book, and so it fell a little flat for me. 

I’m a big fan of Richard Powers and in a sense as he has evolved as a writer, I have evolved as a reader. I suspect I would have enjoyed this more had I read it when it was first written fifteen years ago. But now I find it lacking in things his later novels exemplify. It doesn’t have the scope, awe, and moving beauty of The Overstory or the sparkling emotional perfection of Bewilderment. And for early Powers it lacks the wonder and deeply moving characterizations of Gold Bug. And so I turned the last page thinking I head read smart work by a brilliant writer that I know can and will do so much better.

What a delight this book is. It’s deeply engrossing, perfectly balanced for a non-scientist with genuine interest, and wonderfully structured. Smethurst combines history and science to both teach me her subject, and show me something beautiful about science itself. Suddenly I realize that our scientific understanding of black holes isn’t just the collaborative effort of so many dedicated and enthusiastic individuals. It is a collaboration that spans centuries. From Chinese astronomers in 1000 ADE to PhD students in 2020, Smethurst draws a bright through-line that I find thrilling.

Smethurst reads the book herself. Normally this is a red flag for me. With a few glorious exceptions (I see you, Daniel Handler), I find authors to be poor readers. I’ll add Smethurst to the allow-list. She has clearly honed her craft through her work producing popular Youtube videos. And she’s blessed with a great, clear, expressive voice. This is especially great for a science book, where readers can sometimes get a little lost in the sentences. Smethurst knows exactly what she’s talking about, she knows what beats she’s meant to hit, and she knows how to hit them. This is one of my favorite non-dramatic audiobook readings.

If you love space, if you love the history of science, or if you’ve always wished for a science book with a sprinkling of Taylor Swift fangirling, then I have good news. I loved this book and immediately recommended it to my kids. Fascinating, awe-inspiring, funny, and beautifully read. What more could you want?

This is a beautifully and confidently written book, which I found refreshing. The author knows exactly what he wants to say and says it briskly and directly. It is full of minutiae that I found engrossing. The overall story is genuinely moving if a little meandering. Verghese takes his time in the mind of each character and they are alive and believable.

But I can’t shake my discomfort at the treatment of the Genet character. She’s the closest thing to a villain here and yet her supposed crimes don’t ring true. So many writers use the autonomy and sexual freedom of young women as a proxy for evil. Here it seems to be the primary motivating evil of the plot. I understand why Marion is hurt but the blame does not rest on Genet. At least not in any significant way. The author seems to forget that Genet is as alive, free, and human as his protagonist. Anyway this bugged me early on and only got worse in the final act.

Still though a powerful touching book.