The Echo Maker
Richard Powers · b. 1957 · United States
Why it matters
A Nebraska man survives a car crash unable to recognize his own sister, and the neurologist who studies him faces his own crisis of identity. Powers's National Book Award winner fuses hard science with tenderness.
At a glance
psychological novelphilosophical novel
Difficulty 6/10medium pace451 pagesBraided plotlines and dense neuroscience woven into a literary mystery.
Deep dive
A Nebraska man survives a crash unable to recognize his own sister's face, and the neurologist called in to explain him finds the case dismantling his own confidence in how anyone knows anyone — including whoever left the cryptic note at his bedside.
