Richard Powers: what gives?

[Yoav Bergner]

Hi. New to the list. I have done some of my homework and read 
a few dozen archived notes from the past year to get the feel of the 
list, but I apologize if I'm raising an already exhausted topic. 

I suppose most of you out there have heard and/or read about the 
comparisons of Richard Powers to both DeLillo _and_ Pynchon.  These 
latter being possibly my "favorite" authors, if one can say such a thing, 
I was impressed enough to want to read something by Powers.  On top of 
that "The Gold Bug Variations" was superlatively recommended to me by 
more personal sources.  When I realized in late July that Galatea 2.2 was 
already out, I figured I'll start at the forefront of this author's oeuvre.
I bought it, and immediately got the feeling that I'd have to have read at
 least two prior Powers novels in order to enjoy all the references I could 
only dimly detect.  So I stopped (or paused) and began The Gold Bug 
Variations.  I read about 140 pages or so before I felt like I was 
swimming in a viscous but vacuous mess.  Also I was bored.  This author's 
employment of language is nothing compared to Pynchon's and often sounds 
rather amateurish and over-ambitious, or at least trying to hard to be cute. 
 The depth of the knowledge of genetics or music or library science has 
also not yet been of any impressive caliber.  

Frankly, I'm tired and there's 500 pages to go.  Although I hate to quit a 
book in the middle (or less), there are more pressing things on my reading 
list.  Am I missing something?  Or tastes being what they are, should I 
let it go?  I was after all disapointed that it wasn't another Pynchon 
out there.  And are the reviewers who made the comparisons in the first 
place worthy sources?

Yours,
yb.

bergner at fas.harvard.edu