By Karon Winzenz

The Echo Maker (2006) by Richard Powers will be discussed on August 1 starting at 1:30 pm, at a meeting hosted by Jamie Hanreddy at the Fellowship. The author has received numerous awards for his writing. This novel resembles a Kafkaesque nightmare when 27-year-old Mark suffers traumatic brain injury in a mysterious car accident on an empty road. Perhaps even more mysterious is a note left at the hospital by an unseen person. Mark’s older sister Karin quits her job to assist in his recovery. But her brother believes her to be a look-alike imposter and continues to improvise alternate versions of “reality.” Karin contacts Gerald Weber, a famous neurologist who has published case histories describing the infinitely bizarre world of brain disorders. Mark’s fierce insistence on his half-constructed delusions begins to affect both Karin and Weber, instigating their own self-doubts. The novel brings into question how self-identity is created through cognitive processes.

The book for our September 5th meeting will be 11/22/63 by Steven King.