Playground (2024) will elevate you as a thinker while enchanting you as a reader. It might confuse you; it will definitely challenge you. If you've read or end up reading this most recent novel by the astonishing Richard Powers, please remember to contact me either here or offline. I desperately want to retain the glow of this extraordinary - if at times frustrating - reading experience for as long as possible. And I really want to hear your take on the mind-blowing conclusion, perhaps the most imaginative ending of any book I've read in two decades.
My journey with this remarkable book was not a wholly smooth one. Because both of the trusted readers in my life who finished it before me - my wife and the reading soulmate who first recommended it to me soon after its release - told me simply that it was another home run by Powers, through the first 200+ pages, I was innocently captivated. As he did with both Echo Maker & Bewilderment, Powers grabbed me immediately with his undeniable storytelling gift, expertly balancing human dynamics with the miraculous mysteries of the natural world. As with The Overstory, I was dazzled by his staggering prose and masterful toggling of first and third person voices. But then the foreshadowing curveballs - make that screwballs - began to upset my reading equilibrium. Not enough to extract me from the compelling story but, my unanswered questions began accumulating. Playground demands any reader's full engagement.
I'll spare you the details of my childish temper tantrum as I finished mid-day this past Sunday and tell you that all I could manage at that point was a visit to the gym to cool down. Later, two conversations with my wife helped me come to peace with the stunning denouement of this treasure. Still not able to let go, I scheduled a coffee meeting for early today to further digest Playground with that reading soulmate who'd first recommended it to me. That helped some more. But I'm far from sated. That's where I hope some of you enter the picture. Please: Help me keep this buzz, will you?
Final note: Though tempted to write a post about some of the other novels I finished since publishing the post directly below on June 8, now I'm glad I waited until I read Playground.
Reflections From The Bell Curve: The Line of Beauty
You are lucky Pat, you received a beauty wound. I get that from certain books or music time to time and it always catches me off guard.
ReplyDeleteRegina; I love that expression "beauty wound". Is that yours? Thanks for the comment.
DeleteWell not being the avid reader you are, I still have to say that your comment about
ReplyDeletethis book having a mind-blowing conclusion with the the most imaginative ending of any book you have ever read may be just the reason why I decide to read it. However, if it is not available in paperback and costs more than $ 9.99 on the bargain table at Barne and Noble, I might have to opt to listen to a song by Dan
Fogelberg instead; that song being Part of the Plan which is my go to song when
I'm feeling lost.
Sheriff Vic; Nice to see a comment from you. Listening to "Part of the Plan" is a worthwhile use of 3 + minutes of anyone's time. Reading "Playground" all the way through - though it will take considerably longer than 3+ minutes - can transform the way a person looks at the world. I'll pass on remarking on that "$9.99/bargain bin" bit.
DeleteThis post unravels the communion of readers. It unearths conversations readers have with themselves, and when lucky enough with an anam cara (soulmate in Irish).
ReplyDeleteI read the good, the bad, and the ugly often plucked from the library shelves. The library keeps me away the bargain table, except when I can’t resist the beauty of the book or the author’s generous offer to sign a copy.
The dialogue begins with the author who pens lines that might stay in my thoughts forever. Sometimes it is a single sentence that brings profound understanding, or words written like the lyrics to a great song. The communion is sharing it with someone who has read the book and wants to engage in the conversation. Here’s to meeting in The Playground.
The communion
Anne; Thanks for the well-considered and articulate comment. If memory serves this is your first ever comment on the blog site itself, correct? I now look forward to seeing more from you. Especially intriguing in your comment here is the use of the word communion. That's a favorite word I use when trying to describe what happens frequently in the music classes I teach. In those transcendent moments, a song (or specific lyric) I've selected to make a pertinent teaching point strikes the exact chord I'm aiming for in an open participant. I'm then connected with that participant - however briefly - in a sacred way.
DeleteAdded this book to my TBR, which is now up to 260. But I will bump it up higher based on your review :)
ReplyDeleteMarisa; Only 260 on your TBR list, huh? How I envy you.
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