ORFEO by Richard Powers

I wanted to love this book, but really it’s a little haywire.  Peter Els calls 911 when his dog dies, and this unfortunate error in judgment causes him big trouble.  When the first responders arrive, they find that he has a slew of petri dishes in which he is experimenting with bacteria.  For him it may be a hobby, but for the powers-that-be, it’s a big no-no and reeks of possible criminal activity, such as cooking up anthrax or smallpox.  What he’s really trying to do is insert music into DNA code, and I have to confess that I really don’t quite understand what that means.  In any case, Els embarks on a cross-country road trip in an effort to avoid arrest and revisit the past.  The book flashes back to how Els got to this point, and he realizes too late that he probably missed his calling in chemistry.  Instead, he pursued music composition, eternally seeking to create something super-original.  His quest eventually costs him his marriage and his relationship with his daughter when he reunites with his avant-garde collaborator, Richard Donner.  The project in question is an opera whose theme coincides with the Waco debacle, which takes place right before opening night.  This book has some good moments, and the writing is beautiful, but it’s a bit too cerebral for me.  As for the music angle, I think this book is a too technical for the average reader, and most people probably think that music is something to be listened to for its beauty or for the emotions or awe that the listener experiences.  There’s a lot of analysis here that seems unnecessary and even burdening to some degree.