SOURCE: "Fate of the Innocent," in Chicago Tribune—Books, May 23, 1993, pp. 1, 10-11.

Birkerts is an American critic who contributes regularly to such journals as Boston Review, New Republic, and Mirabella. In the following review, he questions the depiction of the protagonist's love relationship but overall finds Operation Wandering Soul a "fully realized and major work of art."

In a few short years—in literary terms overnight—Richard Powers has vaulted from promise to attainment. His third novel, The Gold Bug Variations (1991) was one of the brainiest and most ambitious novels in recent memory. He could not have rewarded himself with much of a vacation. Operation Wandering Soul, his new novel, sees that bet and raises it, creating a world less structurally complex but of greater thematic resonance. Powers must now be seen as our most energetic and gifted novelist under 40.

Operation Wandering Soul is an early entry into...