SOURCE: "What's the Matter With Eddie?" in The New York Times Book Review, March 13, 1988, pp. 15-16.

A German-born American, Hegi is a novelist and critic. In the following review, she discusses the characters in Prisoner's Dilemma.

A father lies with his four children on the frozen November earth, quizzing them on the names of the constellations. They rest against his body, and he points a flashlight to the dark sky "as if the light goes all the way out to the stars themselves…. The rest is a blur, a rich, confusing picture book of too many possibilities."

In the first four pages of Prisoner's Dilemma, Richard Powers's prose is sensuous, vivid and clear as he establishes the essence of the relationship between Eddie Hobson and his children. Why then is much of his novel told in language that's stilted and cumbersome?

If Mr. Powers has attempted to match...