Operation Wandering Soul continues to be a somewhat misunderstood book. A careful reading of it will reveal that it is not without hope. A discussion group will necessarily deal with the problem of trying to move beyond the depressing physical conditions from which the children in the novel suffer to viewing them within the context of a society they have, with Linda Espera's help, created to meet their immediate needs.

Among Richard Powers's novels, this one places the most emphasis on characterization. It is still a novel of ideas, but the major characters in the book emerge as more rounded characters than those in his previous novels. It is productive to compare his characterization in this novel with that in some of his earlier books. The novel that comes closest to Operation Wandering Soul in terms of characterization is Prisoner's Dilemma (1988).

1. What is the significance of...