In this view, the terrorists who hold Taimur Martin are politics incarnate, mindlessly violent in the name of a cause. But the possibility that even Adie's own artistic and intellectual work is at the service of politics doesn't occur to her until late in the novel, when the Gulf War reveals the military applications of virtual reality. Of course, these concerns aren't original to Powers. But the immediacy of these problems for the novelist makes his novels live. The other vital element is his prose, also idiosyncratic, stronger in invention than in judgment.
Powers rubs language against the grain, constantly agitating it.
When he succeeds, he achieves a rare energy. New story lines and life histories are introduced halfway through, and a surprise ending joins the twin narratives rather too forcibly. But this profusion of language, characters, and plot seems to be the price of Powers's energy and curiosity. It is a testament to his intelligence and imagination that one pays the price willingly, and in none of his novels is the reward greater than in Plowing the Dark. Adam Kirsch is a poet and a critic.