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Prisoner's Dilemma
Richard Powers Book Review

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Plot Summary of Prisoner's Dilemma
"Although it starts out seeming to present the portrait of a family, and the relations between siblings, Powers's second book is also out for bigger game: the nature and hidden traps of history. Teacher Eddie Hobson seems to have gone a little off his nut as well as developed a mysterious sickness; most puzzling to his wife and four kids, he labors ceaselessly on a secret project called Hobbstown, which he claims will save him, the world, and everything in it. Eventually the story opens out to include Walt Disney, Robert Oppenheimer, and the Japanese-American internment. The skilled narrative swings between Powers's early sassiness ("Great Scots, woman -- you'll get us all kilts") to genuine ache ("What we can't bring about in no way releases us from what we must")."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Prisoner's Dilemma
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Romance/Romance Problems Yes
Kind of romance: - seduction (yum!)
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Family, struggle with Yes
Family, loving relations Yes
Special relationship with - father
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Gender - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 3 (some)
United States Yes
The US: - West - Northeast - Midwest
City? Yes
Small town? Yes

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing
Unusual Style: - a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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