To dispense with the longstanding book reviewing practice of first-paragraph throat clearing, may I offer up Richard Powers's "Echo Maker" as a wise and elegant post-9/11 novel?

The Echo Maker (2006) is a novel by American writer Richard Powers.

Bibliography of editions of 'The Echo Maker.'

The Echo Maker reviews.

The fiction winner, "The Echo Maker" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) by Richard Powers, moved from No. 1,031 on Wednesday afternoon to No. 61 yesterday.

Yu was selected for the honor by Richard Powers, winner of the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction for his novel, The Echo Maker.

"The Echo Maker" was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Some observers have noted that a character in Richard Powers' The Echo Maker may be a nod at Edelman.

His novel The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction.

Powers's ninth novel, The Echo Maker (2006), won a National Book Award and was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist.