Literary Fiction · ThoughtfulAfter a truck accident, a Nebraska man believes his sister has been replaced by an impostor
The Echo Maker
A man wakes from a coma convinced that his sister is an impostor
Mark Schluter, twenty-seven, flips his truck on a deserted Nebraska road and falls into a coma. His sister Karin quits her job and comes home to care for him. When Mark wakes, he is sure she is an impostor, which is a sign of Capgras syndrome. Hurt by this, Karin contacts Gerald Weber, a neurologist known for his case histories of brain disorders, and his investigation begins to unsettle his own sense of self.
More about this book
Who
Mark Schluter, his older sister Karin, and the neurologist Gerald Weber.
World
A remote road and the town of Kearney, Nebraska.
What makes it different
Almost every section is told through Mark, Karin or Weber. Weber's parts are written like the case histories of Oliver Sacks, who may have partly inspired the character.
Feel
Careful and thoughtful. It won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Echo MakerWikipedia