Bewilderment: A Novel
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3.4 • 1K Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB SELECTION
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction
Longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
A heartrending new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory.
The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain…
With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing vision of life beyond, and its account of a father and son’s ferocious love, Bewilderment marks Richard Powers’s most intimate and moving novel. At its heart lies the question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers gives us a gorgeous novel centered on the relationship between a father and son and universal themes of love and grief. After his wife dies, Theo—an astrobiologist and newly single father—sets off on an incredible journey, navigating uncharted territory with his sensitive, apprehensive son, Robin. Theo draws on their shared passion for the cosmos to come up with dazzling bedtime stories full of descriptions of dreamed-up landscapes. Meanwhile, the grieving Robin becomes increasingly disturbed and violent, and experimental neurofeedback therapy may be his only hope. Powers takes us on an unforgettable journey, offering wise insights into the surfaces of fascinating new planets and the beautiful, complex topography of family relationships. Bewilderment is a deeply intimate tale that pierces the heart and ignites the imagination.
Customer Reviews
Not the Overstory
I enjoyed the subject matter and flow of this story. I was disappointed as a fan of the Overstory and just felt like my expectations weren’t met. The ending dropped off like a cliff!
Mind blowing!
Beautifully woven tale with picturesque descriptions and amazing ideas ranging from astronomy, neuroscience, environmental issues and the meaning of life itself, all nesting within a poignant family story. For fans of Overstory, this is more digestible but as powerful. Short of 5 stars as at times it oscillates between technical and sappy.
4 stars
It is truly beautifully written and I had teared up during a few periods when reading conversations between the narrator of the story, an Astro biologist named Theo, and his son, Robbie, or else when it was a flashback between Theo and his wife who has since passed away.
However, I didn’t like the big twist at the end, the last few pages, honestly. And that brings my rating from 5 stars down to 4.