Bewilderment Review

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?

General Impressions

I had never heard about this author before I got this book in the mail but after reading the synopsis I started this book with really high expectations. That and really afraid as well.

The first sentence alone was enough for me to know I would not only finish this book but would love it and never forget it. Those predictions came true.

Bewilderment is a deceptively heavy book, but as a reader, you are allowed to breathe out and take a lot of moments to collect yourself thanks to its short chapters, which I'm a huge fan of.

Added to the emotional aspect of this book, the reader also has to contend with a lot of scientific language and theories, so I found myself having to pause my reading every couple of pages to google things. Strangely enough, that did not hinder my reading enjoyment and none of it felt like wasted time. This book taught me so much about not only the universe but this world as well.

On the most personal side of this book, I loved that at its very core this is a book about a single father raising and loving his only child at the same time they dealt with several kinds of grief over losing their wife/mother, their trust in democracy and humanity and lastly grieving all the plants and animals that are being lost every day as humanity is pushed by greedy politicians to ignore science and turn the blame on any kind of minorities and outsiders.

This book might seem like a prediction of what our future might look like, but the tragedy is in how it really is about what's going on right now. From the fascist politicians, media manipulation, censorship, authoritarian regimes, Twitter legislation, discrimination, climate change denial, childhood overmedication,...this is a look at our tragic present and the worse times ahead. This is not an easy read but that's why it's so necessary.

The only negative observation I have is that I really disliked that the author ripped off Greta Thunderberg's history and activism from her neurodivergence to the way she speaks and I seriously doubt he had her permission.

Conclusions

Everybody should read this book. It will rip your heart to shreds and then make you really nervous and mad about what's going on in the world and that's exactly how more people should be feeling.

Rating: 5/5

Thank you to Hutchinson Heinemann for this ARC.