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yawnsbooks 's review for:
Bewilderment
by Richard Powers
This is an incredibly beautiful book that explores so many themes: grief, neurodiversity, memory, eco-anxiety, empathy, love, environmental ethics; all in this short, little novel!
The story follows Theo, an astrobiologist, as he raises his son, Robin, after the death of his wife, an active scientist and environmentalist. Robin’s acting-out behaviours have resulted in school suspensions and are believed to be increasing due to his undiagnosed neurodiversity and difficulty processing grief.
Theo enrolls his son in an experimental treatment at his university, one that links Robin with the essence of his deceased mother through mental stimulation and training exercises. The results are outstanding, Robin’s empathy levels are beyond anything imagined and is cause for additional scientific attention.
In between sessions Theo explores the bio-signatures of other planets and creatively shares his findings with his son, while learning to adjust to his son’s heightened empathy and understanding of humanity’s precarious position with climate change, and in the universe.
This book was tremendous. I am thrilled that it is part of @thebookerprizes nominee list and @oprahsbookclub pick, because I want to read and hear all of the opinions and discussions about the novel.
There were so many ideas explored in it that I’m so interested in, such as: should parents be trying to shield children from troubling information - and should this include climate change, or the daily extinction of species? And what about the ableist / neurotypicalist structures that are playing into Theo’s and other parents’ desire to make life “easier” for his neurodivergent son through medical interventions?
I found myself asking questions of “how much should a person feel? When is a feeling, excitement, anger, grief, or otherwise, too much?”
I could go on and on about this book. I’m excited to engage with it further. A quote that I took from it is : “life is a spectrum disorder, where each of us vibrates at some unique frequency in the continuous rainbow”
Definite recommendation for everyone.
The story follows Theo, an astrobiologist, as he raises his son, Robin, after the death of his wife, an active scientist and environmentalist. Robin’s acting-out behaviours have resulted in school suspensions and are believed to be increasing due to his undiagnosed neurodiversity and difficulty processing grief.
Theo enrolls his son in an experimental treatment at his university, one that links Robin with the essence of his deceased mother through mental stimulation and training exercises. The results are outstanding, Robin’s empathy levels are beyond anything imagined and is cause for additional scientific attention.
In between sessions Theo explores the bio-signatures of other planets and creatively shares his findings with his son, while learning to adjust to his son’s heightened empathy and understanding of humanity’s precarious position with climate change, and in the universe.
This book was tremendous. I am thrilled that it is part of @thebookerprizes nominee list and @oprahsbookclub pick, because I want to read and hear all of the opinions and discussions about the novel.
There were so many ideas explored in it that I’m so interested in, such as: should parents be trying to shield children from troubling information - and should this include climate change, or the daily extinction of species? And what about the ableist / neurotypicalist structures that are playing into Theo’s and other parents’ desire to make life “easier” for his neurodivergent son through medical interventions?
I found myself asking questions of “how much should a person feel? When is a feeling, excitement, anger, grief, or otherwise, too much?”
I could go on and on about this book. I’m excited to engage with it further. A quote that I took from it is : “life is a spectrum disorder, where each of us vibrates at some unique frequency in the continuous rainbow”
Definite recommendation for everyone.