I feel a bit contrite to rate this book with only three stars, mainly because it had the ambition to grasp the vast dimension of the whole universe within its few pages and I barely glimpsed three of its celestial bodies.As much as I admire what Richard Powers wanted to achieve with this multilayered story, mixing science-based themes, dystopia, the wonder and imagination of a nine year-old and the bond between a father and his son, I wasn’t as moved as I expected to be.There are brilliant, even...

He rehearsed memories endlessly, and every repetition of the details made him happier. When he finished a book he liked, he’d start it again immediately, from page one. So having read and loved (let alone liked) an ARC of this book ahead of the Booker longlist announcement (on which I was rightly sure it would feature) it seems appropriate to start it again on its print publication a week after its shortlisting for the 2021 Booker PrizeMy views on the book on a second read (and also having

Powers has written a tender allegory that drifts from despair to melancholy and then back again into the dark. The setting is either the near future, or a parallel world that echoes our social perils and ecological failures. Powers is whip smart, finding all kinds of intricate connections and clever observations that magnify the theme and ignite curiosity. The story feels honest and authentic. Written in first person, it often felt like someone describing their actual experiences. The plot follo...

Audiobook/ebook sync 7 hours and 51 minutes for the audio….and narrated by Edoardo Ballerini I never finished “Overstory”….but I do want to return to it. Once I started ‘Bewilderment’ - worried I wouldn’t connect with it - or understand it - I was pleasantly surprised….( don’t laugh) …> I thought, “whew”…..it’s not only not going over my head leaving me in the dust - but it’s WONDERFUL. I had seen only low reviews —so mixed with my own hesitation - I didn’t ‘jump’ at this novel —Well….I was ench...

Robin is nine years old. His father is an astrobiologist, teaching and participating in research at the University in Madison, Wisconsin. His mother was killed in a vehicle accident when Robin was seven. He is a different boy, strongly empathetic, unable to control his emotions. He has been diagnosed with various labels, but his father doesn't want to use drugs to change, control his son. So in a last ditch attempt he turns to something that is still being researched, Neuro feedback, using brain...

I'd missed something obvious, in over thirty years of reading and two thousand science fiction books: there was no place stranger than here.powers' last novel, The Overstory, was met with such across-the-board praise, such reverence, that it's almost shocking how poorly this one has been received. i get why people dislike it—the trump/greta thunberg stuff is kludgy, the planetary bedtime stories are distracting, and robin is wicked annoying. Don't worry, Dad. We might not figure it out. But Ea...

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2021Nominated for the National Book Award 2021Aaah, this is a tough one: I have to admit that I found this novel incredibly affecting and emotionally disturbing, but I'm not sure whether Powers intended readers to accept the actions of the main character, Theo, uncritically - if so (and that's how many seem to have interpreted the book), that's a problem. The story is told from Theo's point of view, a grieving astrobiologist who recently lost his wife and who is

I wanted to tell the man that life itself is a spectrum disorder, where each of us vibrated at some unique frequency in the continuous rainbow. I was not nearly as enamoured by this super-hyped book as I thought I might be, and I think I can pin it down to three main reasons.1) A novel-length Neruda poem is not really my thing.Don't get me wrong, I've gotten tingles like everyone else when I see a quote like: I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow a

On the 2021 Booker Prize Shortlist Richard Powers latest offering is a more human, ambitious, profoundly moving, genre defying novel that echoes, consolidates and moves on from The Overstory, a blend of science, fact and fiction. At its core is the incredible bond and love between a widowed father, astrobiologist at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, Theo Byrne, and his bright, kind, if emotionally volatile, troubled 9 year old son, Robin. Both are grieving the loss of wife and mother, birdwa...

Bewilderment should have been the book for me based on the topics (I for instance actually like astronomy) but it didn't. I found it overly on the nose and sentimental.Maybe humanity was a nine-year-old, not yet grown up, not a little kid anymore. Seemingly in control, but always on the verge of rage.Bewilderment tells the story of neurodivergent Robin Byrne, 9, and his astrobiologist father, who is recently widowed. Aly, the activist wife, is seriously revered in the novel: Your mother was her

I really enjoyed large parts of this, particularly the more tender moments between Theo and Robin. The emotional heart of Bewilderment is a story about a recently widowed father and his young son coming to terms with the death of their wife and mother. At that level, I thought this was excellent. The story faltered when the science babble took over, as it often did, which led to some pretty silly dialogue. The eco-activism was also a bit on the nose.

Now re-read.Part of me was a bit nervous about re-reading this. Some of the discussion on the M&G Booker thread had tarnished the book for me and I felt I would only see flaws as I read it. And it's not perfect. But I actually ended up enjoying it more on second reading than I did on first. I think I noticed a lot more detail this time through.I read Powers because I enjoy his writing as much as I enjoy the stories he tells and the science he plays with. I like little sentences like "Halfway bet...

Now Longlisted for The Booker Prize 2021Such a rich, multilayered and passionate book that explores astrobiology, the funding of scientific research, man's predations of the planet, US politics around all these issues - but the heart of the story lies in a tender tale of paternal love for a nine year old son deemed different by his school and medical professionals who want to pathologise him and put him on drugs to control his behaviour. I'm not usually one to go all mushy over kids in books but...

Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker PrizeRichard Powers, what are you doing to us?! This was one of the most emotionally moving books I’ve read in ages. Theo and Robin felt like real people. I had very minor qualms with some of the sci-fi bits but I can absolutely overlook that. I don’t have many intelligent thoughts to write about this one. I’d rather not overanalyze it. Just read the dang book. Oh, and my money’s on this one for the Booker this year!