Bewilderment
{{short description|2021 novel by Richard Powers}}
{{use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{See Wiktionary|the novel by Richard Powers|bewilderment}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Bewilderment
| image = Bewilderment (Richard Powers).png
| alt =
| caption = First edition cover
| author = Richard Powers
| audio_read_by = Edoardo Ballerini
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre =
| publisher = W. W. Norton & Company
| pub_date = September 21, 2021
| media_type = Print (hardcover)
| pages = 288
| awards =
| isbn = 978-0-393-88114-1
| oclc = 1240265353
| dewey = 813/.54
| congress = PS3566.O92 B49 2021
| preceded_by = The Overstory
| followed_by = Playground
}}
Bewilderment is a 2021 novel by Richard Powers, published on September 21, 2021, by W. W. Norton & Company.{{Cite web |title=Bewilderment: A Novel by Richard Powers (Author) |url=https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881141 |access-date=September 7, 2021 |website=W. W. Norton & Company |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907054738/https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881141 |url-status=live }} It is Powers' thirteenth novel, his first since winning the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Overstory (2018).{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Rosa Inocencio |date=April 16, 2019 |title=Writing the Pulitzer-Winning 'The Overstory' Changed Richard Powers's Life |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/richard-powers-pulitzer-the-overstory/587245/ |access-date=February 5, 2020 |website=The Atlantic |archive-date=February 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213011641/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/richard-powers-pulitzer-the-overstory/587245/ |url-status=live }}
The novel was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize.
Summary
The novel is set in the near future amid the environmental degradation of the planet. It follows widowed astrobiologist Theo Byrne and his volatile nine-year-old son Robin, who is diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Theo resists psychoactive medication for Robin, turning instead to an experimental neurofeedback therapy in order to help his son. In an interview for the Booker Prize, Powers said, "The book has its roots in two different worlds. It is, in part, a novel about the anxiety of family life on a damaged planet, and for that, I'm indebted to writers as varied as Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Evan Dara, Don Delillo, and Lauren Groff."{{Cite web |title=Richard Powers: An interview {{!}} The Booker Prizes |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/booker-prize/news/richard-powers-interview |access-date=August 16, 2021 |website=thebookerprizes.com |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816200124/https://thebookerprizes.com/booker-prize/news/richard-powers-interview |url-status=live }}
Reception
= Reviews =
According to Book Marks, the book received a "positive" consensus, based on thirty-five critic reviews: fourteen "rave", nine "positive", eight "mixed", and four "pan".{{Cite web |title=Bewilderment|url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/bewilderment/|access-date=16 January 2024 |website=Book Marks}} In the November/December 2021 issue of Bookmarks, the book was scored three out of five stars. The magazine's critical summary reads: "Powers's fans will embrace the similar themes of his previous novels; new readers may wish to start with The Overstory".{{Cite web |title=Bewilderment|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Bewilderment.-a0706701390|access-date=14 January 2023 |website=Bookmarks}}
Kirkus Reviews, in its starred review, called Bewilderment a "touching novel that offers a vital message with uncommon sympathy and intelligence."{{Cite web |date=June 29, 2021 |title=Bewilderment by Richard Powers |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/richard-powers/bewilderment-powers/ |access-date=September 7, 2021 |website=Kirkus Reviews |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907054737/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/richard-powers/bewilderment-powers/ |url-status=live }} Dwight Garner of The New York Times characterized it as a book about "ecological salvation" with a "nubbly sentimentality" but said it "is so meek, saccharine and overweening in its piety about nature that even a teaspoon of it numbs the mind."{{Cite news |last=Garner |first=Dwight |author-link=Dwight Garner |date=September 15, 2021 |title=In 'Bewilderment,' Richard Powers Smothers Nature With Piety |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/books/review-bewilderment-richard-powers.html |access-date=September 21, 2021 |archive-date=September 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920202249/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/books/review-bewilderment-richard-powers.html |url-status=live }} A more positive review by The Guardian called it a "tender sci-fi novel-cum-family romance."{{Cite news |last=Doyle |first=Rob |date=September 13, 2021 |title=Bewilderment by Richard Powers review – stars in their eyes |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/13/bewilderment-by-richard-powers-review-stars-in-their-eyes |access-date=September 21, 2021 |archive-date=September 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922154646/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/13/bewilderment-by-richard-powers-review-stars-in-their-eyes |url-status=live }}
Publishers Weekly compared the novel to Flowers for Algernon and wrote, "The planetary descriptions grow a bit repetitive and don't gain narrative traction, but in the end, Powers transforms the wrenching story into something sublime. Though it's not his masterpiece, it shows the work of a master."{{Cite web |date=July 7, 2021 |title=Fiction Book Review: Bewilderment by Richard Powers |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-393-88114-1 |access-date=September 7, 2021 |website=Publishers Weekly |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907054737/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-393-88114-1 |url-status=live }} Writing for Harper's Magazine, novelist Claire Messud felt the novel's plot and themes were too familiar to Powers' earlier works, and criticized the characterization. Messud writes,
Though central to the narrative, Alyssa is a cipher whose flatness is rendered plausible only by Theo's limited point of view. Moreover, the sketch of Theo's personal and family history feels as thin as paper. But if Theo's other relationships remain one-dimensional, the connection between father and son has greater density and texture, as does Robin's urgent and unbridled passion for the natural world.{{Cite magazine |last=Messud |first=Claire |author-link=Claire Messud |date=September 2021 |title=New Books |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2021/09/new-books-september-2021/ |magazine=Harper's Magazine |access-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907054738/https://harpers.org/archive/2021/09/new-books-september-2021/ |url-status=live }}
= Awards and honours =
The novel was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize,{{Cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=September 14, 2021 |title=Nadifa Mohamed is sole British writer to make Booker prize shortlist |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/14/nadifa-mohamed-sole-british-writer-booker-prize-shortlist-2021 |access-date=September 14, 2021 |archive-date=September 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914154445/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/14/nadifa-mohamed-sole-british-writer-booker-prize-shortlist-2021 |url-status=live }} and longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction{{cite web |title=National Book Awards 2021 |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2021/ |website=National Book Foundation |access-date=October 14, 2021 |archive-date=November 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117184531/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2021/ |url-status=live }} and Aspen Words Literary Prize.{{Cite web |title=2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist |url=https://www.aspenwords.org/programs/literary-prize/longlist/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301235337/https://www.aspenwords.org/programs/literary-prize/longlist/ |archive-date=2022-03-01 |access-date=2022-03-01 |website=Aspen Words |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Schaub |first=Michael |date=2021-11-10 |title=Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist Revealed |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/aspen-words-literary-prize-longlist-revealed/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307022236/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/aspen-words-literary-prize-longlist-revealed/ |archive-date=2023-03-07 |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}} It was selected by Oprah Winfrey as part of Oprah's Book Club on September 28, 2021.{{Cite web |last=Schaub |first=Michael |date=September 28, 2021 |title=Oprah Picks 'Bewilderment' for Book Club |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/oprah-picks-bewilderment-for-book-club/ |access-date=October 21, 2021 |website=Kirkus Reviews |archive-date=October 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021182404/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/oprah-picks-bewilderment-for-book-club/ |url-status=live }}
Film adaptation
In January 2021, Variety reported that Black Bear Pictures and Plan B Entertainment acquired the feature film rights to Bewilderment after a competitive bidding process.{{Cite web |last=Lang |first=Brent |date=January 11, 2021 |title=Richard Powers' 'Bewilderment' Film Rights Sold to Black Bear Pictures, Plan B (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/richard-powers-bewilderment-movie-1234882658/ |access-date=September 7, 2021 |website=Variety |archive-date=October 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018010611/https://variety.com/2021/film/news/richard-powers-bewilderment-movie-1234882658/ |url-status=live }}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Richard Powers}}
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Category:Novels by Richard Powers
Category:W. W. Norton & Company books
Category:Novels set in the future