Bewilderment
A Novel
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Bewilderment
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Narrated by:
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Edoardo Ballerini
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Written by:
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Richard Powers
About this listen
Oprah Book Club Pick 2021
Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize
A heartrending new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning and number one New York Times and internationally best-selling author of The Overstory.
Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2021 by New York, Chicago Tribune, BookPage, Literary Hub, The Millions, New Statesmen and Times of London
The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while singlehandedly raising his unusual nine-year-old son, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is funny, loving, and filled with plans. He thinks and feels deeply, and can spend hours painting elaborate pictures of the endangered animals he loves. He is also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face.
What can a father do, when the only solution offered to his troubled son is to put him on psychoactive drugs? What can he say when his boy comes to him wanting an explanation for a world that is clearly in love with its own destruction?
With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing visions 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, imperilled planet?
©2021 Richard Powers (P)2021 Random House CanadaYou may also enjoy...
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What the critics say
An International Best seller
Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Awards for Fiction
Longlisted for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize
An Oprah's Book Club Pick
A Heather's Pick
One of Indigo'S Best Books of the Year 2021
“In Bewilderment [Powers’] mastery strikes a new vein...glittering with timeless story elements; it raises goosebumps and breaks our hearts.... The author’s shortest work and his most far-seeing.... Richard Powers has brought off something more than [the second of] two exemplary and superb fictions of the climate crisis. He’s also unearthed and refurbished the timeless link between artist and shaman, a voice crying in the wilderness.” (The Brooklyn Rail)
“Soaring descriptions and forthright observations about our planet and the life it supports.... [Bewilderment] offers rich commentary on the complex, often mystifying intersections between science, popular culture, and politics.... As the best-selling The Overstory continues to reverberate, readers will be excited to turn to another deeply involving Powers novel.” (Booklist, starred review)
What listeners say about Bewilderment
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stefanie
- 2023-05-09
terrifying and heartbreaking
To the extent that this is speculative fiction I found it terrifying. The callousness with which humanity treats the world is all too real. The story of a father and his son grieving a lost mother is heartbreaking.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- celia gjosund
- 2021-10-24
Beautiful
One of the most interesting and beautiful books I have read in a long time. Thoughtful and engaging I will think about this and what it means to me for a long time. Thank you Richard Powers
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tasty Sunshine
- 2022-02-06
Hard to listen to but worth it
This story shouldn't make you happy or be easy to listen to. It's our world, our future, we better start truly listening.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2024-03-26
An eye opener
Everyone should read this book. Its full of truths we all know but don’t want to believe
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- K. Moore
- 2022-03-13
Phenomenal!
I loved this book! It was difficult at times to understand what was happening but an extraordinary read. Heartbreaking ending! Wouldn't change a thing!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- susie osler
- 2022-12-11
Another profoundly relevant book from Richard Powers
I wish every person would read/listen to this important, hard hitting, but beautifully woven tale, and wake up to the (normalized) insanity of what we are doing to the Earth and all her wonderous life, including of course, human life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kerry Munro
- 2021-09-27
amazing
I was so moved by this book. beautiful writing. Beautiful narration. Character is everything. Highly recommend.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2021-12-26
Well written
I wasnt a fan of how he characterized his wife and eventually the character of Robin became annoying. all in all this book was excellently written and had a satisfying story arc.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Merryn
- 2022-04-30
In retrospect I could have passed on this one
Not going to lie, this book really made me sad. A very realistic look into a possible future, one that hit a little too close to home when thinking about what might have happened had Trump been re-elected. Could completely sympathize with Robin and all the pain of being an empathetic and emotional soul.
Didn’t really care for the narration, it sometimes made the beautiful descriptions and thoughtful commentary come off a little pretentious and sappy, which definitely made the book overall less enjoyable.
It’s a decent book, well written and cool descriptions of possible planets and nature, but it was a real bummer. I kind of wish I hadn’t read it, as it put me in a negative headspace. It captures well the feels of being a kid and hearing about all the environmental tragedies happening and feeling an overwhelming need to do something coupled with a crippling mental agony of having no real way to help and no way to comprehend how others could just ignore it all. Having grown up in a very similar headspace to Robin regarding these issues, maybe I just found it a little triggering. If you’re a sensitive or highly empathetic person, particularly regarding animals or nature, you may like relating to the story, or you may feel just as hopeless and helpless as you do when watching documentaries about ecological degradation or the commercial meat industry. I felt both after listening and to be honest, that’s not the feeling I look for when I read fiction.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- GranolaCowgirl
- 2022-07-18
I couldn't finish it
I appreciated the character of Robin, a neurodivergent young person. It was refreshing to break away from the cliché and to enjoy how this cerebral superfeeler takes in and sorts the world around him. However, the pace of the story was just too slow and I found myself having to work to stay engaged. I felt like I was supposed to have a great appreciation of the writing but it just never held me. After restarting a few of the chapters, I finally gave it up.
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