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alirudel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
astridrv's review against another edition
The hardest book to review this year.
I love Powers’ writing - yes it’s grandiose and saccharine and dramatic and I love it. Some pages left me breathless - the space chapters?? Perfection.
It felt cathartic to have my gut feelings about the climate crisis put unflinchingly in words.
I do think the books has some interesting things to say about neurodivergence: to which extend is the society we are supposed to function in even desirable? What treatment helps you to live, what treatment changes you, what doesn’t change you, why does it matter? What do we owe our children and ourselves? How to parent with a broken heart in a broken world?
But I also feel really conflicted about how Robbie’s autism was dealt with in the book, and I’m really upset by the ending, that is so seeped in the ableist trope of “ultra sensitive being representing humanity’s consciousness and downfall” when he is just a young human who deserves care and guidance and happiness.
I can sense that it was written with nothing but love, but I have big issues with it.
I love Powers’ writing - yes it’s grandiose and saccharine and dramatic and I love it. Some pages left me breathless - the space chapters?? Perfection.
It felt cathartic to have my gut feelings about the climate crisis put unflinchingly in words.
I do think the books has some interesting things to say about neurodivergence: to which extend is the society we are supposed to function in even desirable? What treatment helps you to live, what treatment changes you, what doesn’t change you, why does it matter? What do we owe our children and ourselves? How to parent with a broken heart in a broken world?
But I also feel really conflicted about how Robbie’s autism was dealt with in the book, and I’m really upset by the ending, that is so seeped in the ableist trope of “ultra sensitive being representing humanity’s consciousness and downfall” when he is just a young human who deserves care and guidance and happiness.
I can sense that it was written with nothing but love, but I have big issues with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, Death of parent, and Ableism
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Animal death
danielthesecond's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
laurikas's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This sort of story gives me anxiety.
I don't particularly like reading books from the point of view of children, or where they are a huge part of the plot. I just have no desire to read about children's suffering, even if they paint it in big fluid colours.
It's just a personal preference, and there's very few books out there that make me waver on this.
I will give it 3 stars because some of the writing was indeed beautiful. I just could not enjoy it.
I don't particularly like reading books from the point of view of children, or where they are a huge part of the plot. I just have no desire to read about children's suffering, even if they paint it in big fluid colours.
It's just a personal preference, and there's very few books out there that make me waver on this.
I will give it 3 stars because some of the writing was indeed beautiful. I just could not enjoy it.
searlait_carolinehoey's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
bibliobrandie's review against another edition
3.0
An intimate novel that focuses on the relationship between father and son, humans and ecology, and science and politics. I enjoyed the writing and the characters, especially how the father is such a fervent supporter of his son, but I hated the ending so 3 instead of 4 stars.
kalzu's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
caro_z's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
michellegroenewald's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
readsewknit's review against another edition
4.5
A book club friend loaned me her copy of this book and spoke highly of BEWILDERMENT. It took me a couple months to read, due to my slow track record with physical books during this season.
A widowed father is raising a twice-exceptional son who struggles with school. Robin is a bright, curious child, and it's heartbreaking to see his arc as he joins a research project. Richard Powers has us consider a provocative question through these pages: ought we to intervene and try to "improve" upon folks, particularly when our environment shows how poorly we can behave when given power?
I'm drawn to slow, thoughtful prose, and BEWILDERMENT was an ethereal read. I was enchanted nearly from the beginning, as we learn the origin of the son's name, harkening back to what could have been an awkward exchange on an early date but was instead transformed into a beautiful insight into the delight of the mundane when alongside someone you care for ("Whenever we were doing anything together -- reading the paper or brushing our teeth or doing the taxes or taking out the trash. Whatever blah or boring thing we were taking for granted. We'd trade a look, read each other's minds, and one of us would blurt out, 'The robin is my favorite bird!'").
There's something profound when different books cross so markedly with each other in similar but unique ways: this title mentions FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON (which I'd recently listened to for the first time); it was interesting to read this after MIGRATIONS, which had a similar near-future setting of a bleak environment with no shortage of extinctions); I also watched several episodes of THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM (a search for life on other planets and the consequences that may result). The interplay these all have with each other adds a new dynamic to the experience.
A widowed father is raising a twice-exceptional son who struggles with school. Robin is a bright, curious child, and it's heartbreaking to see his arc as he joins a research project. Richard Powers has us consider a provocative question through these pages: ought we to intervene and try to "improve" upon folks, particularly when our environment shows how poorly we can behave when given power?
I'm drawn to slow, thoughtful prose, and BEWILDERMENT was an ethereal read. I was enchanted nearly from the beginning, as we learn the origin of the son's name, harkening back to what could have been an awkward exchange on an early date but was instead transformed into a beautiful insight into the delight of the mundane when alongside someone you care for ("Whenever we were doing anything together -- reading the paper or brushing our teeth or doing the taxes or taking out the trash. Whatever blah or boring thing we were taking for granted. We'd trade a look, read each other's minds, and one of us would blurt out, 'The robin is my favorite bird!'").
There's something profound when different books cross so markedly with each other in similar but unique ways: this title mentions FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON (which I'd recently listened to for the first time); it was interesting to read this after MIGRATIONS, which had a similar near-future setting of a bleak environment with no shortage of extinctions); I also watched several episodes of THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM (a search for life on other planets and the consequences that may result). The interplay these all have with each other adds a new dynamic to the experience.