
Bewilderment
“Bewilderment is a cri de coeur…This is a hauntingly intimate story set within the privacy of one family trapped in the penumbra of mourning.”
Washington Post
A New York Times bestseller
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
An Oprah’s Book Club Selection
An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick
A Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Notable Book of 2021
A Boston Globe Book of the Year Pick
A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of 2021
An NPR Best Book of the Year
A Garden & Gun magazine pick of 2021's Best Books
Longlisted for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize
Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Awards for Fiction
Longlisted for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize
Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Awards for Fiction
Longlisted for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize
Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Awards for Fiction
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 BOOKER PRIZE
A heartrending new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning and #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling 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?
Praise
