Who recommended Bewilderment?

3 people have recommended Bewilderment in the interviews, articles and reading lists we track, including Ezra Klein, Mark Duplass and Lulu Miller. Each name links to their full reading list.

Is Bewilderment worth reading?

3 people we track recommend it. It is best for: a high-school science teacher exhausted by climate classes who wants a novel that shows how scientific curiosity can coexist with messy family life; it offers sympathetic scenes linking work and home.; a postdoc or early-career researcher juggling lab hours and new parenthood who wants a fictional mirror for the tension between professional discovery and caregiving obligations.; an environmental-studies grad student preparing seminar material on eco-literature who needs evocative, scene-driven passages that place personal grief beside questions about species loss.. It may not suit: you'll likely put it down when the narrative pauses for long philosophical or scientific digressions that restate the same emotional point; patience for repetition is required.; annoying if you prefer plot-first novels, brisk pacing, or clear plot resolutions — this is meditative and character-focused rather than action-driven.; annoying if you dislike sustained sentimentality or if portrayals of a difficult/atypical child feel sentimental or overly prescriptive to you..

What books are like Bewilderment?

Readers of Bewilderment also turn to 11/22/63, 40 Chances and 12 Rules for Life, based on the lists and recommenders these books share.

Bewilderment by Richard Powers: Recommended by 3 People

Name: Bewilderment
Author: Richard Powers

The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while singlehandedly raising his unusual nineyearold, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He?s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As h...