Bewilderment

Reviews

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
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 bestselling The Overstory continues to reverberate, readers will be excited to turn to another deeply involving Powers novel.” —Booklist (starred review)

“[A] taut ecological parable. . . . A touching novel that offers a vital message with uncommon sympathy and intelligence.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 

“[A] deeply moving and brilliantly original novel.”  —2021 Booker Prize Jury

“With the moving relationship between father and son, [Bewilderment] is an emotional and poignant read, replete with striking visuals of a devastated world.” —The National

“Marvelous. . . . Powers transforms the wrenching story into something sublime. . . . The work of a master.” —Publishers Weekly

“[A] profound novel. . . . [Powers’] capacity for world-envisioning offers rapt readers moment after moment of captivating recalibration.” —The New York Times

“Powers’ unchained imagination stretches its empathy circle from lichen to nebulae, in finely crafted prose.” —Financial Times (UK)

“Among the novel’s many virtues is the mood it radiates of sheer cosmic awe. . . .  Impressively precise in its scientific conjectures, Bewilderment is no less rich or wise in its emotionality. . . . Bewilderment channels both the cosmic sublime and that of the vast American outdoors. . . .  Sorrowing awe is Bewilderment’s primary tone, and its many remarkable scenes are controlled with high novelistic intelligence.” —The Guardian

“Few writers capture nature's glories quite so vibrantly.” —NPR

“This is a must-read novel.” —The Associated Press 
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