“Bewilderment" by Richard Powers - review

 “Bewilderment“ by Richard Powers:

“Dad! Everything is going backwards.“ 

This frustrated outcry of a nine-year-old to his father is the summary of my emotional revelation after reading this book. Defeated by the stupidity of half of mankind all goes down. The ship is sinking. 

Theo Byrne is an astrobiologist who programs simulations of life on extrasolar planets in order for these simulations later to be used in scientific programs in search of life on other planets in the universe. One major part of his life is devoted to the amazement and bewilderment in the face of life’s stunning stubbornness to spring up in the most unexpected places and the beauty of it all. 

The by far bigger part of his life is devoted to loving and taking care of his nine-year old son Robin who, an intelligent, sensitive, endearing, warm and kind boy with capricious moods and predilections, not only struggles with the demands of everyday life and social interaction but also with coming to terms with the loss of his mother, who died 2 years ago in a car crash. The love between son and father has an emotional truth and vividness that wrings the heart.

Caused by one of Robin’s violent outbreaks the family’s equilibrium is threatened by the school authorities’ demand to put robin on psychoactive drug medication. In search for a better solution Theo turns to a befriended neuroscientist and enrolls Robin in a program of experimental neuro-feedback treatment. The recorded neurological state of mind which Robin is given as a model to learn and profit from is that of his deceased mother, Alys.

Robin’s situation improves tremendously and with the same zeal as his mother before she died, he actively engages in the preservation and protection of endangered species. This is when the story leaves the safe microcosmos of family and leads to frustrating and lastly devastating contact with the outer world of insurmountable obstacles, ruled by a political system driven by greed and economy and the unwillingness of people to face the truth. Son and father in the end loose all. 

“Oh, this planet was a good one. And we, too, were good, as good as the burn of the sun and the rain’s sting and the smell of living soil, the all-over song of endless solutions signing the air of a changing world that by every calculation ought never to have been.“

This is indeed a very emotional tale, sad in the end, but also full of hope and wonder at life itself, the beauty and immensity of it all and the tiny hope that someday something somewhere survives and thrives.

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