Bewilderment cover art

Bewilderment

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Bewilderment

By: Richard Powers
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2021.

The brand new novel from the Pulitzer prize-winning, booker prize-shortlisted author of The Overstory.

Picked as one of the Best Books of 2021 in the Sunday Times.

Theo Byrne is a promising young astrobiologist who has found a way to search for life on other planets dozens of light years away. He is also the widowed father of a most unusual nine-year-old. His son, Robin, is funny, loving and filled with plans. He thinks and feels deeply, adores animals and can spend hours painting elaborate pictures. He is also on the verge of being expelled from third grade, for smashing his friend's face with a metal thermos.

What can a father do, when the only solution offered to his rare and troubled boy 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? The only thing for it is to take the boy to other planets, while all the while fostering his son's desperate campaign to help save this one.

©2021 Richard Powers (P)2021 Penguin Audio Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Space Exploration Interstellar Solar System
All stars
Most relevant  
this was a fabulous read to get outside of yourself and find a different perspective. recommended reading for all

must read this one!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautiful. heartbreaking. Thought-provoking. A world where what is science and what is speculative is thrown into question in the best kind of way

Beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Spoiler free review:

For the first 10th of the book I found it beautiful, poetic, educational and the authors love of nature definitely rung through. I’d have adored this book as a young adult full of excitement and hope about how one person’s actions can make a difference & excited for advocacy for disabilities *autism* (& I’d have found this book encouraging). Unfortunately as I’ve gotten older I’m a little more/too jaded. Let’s face it- the world is slowly dying and we’re responsible; our actions and negative impacts are kind of irreversible. I don’t need a 10+ hour book to remind me of this.

The author was obviously an environmentalist (which is a good thing) but there’s a difference between having a 1 hour stimulating 2+ way conversation about the environment and political factors here and there to listening to a 10 hour monologued lecture on it (I’m exaggerating here a little harshly I’ll admit).

Whilst there were positive beautiful moments here and there it’s an allegory to the selfishness of human nature, politics, funding, schooling and healthcare. I (personally) prefer my books to be a bit more of a positive escape from reality.

It delves into illness (autism specifically), science, astronomy, nature, funding, human judgment, human selfishness. If these are your interests you’ll hopefully love it. You probably have to be in the right mind frame to appreciate it- I wasn’t. I’d recommend an environmentalist to read this- they’d probably love it and be fueled with a yearning for action and justice- but for me it fell flat.

Also it was interesting seeing Robbie’s progression and whilst a lot of the book was obviously based on/inspired by reality I couldn’t help but intriguingly wonder how much of his treatment was realistic to the current times/technologies. I’m (in this case) optimistically thinking something like this will probably ONE DAY in the distant future be a reality (just as anti-cancer pills are finally now a thing)- it was an interesting concept.

I wish I loved it more- I just truth be told wasn’t expecting/in the mood for a satirical novel and the beauty, poeticism of it faded (for me personally).

I’m a jaded millennial this felt too environmentally preachy but I’m bias and probably not the target audience

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Gripping from start to end. Mind expanding, beautifully written and expertly narrated. Can't recommend this enough.

Powerful book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
While there is beauty to be found in the wonder of the child in this story, overall it’s quite depressing, ending in a way that made me think the author had given up. The narration was enjoyable to begin with but became monotonous at times.

Depressing, but some beautiful descriptions

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this book. Unique take on the real life issues we are currently dealing with regarding climate change and what that means for future generations. I loved unpacking the relationship between father and son and son and the world!

Brilliant and timely

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very hard to maintain concentration with this one, the narrator should be applauded for sticking with it.

I’m bewildered after this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Theo and Robbin. their journey is our journey. a happy ending? what a universe we live in.

here and beyond

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book and the narration. It's a love story - a parent's love of his child, his wife, the universe; and his child's love of nature. It's a look into the very delicate mind of a young child who feels anger, sadness, empathy and emotional pain much more intensely than most others. The luck of this unique boy to have this particular father - an astrophysicist who struggles to raise a sensitive child in a world of abrasive truths. The discovery of a computer program that can train the brain to operate in a more ordered and calm manner and the politics behind what advances are made possible and what is not. This story prompts me to wonder so many things about society, the way we raise our children, what's regarded as normal and abnormal and the amazing power of our mind. It's a wonderfully different kind of insight into difference as a beautiful thing.

A journey into a human mind

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A story with an urgent message for our species. A thoroughly believable sci-fi masterpiece. Up there with the book it references and reflects - Flowers for Algernon.

Wonderful and Terrifying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.