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Bewilderment
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
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Summary
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.
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What listeners say about Bewilderment
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- david joshua
- 13-12-21
Awe inspiring
Richard Powers didn’t think he would be able to write again after putting his soul into Overstory. And yet he did. And he wrote this.
Ezra Klein describes this as the Inner Story of Powers’ animist, interconnected philosophy, first articulated in the Outer story of the Overstory.
It is every bit as brilliant as it’s counterpart. But in a totally different way.
The narration of this adds to the book - great work Edoardo - subtle, poignant and perfect.
Read it and weep.
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- Amazon Customer
- 28-10-21
Powerful
I wasn’t in the right mood for this and it left me feeling bleak. Some good points on science, nature and the environment. I felt so sorry for Robin and his motherless life. I see so many children medicated for being different so I could understand the father’s fears. However at the end I wondered if he had been too rigid. Excellent on the American situation too. Would make a good book club one for a mixed group with some scientists. It might win the Booker but unlikely to be as popular with readers.
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- Lara Diamond
- 19-11-23
Moving, complex and beautiful
This book was a reco and I didn’t know what expect. It was moving and sad but also beautiful. I wanted to hear more
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- Mrs Amy Harris
- 18-04-23
Really lovely book
This book has you rooting for the 2 main characters from the get go. You feel their emotions and embark on the journey with them.
the narrator is particularly great and really suits this story.
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- Mr. A. J. Kelly
- 04-05-22
A very interesting read
Bewilderment indeed. links between human mind and and the cosmos explored in a a great story about love and bereavement.
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- c howlett
- 10-08-23
Mindblowingly good
I thought that The Understorey was good; this surpasses that for me. The storyline is engaging, uplifting & heartbreaking at the same time. The device of using the son’s questioning to explore the environmental issues very clever. The writing was so perfect and the narrator chosen a perfect fit for this novel. I didn’t want it to end!
It is bleak, as another reviewer has said - but the message of the book needs it to be & there are plenty of moments of brilliance to carry you through.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-04-24
Love and Loss
A beautiful ‘sequel’ to The Overstory. The relationship between the narrator and his autistic son is true and heartfelt.
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- Sean
- 22-10-21
Beautifully poignant
Part eco story, part exploration of fatherhood, part wonderment about the endless possibilities in the universe. Movingly thoughtful and softly narrated.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Bill Dunsmuir
- 23-12-21
a 'painful' but important read
This is not an enjoyable read. It is distressing, thoughtful, and harrowing at times. However, it is an important read on two important subjects. I strongly recommend this book
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- Amazon Customer
- 13-04-22
There is hope
We are already everything. We are nothing and everything all at once and always have been. This book devinely disseminates the deeper truth in all its pain and beauty.
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