Bewilderment by Richard Powers

Published: 2021, W W Norton and Company

Genre: Fiction

Themes: Autism, single parenthood, astronomy, ecology

My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤❤

Richard Powers is such a clever man that his intelligence practically bristles off him like electrified hair reaching up to tightly packed thought bubbles. As well as being a Pulitzer Prize winning author, he is also a Professor of English and has more than a passing acquaintance with physics and computer programming.

All this knowledge allows him to write about an astrobiologist, whose work involves modeling scenarios of possible life-forms that could exist in the diverse range of atmospheres to be found in space. In contrast, the book also presents the idea that while we are so interested in finding life on planets too far away to see, we happily look the other way as our own non-human species of flora and fauna are being driven to extinction.

In the book, Theo Byrne is a single parent trying to juggle his scientific career with raising his autistic son Robin. Theo's wife died in a car accident when Robin was a toddler and she was the only other person who knew how to deal with Robin's challenging behaviours. As the boy gets older his emotional outbursts are becoming more difficult to manage and now, at the age of nine, the school is pressing Theo to go down the pharmaceutical route of behaviour management.

The plot navigates through a number of very topical issues such as: over-reliance of big pharmaceutical companies: world ecology and protection of habitats; political decisions based on personal gain and the risks of over-exposure on social media. However righteous this sounds, there is still a very human element to the story, that also includes a neurological treatment that is currently science fiction, but feels like it might one day be possible. This book will keep you turning pages and maybe take a little more notice of the natural beauty of a butterfly next time you see one flutter close to your phone.

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