Et cetera : What We're Reading: Bewilderment

I recently read ‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers, my choice for Vinton’s Big Read. This novel is set in the near-future and blurs the lines between literary fiction and science fiction. The main characters are Theo and Robin, a father and son who share a very close relationship. They are fascinated with our natural world, including the cosmos, and are jointly grieving the tragic loss of Robin’s mother, Aly. Navigating life is extremely difficult for Robin; he has been diagnosed with several different disorders and has become violent at school. Aged 9, he is described by his father as follows:

‘What was there to explain? Synthetic clothing gave him hideous eczema. His classmates harassed him for not understanding their vicious gossip. His mother was crushed to death when he was seven. His beloved dog died of confusion a few months later. What more reason for disturbed behavior did any doctor need?’

Desperate for alternatives to psychoactive drugs, Theo agrees to allow Robin to try an experimental form of behavior therapy called DecNef, short for decoded neurofeedback. With the assistance of DecNef, Robin essentially trains his brain to remain composed rather than overcome with physical and emotional outbursts. What happens next couldn’t have been predicted by Robin, Theo, or the scientists behind DecNef, and will leave all of them forever changed.

I love this story. In an interview with Michael Silverblatt on the ‘Bookworm’ podcast, the author describes the novel as a science fiction pocket universe, something bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside. The cast of characters is small, but it manages to encompass humanity, ethics, family, privacy, curiosity, confusion, protest, and more. One literary critic describes DecNef, and the book itself, as an empathy machine. And for me, that is what sets a book apart from the rest, its ability to make me reach a new level of empathy when reading it. This book did that for me in spades.

Happy reading,

~Kelly