November 2025: Bewilderment by Richard Powers
The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain…
With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing vision of life beyond, and its account of a father and son’s ferocious love, Bewilderment marks Richard Powers’s most intimate and moving novel. At its heart lies the question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?
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Suggested Indie Bookstores:
Little City Books (Hoboken, NJ)
Rough Draft Bar & Books (Kingston, NY)
Hello Hello Books (Rockland, ME)
Northshire Bookstore (Manchester, VT)
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Favorite Quotes:
“Life is something we need to stop correcting.”
“Nobody’s perfect … But man, we all fall short so beautifully.”
“Everything about her felt familiar, as if I’d been briefed on the local customs in advance … She felt like a prediction, a thing on its way here.”
“In the auditorium, I felt the pleasure of competence and the warmth that only comes from sharing ideas.”
“My son loved the library. He loved putting books on hold online and having them waiting, bundled up with his name, when he came for them. He loved the benevolence that the stacks held out, their map of the known world. He loved the all-you-can-eat buffet of borrowing. He loved the lending histories stamped into the front of each book, the record of strangers who checked them out before him. The library was the best dungeon crawl imaginable; free loot for the finding, combined with the joy of leveling up.”
“He hadn’t been so happy since the night we camped out under the stars.”
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Other Stuff I’m Into Right Now:
Fruit tarts
Little scarves
Big jeans
Waffles
Rollneck sweaters
Upholstery
Cold face lotion
Coats with shoulder pads
