Bewilderment is the story of father-son duo Theo and Robin (Robbie) Byrne. Robin on the autistic spectrum, his challenges in school are exacerbated by the recent death of his beloved mother in a car crash. With difficulties fitting in already, her death gives rise to further challenges, emotional and logical, for the boy. Theo is an astrobiologist. Using the latest in astronomical data, he works to posit the different forms of environment, and as a result life that could/might exist on the planets which deep space telescopes discover. His work filled with imagination and creativity backed by science, he likewise works with Robbie, trying to balance the boy's happiness with events in the wider world. Child rearing proves the more challenging job. But can an experimental new technology help his son?
There are two easy things to recommend about Bewilderment. Firstly, the diction is superb. Powers writes precise, efficient sentences that bring the story to clear life. And secondly is characterization. Both Theo and Robin feel like living breathing people. There are already brilliant depictions of autism, for example Elizabeth Moon's Speed of Dark and Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and Bewilderment is right there. Capturing the dissonance between a mind on the spectrum with society's “normal” mindset, the reader comes to understand Robbie for his humanity and his deviations in empathetic fashion. Theo's shoulder-to-the-wheel grind of being a parent of an autistic child likewise feels spot on. The weariness, the inside knowledge, the compassion—all come through on the page. Regardless of theme or message, the reader can easily engage with Bewilderment for who the presentation of character.
But there is a theme, or at least a mix of messages, in Bewilderment. While the stories of the two characters occupies the foreground, in the background the world's environmental and political stages play out. While the names on the boxes are different, the boxes are still Trump, Greta Thurnberg, TED Talks, and other elements of contemporary existence. By choosing an autistic child as a main character, Powers mirrors the distance the distance which has grown between science/public knowledge and misinformation, fear, political meandering, etc. This leads to some issues.
Bewilderment, whether consciously or unconsciously belying its title, is a novel that isn't always certain what it wants to be. For Powers, it feels an act of catharsis, a dumping of the frustration he feels with the data coming from science about environmental change and humanity's collective lack to act on that data. The result is an angry, tragic story that doesn't do much to open a dialogue with those who don't trust the data. The book has been nominated for the Man Booker—an audience who need little if any convincing. In this regard, it's warm stew for people who are expecting warm stew.
The ending of Bewilderment is divisive. Fully Greek tragedy, on one hand it can be seen as pretentious, maudlin, overburdening. It feels only partially organic to the human story which proceeds it, not to mention . On the other hand, it transcends the story to deliver “The Message”. Powers wants people to understand how SERIOUS and ABSURD the situation is. While I personally do not feel it's the final nail which drives home the theme of Power's proverbial coffin (for the reasons above), there will undoubtedly be readers who do feel that way—the exclamation point on the end of a statement intended to slap the reader into awareness.
In the end, Bewilderment is highly readable at the level of diction and character. Powers creates living portraits of two people through quality prose. The thematic, and to some degree the story elements, are more suspect, however—and that is coming from someone who believes climate change is important. The book is candy for an environmentally and scientifically aware audience. For those trusting in... other gods, there may not be much here to turn the tide—to exchange their holy book for another. It's preaching to the choir, which is sad given the political times we live in.
I was wondering when & if you'd review this. While I was a bit more negative, I think this is a very fair review. While the ending worked very well for me on an emotional level, I'm still puzzled by it. If Powers wants to press people into action, how
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is having the one character that takes action die while doing that? Said character is also naive, overestimates his own impact, etc.
I agree he might try to signal serious & absurd, but how to slap the reader into awareness/action by telling a story that basically is without hope? On top of that, one that seems to advocate acceptance - as that's the state of mind that's emotionally best for Robin?
I like to let reviews sit in a doc file for a while before posting them. Sometimes things occur to me later that a fresh take doesn't do justice. Id est, Termination Shock review is coming after some year-end posts. (Preview: my take is very similar to yours, including our opinions about his work after the Baroque Cycle. Cryptonomicon and Anathema are the pinnacle of Stephenson's ouevre thus far, thus it's good to see Termination Shock take steps back in that direction.)
ReplyDeleteRegarding Bewilderment's ability to press people into action, I 100% agree that Powers has presented readers with a paradox the story does not overcome, in turn making it difficult for people to be certain what the book's agenda is.
This was the first Powers book I read. Have you read others, and if so, how do they compare? I ask because I thought his writing style and characterization were excellent. Those are basic building blocks of fiction which, if applied differently, could result in a story which properly marries content to theme.
Maybe the paradox is what Powers was aiming for. He seems to be an intelligent writer, so he must have thoughts about it himself (or it's a giant blind spot, always a possibility). I haven't read any other of his books. When The Overstory came out, I thought about reading it, but after reading lots of reviews I decided against it. It seemed too intellectual for its own sake. I was intrigued by Bewilderment's themes, so I gave it a go. I might read something else of him in the future, we'll see, but at the same time, he seems to kind of serious intellectual, almost modernist writer that doesn't fully appeal to me anymore. Art won't save us, and any artist starting from that position has more trouble to overcome my bias against that kind of thinking. On the other hand, he clearly knows how to write, and he can manage emotion, so it's indeed probably just about finding the right book in his oeuvre.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to that Termination Shock review, and my best wishes for the new year.
Intellectual or no intellectual, the proof is still in the pudding. There is a famous French writer Michel Houellebecq. I suppose you've heard of him. Many would regard him as "intellectual". But reading his books, he is still a mortal man. His stories must still adhere to some basic tenants, just as Powers' must. I get what you're saying, particularly in context of the Powers' interview you quoted from, with all of its lofty goals and supposed meaningings. But we still get a story about a father and son and "environmental concern" that can also be judged on its objective merits. This is a long way of saying I don't believe Powers was creating a paradox. My opinion is that it's a blind spot he can justify to himself. Don't sell yourself short on your own intellectual capacity. ;)
DeleteAnyway, happy new year to you as well!
SPOILERS WITHIN:
ReplyDeleteMy book group discussed this work today. Of the 12 present, I was one of three for whom this was a miss, despite, like you, being among the choir to which he preaches. All of us loathed the ending, and I include those who loved the book. Like Bormgans above, I have to wonder what the average reader is to gain from the deaths of the idealists — both mother and child — and, I‘ll add, especially when the salvation of the child and later the father is to connect with their „ghosts in the machine“???
There is perhaps nothing that generates sympathy like tragedy... But in fiction, i.e. a situation entirely under the control of the author, the tragedy comes across as manipulative, which it is. I too am a believer in the need for greater awareness and controls around humanity's treatment of the environment, something which Powers would seem to agree as well. i just don't think his manipulative methodology drives anything in that direction.
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