Bewilderment

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2021

No cover

Richard Powers: Bewilderment (2021, Penguin Random House)

English language

Published 2021 by Penguin Random House.

ISBN:
978-1-78515-263-4
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

(2 reviews)

9 editions

Accurate and troubling

We are in the USA with a president very similar to Trump 2 and the world is going down the drain. It's a Ponzi scheme planet, as the protagonist describes it. A very accurate and plausible near future, well written and thought provoking. Greta Thunberg is in the book though, Swiss in this iteration of the universe. I would give the book a strong 5, but for one thing: the underlying premise that medication for mental problems is a Bad Thing and should be avoided at all costs, while other ways of altering brain chemistry could save the world. Maybe this is needed to make the story work, but I still find it troubling.

avatar for 3ivin6

rated it

Subjects

  • American literature