What Are You
Reading?
What Are You Reading? A project sponsored by the Friends of the Macomb Public Library District to encourage reading and book discussion in our community. Would you like to share your favorite books with other readers? Please send your name, occupation or grade level, book author and title, and a brief statement about the book and why you liked it to Kate Joswick, [email protected].
Reviewer’s Name: Alice Davenport Reviewer’s Occupation: Retired Clergy Book Title: Bewilderment Book’s Author: Richard Powers The themes of this compelling ‘roman a clef’ (‘novel with a key’ or fiction based in fact) are many. Most important is the relationship depicted between a recently widowed father, Theo, and his bereaved 9 year old son, Robin. Tied into this theme is thoughts on Afterlife. Powers uses the Buddhist concept that the wife, Ally, became energy, and all the good in her became part of both father and son and universe. Now they keep her in their lives through their memories and conversations. A third major theme is Astronomy: Theo is an Astrobiologist, and Robin is a gifted child, as well as being a ‘special student’ (ADHD, OCD, and Asberger’s syndrome are mentioned.) Besides academic prowess Robin has the ability to converse with his father about planets. Rob is also a gifted artist. A fourth theme is the concept of humans being alienated from the natural world. Frequently they will have discussions about planets, in our galaxy and others, which his father has encountered in his quest to find a planet that could support organic life. None have been found, although there are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way alone, most of which have at least one planet. Rob puts it this way: “With all of those places to live, why is there nobody anywhere?” This is a simplification of The Fermi Paradox. (Basically, it’s because none of them have been found to have a moon.)
One of the most important themes of this book is Dec Nef: Decoded Neurofeedback training, during which fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging is combined with machine learning to help a person change their brain activity patterns. Although first undertaken for Robin, both Theo and Ally are helped by Dec Nef. (The book gets quite technical here, as well as with some of the astronomical sections.)
My favorite parts of this book – although it’s hard to choose – are their trips to the Smokey Mountains, camping out, as well as a trip to Washington DC, where Theo goes to a conference, and Rob attempts to sell some of his amazing drawings and paintings. This activity leads to his father getting arrested and handcuffed by the DC police. He pays a hefty fine and they head for home, with Theo trying to answer a lot of Rob’s questions about the political implications of his arrest and of the whole Washington presidential scene of 2017. In closing, I quote part of a Buddhist prayer which Ally, who died in a car crash, used nightly with Robin: “May all sentient beings be free from needless suffering.” His father continues to pray this with Rob at bedtime. It is also found in a more complete form in the Readings section of the Unitarian hymnbook, Singing Our Life - #595.
