Bewilderment

By Richard Powers W.W. NORTON & COMPANY | $27.95

This slim novel is nothing short of transportive, starting from the very first line. A scientist, shattered by his wife’s untimely death, struggles to raise his unusual young son in a world that wants to mold him into something he is not. When he is introduced to a treatment that may change everything for the both of them, he must decide which path he’ll travel. Powers expertly grapples with existential questions, interspersing beatific rays of hope throughout the story like sunbeams.