I just finished “Bewilderment” by Richard Powers and, wow, bravo.

I love the way Richard Powers puts words together. The writing is absolutely beautiful. His style feels so effortless; nothing is overdone, characters are rich and the story flows right along.

I thought “Overstory”, which won the Pulitzer Prize, was brilliant, but I’ve gotta say that I enjoyed “Bewilderment” a bit more. It’s a bit darker, in my opinion. The central theme, once again, is the environment and it’s destruction due to climate change. The book is set in the near-ish future. We aren’t given an exact date, but a lot of the current day cultural elements are present. There are characters in the book that will definitely remind the reader of current day people. The story has just a touch of science fiction with a bit of a pre-apocalyptic vibe thrown in that really ticked a lot of boxes for me. If you are into nature, the natural world, the environment, planet Earth, the Solar System and if you ponder the thought of other life somewhere in the cosmos, you will definitely be able to relate to the emotions present in this story.

As per my usual goal in writing a review, I don’t want to give too much away. This book apparently garnered a lot of hype when it was first published which I managed to successfully avoid. By going into it blind, I think I was able to really immerse myself in the story without any outside influence.

If you haven’t read anything by Richard Powers, I highly recommend both “Bewilderment” and “Overstory”. Powers has published thirteen novels and I have already added two more to my TBR pile.