Review: With ‘Bewilderment,’ expansive novelist Richard Powers goes dark and narrow

On the shelf Bewilderment By Richard Powers Norton: 304 pages, $28 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. This alchemy earned him a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989, the 2006 National Book Award for “The Echo Maker,” a Pulitzer Prize and a longstanding bestseller in 2018’s “The Overstory.” His earlier books explored more arcane or intriguing aspects of science, but recently he’s zeroed in on a deep concern for what humans are doing to our planet. Both are still grieving the loss of Alyssa — Theo’s wife, Robin’s mother — who died in an accident two years earlier. So when things reach a breaking point at Robin’s school, Theo turns to an experimental neurotherapy treatment at his university. It’s a relief to see great novelists like Powers, Lydia Millet and Jenny Offill tackling climate change in ways that make for really good stories, brilliantly told.