Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Erstaunen

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Erstaunen by Richard Powers

64 reviews

okiecozyreader's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

This is my first book by Powers and I feel like maybe it was a good place to start. I really liked the start of the book - the relationship of a child with a behavior disorder somewhere on the spectrum and his father (after the tragic loss of the mother). The father wants to avoid medicating his son, so he submits him to the care of a practitioner whose goal it is to change the way he thinks through a reasoning brain “game.”

I was really interested where the book would go from this point. Being an educator, I think about students like Robin and wonder what is the best way to help them.

It’s a little sci fi, with a message about the condition of the earth, nature and empathy. When it got to this part, I felt like it was at times more heavy handed.

I went back and watched Oprah’s interview with the author on Apple plus. (It’s interesting he doesn’t have internet connection and has to go somewhere to do zooms, etc). The discussion about the title was interesting - based on Plato’s Cave - “The eye knows two kinds of bewilderment- coming into the light and out of the light”
This is a story about a little boy who goes into and out of the light - and both processes are bewildering.

I could see comparisons to Flowers for Algernon and at times, it reminded me of Ted Chiang.

“Imagine a planet where the past never went away, but kept happening again and again, forever. That’s the planet my nine-year-old wanted to live on.”

“In the face of the world's basic brokenness, more empathy meant deeper suffering.”

“He'd discovered, on his own, what formal education tried to deny: Life wanted something from us. And time was running out.”

“The world had become something no schoolchild should be allowed to discover.”

“And you always say, an experiment with a negative result isn't a failed experiment.
"No," l agreed. "You can learn a lot from negative results."

Which do you think is bigger?
Outer space ...? Or inner space?

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enoemo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

so. many. emotions.
The main character is really flawed and makes a lot of mistakes, and also definitely doesn't always see things for how they are but I think that is what makes his dilemma so deeply emotional and relatable in a way? Also I finished reading this on election day and that just hits different, ahhhh.

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aviabraham's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book was such a freaking bummer. I loved the overstory a lot which is the only reason I read this, since it’s really not my usual kind of book, but I was super disappointed. The narrator is the most boring, annoying character in the story. I found the way the author talks about women to be bizarre and dehumanizing. The ending felt rushed and didn’t make sense with the rest of the narrative. Would not recommend.

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astridrv's review against another edition

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The hardest book to review this year.
I love Powers’ writing - yes it’s grandiose and saccharine and dramatic and I love it. Some pages left me breathless - the space chapters?? Perfection.
It felt cathartic to have my gut feelings about the climate crisis put unflinchingly in words.
I do think the books has some interesting things to say about neurodivergence: to which extend is the society we are supposed to function in even desirable? What treatment helps you to live, what treatment changes you, what doesn’t change you, why does it matter? What do we owe our children and ourselves? How to parent with a broken heart in a broken world?
But I also feel really conflicted about how Robbie’s autism was dealt with in the book, and I’m really upset by the ending, that is so seeped in the ableist trope of “ultra sensitive being representing humanity’s consciousness and downfall” when he is just a young human who deserves care and guidance and happiness.
I can sense that it was written with nothing but love, but I have big issues with it.

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