Bewilderment

This is 3,000 word deconstruction on why the defeatist 'Bewilderment' fails the goals Powers has set for himself. Amongst other things a matter of hubris about the power of literature, and of content that is out of focus.

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I'm sure Powers is conflicted himself. There's the rhetoric of the Time interview - see below for more examples - but there's also what's in the book itself. Ultimately 'Bewilderment' admits defeat, and sends a pessimist message. So why write a book to reinvigorate "what to do"?

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Robin is right to learn lower anxiety about non-human animals and their faith. He is right to accept mortality. But Robin becoming a child Buddha doesn't solve a thing, as his initial anxiety is misplaced: this book should never have been about nature, but about humanity. Powers chose the wrong tree to bark at. Instead of mass extinction and the beauty of birds he should have picked the effects of both mass extinction and climate change on human society as Robin's focus, and the book's central theme.

It's easy to become a Buddha about birds. Try small children drowned on a Mediterranean beach instead.

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Full analysis on Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It: