The Bewildered

by Peter Rock

In Portland, Orgeon, three high school friends—Leon, Chris and Kayla—spend their time skateboarding studying foreign languages and classical music, and plotting a shared future that will avoid the superficiality they witness in the adult world around them. There is only one adult they admire, whom they suspect might hold secrets worth knowing. Natalie lives alone in a decrepit trailer, yet seems happy, and to have few concerns. As they befriend her she persuades them to harvest copper wire from the high tension electrical lines in the countryside around the city, until one day when there is an accident in which Leon is electrocuted. He appears to shake it off, yet soon—despite his denials of anything being wrong—his behavior comes to resemble Natalie’s in many ways. The mystery of what has happened to Leon (and to Natalie) leads Kayla and Chris on an adventure that takes them into the world of a remarkable group of people. These people live among us and are almost impossible to recognize, yet they possess different needs, and different powers. What they do not possess is insight into their condition, or any awareness that they are different. Others are left to wonder at—and attempt to profit from—the possibilities these people contain. Chris and Kayla are not alone in attempting to study, to use, and perhaps even to join their ranks.

Genres: Fiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Peter Rock was born and raised in Salt Lake City. His most recent novel, Passersthrough, involves a murder house, a fax machine, communications between the living and the dead, and a mountain lake that moves from place to place. He is also the author of the novels The Night Swimmers, SPELLS, Klickitat, The Shelter Cycle, My Abandonment, The Bewildered, The Ambidextrist, Carnival Wolves and This Is the Place, as well as a story collection, The Unsettling. Rock attended Deep Springs College, received a BA in English from Yale University, and held a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. He has taught fiction at the University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Deep Springs College, and in the MFA program at San Francisco State University. His stories and freelance writing have both appeared and been anthologized widely, and his books published in various countries and languages. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and an Alex Award, as well as a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, he currently lives in Portland, Oregon, where he is a Professor in the English Department of Reed College. Leave No Trace, the film adaptation of My Abandonment, directed by Debra Granik, premiered at Sundance and Cannes and was released to critical acclaim in 2018. His eleventh work of fiction, Passersthrough, will be published in early 2022.

Reviews

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't even finish it. Seemed like it might be cool, but then turned into hipster garbage with no foreseeable (sp) plot unwinding to become interesting later on that keeps going and typing more and etc.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this after the Unsettling which lured me into this great voice. “Preteen wasteland meets adult psychosis under rain swept skies…elegantly paranoid”; a trio of 15 year old alienated skateboarders meet a bizarre woman who leads them into an underworld of people who have been electrocuted but did not die. They are now addicted to electricity as well as being abnormal in basic humanity: their memories are poor, their personal interactions are strange and meaningless; and they usually have a strange habit. The first woman had this habit of cutting out pictures of Playboy models from the past and leaving them for people to find as well as having wigs and outfits so she could copy them in her bedroom. Good read; I loved the originality and weaving of stories. There was also a philosophical undertone and side story about a man that studies these people in order to discover the “heights of their experience without suffering the drawbacks? To access what is most electric in us, most alive?” I love that idea; it also appealed to one of the 15 year olds who was seeking an alternative way to live (sensing the insincerity and unhappiness of the adults around them) and she thought she may have found it in this, and sought to be electrocuted to live that way. It didn’t move me, but I liked his voice.

[Lorrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I liked Rock's latest book. In "My Abandonment" reference was made to a bald woman and bald child in an electrical housing unit. In an interview, Rock refers to this woman and child as characters typical of those from "The Bewildered". I wanted to know who these people were so, of course, I had to read the book. Again, it was difficult to put the book down because I wanted to know where the book was going. The book was predominantly make believe and was like a spin similar to that of teens following and wanting to be in a "gang", "find enlightenment", "learn the meaning of life" etc.. The teens skateboarded, followed the latest crazes, were looking for something to believe in... The book left me hanging at the end and I had to form my own conclusion--which seems to be one of Rock's favorite ploys. I say this having read only two of his books--which also makes me near-expert!

[John de Vos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having recently read Peter Rock’s “My Abandonment”, this earlier novel impresses even more. An undefinable genre novel and one of the better coming of age stories, with an almost magical realism sneaking in as the novel progresses. Definitely not one for everyone, but a hidden gem for me.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

the city of Portland seems to be the main character in this book, for that it was mildly amusing having lived there, but too much of the story is framed around this city that would isolate the majority of other readers who aren't familiar with the area. This element of presumption and disregard (another example....characters dialoguing in foreign languages that the reader not versed in Japanese can't understand) for the reader is a turn-off. The rest of the story and it's characters seemed underdeveloped and juvenile-the effort to be too quirky and abstract ruined the whole story altogether. Maybe this book should be categorized as juvenile fiction...maybe it is and I didn't notice. As one reviewer indicated, it seems very much like high-school creative writing material. Interesting concept/idea, but not worth the reading investment.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read My Abandonment by Rock and enjoyed it so I went back are tried to read his older stuff. I have been cosistently dissapointed. This book is about three kids and a strange woman and some weirdness. Nearly all of his books has been weird, but not in a way that I enjoy. He is a popular author so there must be a lot of people that "get" his stuff. Not me, I give up I will not be reading any more of his stuff.

[Siiri Sampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been reading this book off and on for a couple years now...I think the way the story lines skip around makes it harder for me to read....anyway the plot is actually great, so maybe I'll attempt to finish it soon!

[Kathy Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this author's books. Set in the city I grew up in. It's the almost believable characters he comes up with that intrigue me, will be reading others of his. I read that some of his characters overlap, should be fun.

[Daniela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a creepy lil' book... very intriguing but not fully developed. I wanted more character development and a better ending. I'd recommend it only because its just so darn weird !

[Laurie's Story · Rating 2 out of 5]

No comment...

[dragynlady · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a odd little book. I liked the concept (people be altered by electric shock and becoming electricity junkies essentially) but the execution of the story fell short.

[Angela Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the way that I can hear these people talking and see the mini movie in my head as I read!! Great prose!! Tantalizing story that will keep you on your toes!!

[Kaleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

shit - I don't know how I feel.
perhaps I was electrocuted via text..

am I one of the Affected?

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very original.