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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Someone saw me reading this while sitting at a bar and asked me what it was about. Even thought I was a little over halfway through, I had to answer that I was not sure. And it's true, I guess- I didn't really know what was going on but I loved it anyway. That's how good the writing is and how compelling is the narrative. I loved everything about this book.
This was so vast and sweeping and gorgeous. I can’t stop admiring the trees around me. I love books that tilt your worldview slightly, and this one has. Its lessons will stay with me for a long time.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
The beginning is sweeping and multi-generational. I’d been wanting to reread East of Eden, and this felt like a slightly more diverse Steinbeck work. Then in the middle it turns into an action -adventure story, fast paced and tense. The long final section becomes long winded and hard to follow. Overall, the book could use some editing of some preachy and repetitive parts. For the subject matter, it’s very strange that the only obviously Native American character appers only in the last few scenes. Also, when the characters were drawn together, I was disappointed (bored) that the most meaningful connections were male/female romantic relationships.
i wanted to rate this higher but it was just a little too drawn out. had some really poignant moments, but was also a little exhausting. loved the branching structure, poetry inserts and all the tree jargon
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting story line and I enjoyed how all of the characters were intertwined some how. Was a bit hard to get through but I loved the message.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A paean to the living world, and trees in particular, Powers’ story is epic in scale and also an embodiment of contrasts. Highly romantic in nature, the writing style leans more clinical and the majority of the narrative enfolds in a deliberate, linear fashion. The book is even organized in 4 sections: Roots, Trunk, Crown and Seeds — poetically descriptive, but also very follows the deep, middle, present and future histories of the diverse characters. I found a deep love for many of these personas and a tearful sympathy with their paths. In some ways, this is a fictional variety of those non-fiction books Looking for Longleaf, Entangled Life and the Secret Life of Trees which reveal and celebrate the web of existence that we share with the biomes. Depending on your disposition, the poetics of Powers’ work might reel you closer to the issues at hand. When my children were young, they loved finding old branches and sticks and beating the low-hanging tree limbs with them. I used to tell them, “Just because we cannot hear them, does not mean they are not crying.” Their initial, quizzical looks, even at 4 and 5 years old, revealed that we had unknowingly conditioned them to assume that if they are not like us, we may do with them what we wish. Timothy Morton has been my lighthouse of a thinker who adapted Object Oriented Ontological principles to art and ecology and the awareness of our relationship to the world. I now see how one can choose to leverage their right (the Overstory, Morton) or their left (Morton, Longleaf, Secret Life, etc.) brain to understand what is at stake.
.
I unintentionally began reading this a few weeks prior to a trip to Northern California. I was so glad to have finished I prior to travel to gain the book’s full force while wandering the forests. Those places are unlike anything else. Nearly verbally and visually impossible to describe.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading this almost made me a tree hugging hippie. Powers has some of the most beautiful writing but it’s also incredibly dense which is the reason for my one star detraction. I reread some paragraphs because of how good the writing was and then I reread some paragraphs because of how dense they were. Parts of the book were a real slog.
I really loved the short story format of all the different characters and I liked the journey of finding out how they all connected. I’m not surprised that it won awards. The structure of the stories corresponding to parts of a tree was unique and fun to read.
I really loved the short story format of all the different characters and I liked the journey of finding out how they all connected. I’m not surprised that it won awards. The structure of the stories corresponding to parts of a tree was unique and fun to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Police brutality, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
