Reviews - The Overstory | The StoryGraph

8.76k reviews for:

The Overstory

Richard Powers

4.14 AVERAGE

cupoftee's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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

leahmpm's review against another edition

4.5

emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

isaacneo's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Part eco-epic, part melodrama, and winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Overstory explores how human relationships, much like the trees we live alongside, are interconnected. Narratively structured like a tree (roots, trunk, crown, seeds), Richard Powers weaves a tapestry of nine characters together with beautiful descriptions of the natural world.

Like much climate fiction, The Overstory touches on themes such as environmental activism, ecocide, eco-terrorism, and human culpability. Where it shines is the elevation of its natural characters to an equal status of the main characters. Never have I seen such intricate details of different types of trees in any publication, let alone a book before. A vital question, I think, that the book poses is: if we are to see trees as our equals in the world, are we not entitled to take action to defend them, just as we would our brethren? It is a uncomfortable dilemma, and one that Powers unfortunately leaves open.

As good as the prose is, some parts left me wanting. Powers takes the whole of the Roots section of the book to introduce his characters, but their development proceeds unevenly throughout the rest of the book, with the focus largely on the 'eco-terrorists', leaving the rest of the characters somewhat underdeveloped. The plot grows in the middle Trunk and Crown sections, but drops off sharply at the somewhat experimental final Seeds section, with an unsatisfying ending.

While challenging, it is an important work of cli-fi, which invites readers to revisit assumptions we have in this age of the anthropocene, and implores humanity to rethink its responsibilities to our world.

anh_off's review against another edition

4.0

I love a story with intertwining characters and plotlines but for as long as this was, I didnt think the author gave most of the characters enough emotional depths.