You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
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
informative
medium-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:
Complicated
“This is not our world with trees in it. It's a world of trees, where humans have just arrived.” This book was so beautiful and bittersweet. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. Time to go plant some seeds
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt
4.5 stars. Read it too slowly to properly keep hold of the narrative but it was very beautiful. And powerful. Made me think a little too much about all the trees dying though so I don’t think I wanted to pick it up as much
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
A good illustration of some of the reasons I find this platform difficult: it's asking me if the cast of characters are diverse. Well, what do you consider diverse? Some of the characters in this are trees. How diverse is that?
It's a great, all-encompassing story about a group of people who have links to trees, many of whom are involved in an attempt to safeguard a forest from a public works program. In a sense, it's an eco-thriller like The Monkey Wrench Gang or The Ministry of the Future, but it's maybe a bit more silly because so many of the characters act like the trees are sentient - and in fact, the author seems to think so too, judging by an interview I listened to. Why though? Do we think the only way of persuading the reader to want to care about trees is by making out that, given enough time, they could probably do NYT Connections?
OK, well, mildly annoying, but it doesn't detract from the wider point of the book.
It's a great, all-encompassing story about a group of people who have links to trees, many of whom are involved in an attempt to safeguard a forest from a public works program. In a sense, it's an eco-thriller like The Monkey Wrench Gang or The Ministry of the Future, but it's maybe a bit more silly because so many of the characters act like the trees are sentient - and in fact, the author seems to think so too, judging by an interview I listened to. Why though? Do we think the only way of persuading the reader to want to care about trees is by making out that, given enough time, they could probably do NYT Connections?
OK, well, mildly annoying, but it doesn't detract from the wider point of the book.
Mixed feelings on this book. The writing was beautiful, but at 500 pages, I had to take a lot of breaks from it. It was like trying to eat a second piece of decadent chocolate cake - there is too much of a good thing. I saved all sorts of bits of writing that just hit me with their distinct style and phrasing that I found refreshingly unique.
The first half of the story was also much better than the second half. Individuals who were brought to life suddenly became characters in a book forced together by an all-powerful author in the second half. Also! At one point Powers puts the point about "good arguments don't change people's minds, only good stories can do that" into someone's dialogue and THEN follows it up by some lecturing. Come on, dude.
There is one little thing that is also driving me crazy. Powers writes about early video games in a very strange way. The tech at the time does not match his descriptions in my head. I can't tell if he played these early video games in the 1980s and that is how it felt, or if he is making some assumptions. This did take me out of the book, but I blame my current watching of Halt and Catch Fire on this, and not Powers.
The first half of the story was also much better than the second half. Individuals who were brought to life suddenly became characters in a book forced together by an all-powerful author in the second half. Also! At one point Powers puts the point about "good arguments don't change people's minds, only good stories can do that" into someone's dialogue and THEN follows it up by some lecturing. Come on, dude.
There is one little thing that is also driving me crazy. Powers writes about early video games in a very strange way. The tech at the time does not match his descriptions in my head. I can't tell if he played these early video games in the 1980s and that is how it felt, or if he is making some assumptions. This did take me out of the book, but I blame my current watching of Halt and Catch Fire on this, and not Powers.
dark
informative
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:
No