Reviews

The Overstory by Richard Powers

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juliarziegler's review against another edition

5.0

all time favorite of mine. found myself caring for every character and subsequently every misfortune. a book that doesn’t just make you want to do something. makes it nearly impossible not to.

mollyjones's review against another edition

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3.0

Thoroughly enjoyed the first section of the book that's split up into short stories of people's experiences with trees, but found myself slightly disappointed with the rest - some parts I loved and some parts I felt were boring. It was interesting to see all of the characters in the short stories coming together in different ways, and the topic was very interesting and current - just didn't engage with it as much as I did in the first section.

thebechdelbitch's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Well, I'm not sure I've ever had such a huge range of reactions to one single book before. I LOVED the beginning part, literally weeping in places as I read the beautiful tales of the fragility of human lives.

The the activism began. The white washing. The boomer comments about phones and video games and the internet. The indigenous ERASURE. How frustrating. I cannot believe this book was written so recently, its politics really feel like they are absolutely lifted from the heights of hippy power in the 60s/70s.

Most egregious moment - the gang paint themselves with indigenous New Zealand (Maori I'm guessing? the book does not specify) patterns on their faces which enables them to magically shape shift into animals in order to block a highway.
Also - the gang listen to indigenous American folklore tales on tape in the car on the way to a demonstration. There are no indigenous characters in the book; everyone in that scene is white.

Really wasn't sure what to rate this one. The beginning part is five stars, easily. Just stop reading after that.

jjacobi's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

kwest11's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

kennnedyexe's review against another edition

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3.0

i wanted so badly to give this more stars because i loved the concept and a lot of the writing especially at the beginning, but there were just a bunch of little things that kept chipping away at my appreciation for it.
the way this book dealt with race, queerness, and women really irked me. the way the book kept referring to mimi as "ethnically ambiguous" well into the story as if it was the most important thing about her, really the romanticization of mimi's race felt off to me. the fact that every single woman had to have a (frankly quite forced) love interest. and besides that the book is painfully straight. the only time queerness is mentioned it is tokenized and seen as an experimental college phase, and it is specific only to the women, so that the audience with think it's kinda hot i guess?
other than all that i did like the format of the book, with all the different stories converging eventually and the multigenerational time scale. and i liked the point/message of the book even though it did get a bit preach-y at times.