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vampireph4ze's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
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? Yes
5.0
i think that i was meant to read this book exactly when i did and exactly as i did. it felt like it clicked into place every time i picked it up, whether or not i decided to plow through 100 pages at a time or read a couple every now and then. it contains a world i have only recently started to appreciate, and as i delved deeper i only wanted to become a part of that world more and more; The Overstory taught me that i already am.
it is a wonderful epic spanning generations, spanning a multitude of people, all who discover - either early or late in life - that trees are nothing short of all-powerful entities that cover the earth. almost every time i read it something brought tears to my eyes, an overwhelming sensation that this book held answers to questions i never even dreamed of, that even in the midst of all this chaos brought on by human greed, the earth will inevitably reclaim it all.
by all means, The Overstory is not a perfect book, but it made me feel something unlike anything i've ever felt before, something akin to what i believe is a spiritual awakening. i felt shivers run down my spine as a i read words that told me of our history, of humans' tiny little split-second mark on the universe, of the life within trees and the miracles that they perform that may not be miracles to them anymore. it changed me, made me feel like the thing i did not know i was searching for has been right in front of me the entire time. the two silver maples in front of my childhood home, the giant sycamore in the neighbor's backyard, the willow tree down the road, the Southern magnolia across the street, the pine tree in front of my sophomore college dorm, the first chestnut i ever saw, a thousand miles across the sea. there is every reason to give up hope, to argue that anything we do will have no impact on the future, to fall victim to nihilism and dread - but there is also every reason to keep on living, to wake up every day with the thought that things can and will improve, to look at everything around us and fall in love with every person, plant, animal, everything built by our hands and everything built by the earth's, and choose to do something that may only ever be remembered by the ground we stand on.
it is a wonderful epic spanning generations, spanning a multitude of people, all who discover - either early or late in life - that trees are nothing short of all-powerful entities that cover the earth. almost every time i read it something brought tears to my eyes, an overwhelming sensation that this book held answers to questions i never even dreamed of, that even in the midst of all this chaos brought on by human greed, the earth will inevitably reclaim it all.
by all means, The Overstory is not a perfect book, but it made me feel something unlike anything i've ever felt before, something akin to what i believe is a spiritual awakening. i felt shivers run down my spine as a i read words that told me of our history, of humans' tiny little split-second mark on the universe, of the life within trees and the miracles that they perform that may not be miracles to them anymore. it changed me, made me feel like the thing i did not know i was searching for has been right in front of me the entire time. the two silver maples in front of my childhood home, the giant sycamore in the neighbor's backyard, the willow tree down the road, the Southern magnolia across the street, the pine tree in front of my sophomore college dorm, the first chestnut i ever saw, a thousand miles across the sea. there is every reason to give up hope, to argue that anything we do will have no impact on the future, to fall victim to nihilism and dread - but there is also every reason to keep on living, to wake up every day with the thought that things can and will improve, to look at everything around us and fall in love with every person, plant, animal, everything built by our hands and everything built by the earth's, and choose to do something that may only ever be remembered by the ground we stand on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Police brutality, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail
josiemeyer's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Suicide, Grief, and Child death
nhelregel's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Such a wide, sweeping novel about people, trees, and the interactions between the two. I've been waiting on the e-audiobook to be available through libraries for *years* and it did not disappoint. Super long, but it never dragged and each of the characters fit into the narrative well. I'll definitely be ruminating on it for a while. Overall: very interesting, thought-provoking, and definitely sad (but also somewhat hopeful).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Infidelity, Death, and Suicide
Minor: Sexism, Cancer, and Death of parent
auntted's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Infertility
Minor: Violence, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Dementia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
emmonsannae's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
2.0
This is one of those books that is objectively excellent but just didn’t work for me. I thought the craftsmanship of the novel was superb, and I really enjoyed R.W.’s style. I like that the book forces you to ask a lot of questions about its purpose and the way that purpose is accomplished. But when I finished the book, I realized that I didn’t especially enjoy reading it. I think there were some sub-themes that didn’t agree with me, which made it hard to buy in by the ending (which requires a lot from its readers).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Police brutality
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Grief, and Suicide attempt
a_kt's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reading The Overstory is like watching a tree grow all the way from wayward seed to full leviathan to tragic felling by a unsympathetic lumberjack. Richard Powers is an incredible writer, that much cannot be overlooked. The way nature is used in this book is nothing short of awe-inspiring. However, the book doesn't exactly focus on nature, not in the way you'd think. The book is really about a group of seemingly unconnected people whose lives are all impacted by trees in one way or another. In some instances, these characters meet up with each other and impact each others lives. In some instances they don't. While you sit back and watch this ever-branching creature unfold before your eyes, the different characters become more complicated, more nuanced... but do they become... interesting?
My feelings around this book are complicated. It took me more than a month to finish it and by the end I was begging for it to be over. I can see what Powers was trying to go for here, using nature as a pathway to show the interconnectedness of all life- human, plant, and otherwise. In the same way that entire forests communicate, warn each other of potential invaders, spread messages through the chemical signals released by their leaves and through the fungal networks below them- so too do people try desperately to call out to others when in need. The difference being that people are complicated, we can't interpret chemical signals or fungal synapses so we're left with a much more inefficient system. Similarly, I feel like these themes were somewhat inefficiently communicated in this book.
The parts of the book that are about nature are the best parts. I found myself Googling the different tree facts picked up from this book to see if they were fact or fiction.
The parts of the book that are about the characters in the book are the worst parts. Some of the characters are, at best, tragically relatable with no clear motivation for anything they do, and at worst, completely unnecessary for the story.
I understand why this book got as much praise as it did- honestly people with better taste in literature than me probably understood it better. However, when I got the end, I didn't feel anything other than being glad it was over and that I could move on to something different.
My feelings around this book are complicated. It took me more than a month to finish it and by the end I was begging for it to be over. I can see what Powers was trying to go for here, using nature as a pathway to show the interconnectedness of all life- human, plant, and otherwise. In the same way that entire forests communicate, warn each other of potential invaders, spread messages through the chemical signals released by their leaves and through the fungal networks below them- so too do people try desperately to call out to others when in need. The difference being that people are complicated, we can't interpret chemical signals or fungal synapses so we're left with a much more inefficient system. Similarly, I feel like these themes were somewhat inefficiently communicated in this book.
The parts of the book that are about nature are the best parts. I found myself Googling the different tree facts picked up from this book to see if they were fact or fiction.
The parts of the book that are about the characters in the book are the worst parts. Some of the characters are, at best, tragically relatable with no clear motivation for anything they do, and at worst, completely unnecessary for the story.
I understand why this book got as much praise as it did- honestly people with better taste in literature than me probably understood it better. However, when I got the end, I didn't feel anything other than being glad it was over and that I could move on to something different.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
pedanther's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Terminal illness, Infertility, Police brutality, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, Dementia, Misogyny, Racism, Ableism, and Bullying
Minor: Drug use, Colonisation, Vomit, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Child death
madison_isreading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, and Violence
gkgkgk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
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? It's complicated
5.0
This book tore me up. It's perfect. 6 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Infidelity
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Confinement, Excrement, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Forced institutionalization
anton13's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. I found there to be many povs which made it slightly hard for me to follow who’s story was who’s but in the end I couldn’t tell you that any of the povs should be taken out. They all have their own way of showing you why trees are important and I really liked that. There’s not a lot I can say about it cause it has left me without words. These people feel so real to me that I can’t believe it’s all fictional. I would love to reread it in the future. And in the words of Obama “it has made me look at trees differently”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, Grief, and Murder