Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Overstory by Richard Powers

77 reviews

queertrash's review

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: War and Police brutality

sunn_bleach's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring slow-paced

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

3.75

Regardless of your opinion on the writing (is it extraordinarily evocative, or obfuscatingly esoteric?), this book *will* make you think differently both about trees and environmentalism. The opening vignettes are the best part; the characters themselves are archetypes and stereotypes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Racism and Sexual content

booksandmo's review against another edition

hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Suicide

Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

max63815's review

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Definitely longer than I'd normally like, but I think that's the point. The books structure resembles a tree, and the author frequently talks about how the passage of time is so subjective relative to species. The author also critiques some people's fleeting engagement with ecological destruction before moving on to other topics. So the length feels like an intentional challenge, and a good way to reflect the scale at which the story is playing out.

The book had a diverse cast of characters, and I did like that there were so many of them and how their lives came together. But I found them very similar and two-dimensional at times. In particular I feel like Neelay got the short end of the stick, and the author often degraded him and his body.

I'm passionate about the subject matter, and found it a moving and depressing 10 hour read. I have quite mixed feelings that I'm struggling to articulate about the book as a whole, but am glad I read it and may look to re-read it one day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Death and Police brutality

lenoradavis's review

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Currently my favorite book I have ever read. Many of the characters resonated with my identity as a scientist, environmentalist, and nature and tree lover. I enjoyed the way the stories start as separate and then intertwine together. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Terminal illness

weeta's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I saw Richard Powers speak about this title a few years back and it’s been on my TBR pile since. He has a gift for weaving information into story. This slow but sturdy world will pull you towards learning more about trees and leave you searching for something to fill the gap that is left once you finish the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Ableism, Suicide, Violence, Infidelity, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

kliu55's review

emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book has such a complex take on climate exploitation. From video games to arson, The Overstory makes you question your relationship to nature, and how far you would go to protect it. Or, in that case, whether you can successfully protect it at all. This book is a seething take on capitalism and the climate abuse operating on federal levels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

emakay's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

katiechu's review

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I think this book is worth a read and has some very beautiful writing, but for me it didn't deliver as much impact as I was expecting, particularly at the ending. Additionally, I didn't really find most of the characters as compelling as I think they were intended to be, and while the action was interesting, I felt disconnected from it as a reader because I wasn't invested in the characters.

I also felt like the environmental message falls a bit flat as it seems to suggest that the best thing that people can do for the environment is simply die, and thus does not require any action of the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Violence and Death

Minor: Police brutality

elspeth56's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This was a really really beautiful book, with a monumental feel to it. I wish I'd been in a better headspace to read it. I wouldn't say it was slow, but it's a heavy powerful book that interweaves many stories and requires your focus, which I don't have a lot of right now!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Ableism