Reviews with content warning for Infertility - The Overstory

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”

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perseusj4ckson's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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chelsea_w's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

"This is not our world with trees in it. It's a world of trees, where humans have just arrived." That is a quote from "The Overstory" by Richard Powers that succinctly summarizes the 500+ pages of the book. It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I love nature. I love being in nature. I love the work I do in Eagle Mountain on behalf of nature. I would love to find a job that pays me a living wage to spend 40 hours a week in a hammock in nature (seriously, if you know of anything, I'm the person for that job!). So it's no surprise that this book spoke to me. Powers has divided the book into 4 main sections: Roots, Trunk, Crown, and Seeds and each section felt very much like that portion of a tree to me.

Roots provides the background on most of the main characters in the book. Each chapter's main character has some connection to trees, but not yet to each other. In this section, I thought I was reading a collection of short stories. Each story/chapter was told in a unique way and very different from each other. I enjoyed the stories, but since they didn't relate to each other, I wasn't sure I would complete the entire collection of short stories at once. I thought I would read a few, then read another book and come back to read another few stories. Like roots, however, it may appear that each root is independent of other roots of the same tree, but they are all connected and provide nutrients and strength to the tree.

After learning about 9 people (roots) the book transitioned into describing the Trunk. Like a tree, this was the most visible and hearty part of the book. I already returned my copy to the library, so I don't have exact numbers, but roughly half of the book was spent in the trunk. This is where we see the individual characters starting to come together - sometimes with direct interaction in the book, sometimes with a sense of shared purpose. The plight of the characters is that humans are causing destruction of forests in alarming and unprecedented ways. Several ways to address this problem are explored in the plot. The methods are as varied in their approach as the characters are in their support. Powers does a good job of portraying a broad range of reactions and emotions. As a reader it was easy to empathize with each character whether I agreed with their actions or not.

The last two sections of the book, Crown and Seeds, are less distinguishable from each other than they are from Roots and Trunk. I won't spoil plots, but here we find some of the conclusion of the narrative and an attempt to sway the reader into action. There are still a lot of seemingly critical loose ends that are not fully resolved in the book. I've been trying to decide why Powers decided to leave them incomplete. Is is because the book is already over 500 pages and he didn't want to make it longer? This seems unlikely since there is already a lot of rambling and some sections of the book that could have been excised to be able to answer these lingering questions. Is it because Powers wanted to portray the book as still living like a tree and future leaves and branches are not yet visible? Perhaps, but this feels like trying too hard to make the metaphor fit. I think it is because by leaving the ending vague or uncertain, Powers is allowing the reader to continue thinking about the story after the pages have ended. There are several questions on GoodReads pertaining to the unanswered questions and a lot of speculation. I think this was a clever way for the author to get people engaged and interacting where they ordinarily wouldn't.

Overall, I really liked this book. It was long and there were parts that didn't seem to contribute to the storyline that could have been skipped, but I felt a lot of emotions reading the book: nostalgia, hope, despair, excitement, sadness, among others.

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beanypole's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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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m4rtt4's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

I really loved the first part, and had the rest of the book been like it, I'd probably have given this at least 4.5 stars. Still not bad, all the nature stuff was mind-blowingly incredible, but some of the (POC) characters were pretty stereotypical and I didn't really like how all their stories intertwined in the second half.

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lectora21's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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