Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Overstory by Richard Powers

9 reviews

delaneybarry's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

The first part of The Overstory is wonderful, the second part—which is more than a couple hundred pages—drags quite a bit, but, the third part does bring everything together nicely. Well written and reflective, but the story does seem to move at the pace of trees. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Death, Police brutality, and Infidelity

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

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

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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

a_davis's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

“To be human is to confuse a satisfying story with a meaningful one, and to mistake life for something huge with two legs. No: life is mobilized on a vastly, larger scale, and the world is failing precisely because no novel can make the contest for the world seem as compelling as the struggles between a few lost people.”

what a beautiful book 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Torture

anouks_books's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

5.0

I already look forward to rereading this book in order to understand it better and take notes of all the little, beautiful passages. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Police brutality, and Torture

Minor: Alcohol, Infidelity, Sexual content, Drug use, and War

keegan_leech's review against another edition

challenging 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

This was a re-read and it's still an absolute favourite book of mine. Despite its flaws, which were more noticeable the second time around, it remains stunning for that rare quality in a book to fundamentally change the way you think about the world. It presents both trees and the broader environmental crisis in a rare way and does it persuasively.

I think some readers might find it at times too saccharine, or—depending on how closely you agree with the novel's assessment of humanity's prospects­—either overly bleak or wildly optimistic. But whatever you think of it, it's a book to provoke and change you. I certainly think about it constantly, and for that alone I'd recommend it to everyone.

The characters, prose, and structure of the novel are all good enough that it manages to walk the knife's edge of being a book I'd recommend to everyone, but there's no doubt that they are supports for the themes and content of the novel more than  selling points in themselves.

I'd recommend it, even if all my criticisms sound off-putting. If you think there's any part of you that would like to marvel at trees and growing things, or  wonder at the connections between living things, then please read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality

Moderate: Infidelity, Death, Death of parent, Torture, and War

Minor: Terminal illness and Confinement

indrabindra's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I'm not sure what I was expecting but this turned out differently. Poetic prose with clearly well researched facts dispersed throughout. I found character dialogue rather clunky, but the plot was captivating. Heavy handed with the mellowdrama to my taste. I don't think this is the "environmental fable" everyone says it is. It's a good story about trees and people, but it is not all-encompassing. Did not appreciate the endings for most of the characters, but I respect that ending a book is tricky. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexism and Cancer

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

rjteverow's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book is truly beautiful. It took me a long time to read because, due to the pandemic and being a full-time grad student again, I have very little brain space left for things I want to read and enjoy.  The story, about trees, is broken up into sections named after tree parts (ie, Root, Trunk, Branch, Seed), and does the most incredible job of bringing disparate people together. Everyone is so different, everyone comes from a vastly different background, but they find themselves united for a brief moment in time for a specific cause. It can be painful to read, at times, but is a truly wonderful exploration of what trees and the forests can do for us as humanity and what we can do in return, and how and why people turn out the way they do.  I loved this book, completely, and I highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Police brutality

tarajoy90's review

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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Police brutality, and Torture