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bazer63's review against another edition
challenging
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? It's complicated
5.0
Reading through this book is a bit of work but it is worth the effort. The way the plot threads weave together into a tragedy both fantastical and utterly mundane is wonderful. I have never read another book like it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality
Minor: Child abuse and Blood
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
jt0645's review
hopeful
informative
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
aelunny's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
If I'm honest, I would've liked this book a lot more of I read it before I read Braiding Sweetgrass. I like the unique format of the book, and I understand it's charge, but I feel like my view on nature was already connected to the slow and deep way this book portrays it, and therefore I don't know if it hit as much as it did for all of the other people who are singing it's praises. Maybe I'm being harsh because it was really well written, but this is my review so it stands as is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Blood
Minor: Sexual assault and Miscarriage
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.0
I started this book in March 2020 and it took me almost 2 full years to read.
There's two branches (heh) that my experience reading The Overstory could've gone down:
The first is a 5 star experience full of memorable characters, strong statements about nature, trees, environmentalism, and how humans are destroying the planet with our greed and need for more. With gorgeous writing and a clear love of trees woven throughout.
The other is my actual experience.
The second was a grandiose story that could've been told in 400-450 pages, where the last 150-200 pages were the most interesting of the whole novel (which are the parts I read in 2022).
Each section is represented by a part of the tree, and the Roots section is essentially 10 intros of 10 characters. The constant starting and re-starting made for a difficult entry into the novel as each character existed completely separately from the rest and only in subsequent sections were some of them connecting together.
With respect to the characters - they were often times well realized and fleshed out and yet other times they fell flat. The characters who received more page time in subsequent sections often felt more developed and less stereotypical. Some of the characters didn't really have an impact on the story because they so rarely interacted with anyone else in the novel. The majority of characters were also presumed white - only 2 (from my 2020 recollection) were people of colour - a Chinese-American woman (who laterends up with a facial disfigurement ) and Indian-American man (also a wheelchair user). I think a story like this would've benefited from a greater diversity of characters, which would more accurately reflect both our world and the environmental activism space. There was also a notable lack of Indigenous characters and world views. Considering there was only one Indigenous character (or presumed Indigenous) who appears in some of the last scenes to help out Nicholas, and who doesn't have a name and 'speaks to the trees in a very old language' - it might've been a good thing that Powers didn't attempt to write characters I sense he would've struggled with characterizing without stereotyping.
However, the nature writing was gorgeous and the love of trees obvious - I loved learning details about various trees and sharing the experiences of the characters. Nicholas and Olivia's experiences living in Mimas (a mature redwood tree) were some of my favourite scenes in the book.
I think there were a lot of strong messages in here about the power of trees and the importance of environmental activism and protecting our natural resources for their own sakes. However, the novel felt a little too bloated due to all the characters attempting to generate these messages.
And this final point is more due to marketing... I was expecting more speculative fiction elements of the trees literally talking to the characters and more change happening to save the trees. However, this was a novel incredibly grounded in reality and only hints of some characters 'hearing' what the trees were saying - which could be easily explained as a normal psychological phenomenon rather than the speculative element I was expecting. This is very much a work of literary fiction and I think some of the marketing did not emphasize that piece enough.
Overall, I'm glad I finally read it - I think the nature writing was great, and Powers knows how to tell a story. But his stories don't need to be this long with this many characters.
Finishing it did keep me distracted during a very stressful weekend and for that I'll have fondness for it.
There's two branches (heh) that my experience reading The Overstory could've gone down:
The first is a 5 star experience full of memorable characters, strong statements about nature, trees, environmentalism, and how humans are destroying the planet with our greed and need for more. With gorgeous writing and a clear love of trees woven throughout.
The other is my actual experience.
The second was a grandiose story that could've been told in 400-450 pages, where the last 150-200 pages were the most interesting of the whole novel (which are the parts I read in 2022).
Each section is represented by a part of the tree, and the Roots section is essentially 10 intros of 10 characters. The constant starting and re-starting made for a difficult entry into the novel as each character existed completely separately from the rest and only in subsequent sections were some of them connecting together.
With respect to the characters - they were often times well realized and fleshed out and yet other times they fell flat. The characters who received more page time in subsequent sections often felt more developed and less stereotypical. Some of the characters didn't really have an impact on the story because they so rarely interacted with anyone else in the novel. The majority of characters were also presumed white - only 2 (from my 2020 recollection) were people of colour - a Chinese-American woman (who later
However, the nature writing was gorgeous and the love of trees obvious - I loved learning details about various trees and sharing the experiences of the characters. Nicholas and Olivia's experiences living in Mimas (a mature redwood tree) were some of my favourite scenes in the book.
I think there were a lot of strong messages in here about the power of trees and the importance of environmental activism and protecting our natural resources for their own sakes. However, the novel felt a little too bloated due to all the characters attempting to generate these messages.
And this final point is more due to marketing... I was expecting more speculative fiction elements of the trees literally talking to the characters and more change happening to save the trees. However, this was a novel incredibly grounded in reality and only hints of some characters 'hearing' what the trees were saying - which could be easily explained as a normal psychological phenomenon rather than the speculative element I was expecting. This is very much a work of literary fiction and I think some of the marketing did not emphasize that piece enough.
Overall, I'm glad I finally read it - I think the nature writing was great, and Powers knows how to tell a story. But his stories don't need to be this long with this many characters.
Finishing it did keep me distracted during a very stressful weekend and for that I'll have fondness for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood
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
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
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