Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Overstory by Richard Powers

26 reviews

mavemarie's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• 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

3.75

I had hoped to be moved by this book as a whole, but only found that magic in (albeit many) disjointed parts. This book is written for a timeline that is not for humans, and I don't think that's a fault, but ultimately left me floating and wanting for something I didn't receive. There is magic here. True and moving content, but not on the same level as Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass.

I didn't feel like any of the eight(??) storylines ended in a remotely satisfying way, but that they could have and should have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Police brutality

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Excrement, Violence, Grief, Toxic relationship, Gore, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

sophcarter19's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Grief, Colonisation, and Fire/Fire injury

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

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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). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Infidelity, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Sexism, Cancer, and Death of parent

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). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Police brutality

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Grief, and Suicide attempt

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

alib23's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Grief, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury

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.

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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”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, Grief, and Murder

loveisabird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

3.5

beautifully written and absolutely makes me want to cry about trees and the planet a lot. and makes me wish i was brave enough to dedicate my life to saving them. 

but, i don’t really love where the all the characters ended up by the conclusion. not saying they all should have gotten unambiguously happy endings, but some more narratively satisfying endings for more of them would have been nice. not really sure what i’m supposed to take away from all of these specific peoples’ struggles, i guess!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality