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A review by a_kt
The Overstory by Richard Powers
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reading The Overstory is like watching a tree grow all the way from wayward seed to full leviathan to tragic felling by a unsympathetic lumberjack. Richard Powers is an incredible writer, that much cannot be overlooked. The way nature is used in this book is nothing short of awe-inspiring. However, the book doesn't exactly focus on nature, not in the way you'd think. The book is really about a group of seemingly unconnected people whose lives are all impacted by trees in one way or another. In some instances, these characters meet up with each other and impact each others lives. In some instances they don't. While you sit back and watch this ever-branching creature unfold before your eyes, the different characters become more complicated, more nuanced... but do they become... interesting?
My feelings around this book are complicated. It took me more than a month to finish it and by the end I was begging for it to be over. I can see what Powers was trying to go for here, using nature as a pathway to show the interconnectedness of all life- human, plant, and otherwise. In the same way that entire forests communicate, warn each other of potential invaders, spread messages through the chemical signals released by their leaves and through the fungal networks below them- so too do people try desperately to call out to others when in need. The difference being that people are complicated, we can't interpret chemical signals or fungal synapses so we're left with a much more inefficient system. Similarly, I feel like these themes were somewhat inefficiently communicated in this book.
The parts of the book that are about nature are the best parts. I found myself Googling the different tree facts picked up from this book to see if they were fact or fiction.
The parts of the book that are about the characters in the book are the worst parts. Some of the characters are, at best, tragically relatable with no clear motivation for anything they do, and at worst, completely unnecessary for the story.
I understand why this book got as much praise as it did- honestly people with better taste in literature than me probably understood it better. However, when I got the end, I didn't feel anything other than being glad it was over and that I could move on to something different.
My feelings around this book are complicated. It took me more than a month to finish it and by the end I was begging for it to be over. I can see what Powers was trying to go for here, using nature as a pathway to show the interconnectedness of all life- human, plant, and otherwise. In the same way that entire forests communicate, warn each other of potential invaders, spread messages through the chemical signals released by their leaves and through the fungal networks below them- so too do people try desperately to call out to others when in need. The difference being that people are complicated, we can't interpret chemical signals or fungal synapses so we're left with a much more inefficient system. Similarly, I feel like these themes were somewhat inefficiently communicated in this book.
The parts of the book that are about nature are the best parts. I found myself Googling the different tree facts picked up from this book to see if they were fact or fiction.
The parts of the book that are about the characters in the book are the worst parts. Some of the characters are, at best, tragically relatable with no clear motivation for anything they do, and at worst, completely unnecessary for the story.
I understand why this book got as much praise as it did- honestly people with better taste in literature than me probably understood it better. However, when I got the end, I didn't feel anything other than being glad it was over and that I could move on to something different.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail