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A review by chinue
The Overstory by Richard Powers
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
5.0
I picked up this book after listening to a podcast, and they mentioned a line in this book as evidence for their argument. Something about that line really intrigued me and I’m so glad that I decided to pick this up from the library.
I’m not a nature person, so this is definitely out of my wheelhouse, and I am not an avid reader either; but, I am so overjoyed that I picked this up. I have a newfound love nature that I never thought possible before. I find myself staring at the trees in my courtyard without distractions just like Ray. I understand why people feel so enamored and transformed when they visit the redwoods in California.
Powers does something here that I’m still reflective of as I just finished this book. While his characters are transformed by their own individual connections to trees, and their own personal turmoil and lives, I also felt myself think more in the reflective of my own connection to nature and also to the people around me and how we are affecting the earth and each other. I know that some of the reviews of this book and some of the themes are hammered in quite strongly especially around the 2/3 mark of this book. Particularly when Patricia is making an emphatic speech to her audience and we are reading this speech in real time while she’s coming to grips with her own mortality and her mission in life and her life’s work. At first I was like, “this is taking a really long time” and then by time her speech ended, i realized I wished I hadn’t skimmed her words. I reread it and I am so glad that I did. It took me longer to finish but it was worth it.
The characters, I believe are multifaceted, but they also serve really great archetypes of the type of people that are in activism — in the action, on the periphery, the uniformed, and the skeptics. They’re not always the most charismatic or compelling and sympathetic. Powers makes sure that they all get a satisfying ending for the character, even if it may not be a meaningful ending for the reader.
I see the criticisms of book that it is not inspiring enough for people to take with environmental activism because this book doesn’t end necessarily on a positive note, and some of the characters are in worse spots than they were at the beginning but is that not real life? Is a cause not worth fighting for even if you may not get three end result you want?
I loved the beginning of this book where we had these all of these characters and sometimes we were going through generational trauma just to get to and is one of the most beautiful segments of this book. I was a little throwback when the short stories were now more interval in chapters so you had to go back-and-forth between nine different characters and some of them are not even a intertwined with others until the final third of the book. But I don’t think that’s a fault or ann issue. It just is a little bit of shock at first.
Is the book a little longer than I may have thought it should be? Yeah, but I’m glad I read all 502 pages. I have discovered my favorite book and I can’t wait to recommend it to other people.
I’m not a nature person, so this is definitely out of my wheelhouse, and I am not an avid reader either; but, I am so overjoyed that I picked this up. I have a newfound love nature that I never thought possible before. I find myself staring at the trees in my courtyard without distractions just like Ray. I understand why people feel so enamored and transformed when they visit the redwoods in California.
Powers does something here that I’m still reflective of as I just finished this book. While his characters are transformed by their own individual connections to trees, and their own personal turmoil and lives, I also felt myself think more in the reflective of my own connection to nature and also to the people around me and how we are affecting the earth and each other. I know that some of the reviews of this book and some of the themes are hammered in quite strongly especially around the 2/3 mark of this book. Particularly when Patricia is making an emphatic speech to her audience and we are reading this speech in real time while she’s coming to grips with her own mortality and her mission in life and her life’s work. At first I was like, “this is taking a really long time” and then by time her speech ended, i realized I wished I hadn’t skimmed her words. I reread it and I am so glad that I did. It took me longer to finish but it was worth it.
The characters, I believe are multifaceted, but they also serve really great archetypes of the type of people that are in activism — in the action, on the periphery, the uniformed, and the skeptics. They’re not always the most charismatic or compelling and sympathetic. Powers makes sure that they all get a satisfying ending for the character, even if it may not be a meaningful ending for the reader.
I see the criticisms of book that it is not inspiring enough for people to take with environmental activism because this book doesn’t end necessarily on a positive note, and some of the characters are in worse spots than they were at the beginning but is that not real life? Is a cause not worth fighting for even if you may not get three end result you want?
I loved the beginning of this book where we had these all of these characters and sometimes we were going through generational trauma just to get to and is one of the most beautiful segments of this book. I was a little throwback when the short stories were now more interval in chapters so you had to go back-and-forth between nine different characters and some of them are not even a intertwined with others until the final third of the book. But I don’t think that’s a fault or ann issue. It just is a little bit of shock at first.
Is the book a little longer than I may have thought it should be? Yeah, but I’m glad I read all 502 pages. I have discovered my favorite book and I can’t wait to recommend it to other people.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Death