The Overstory

By: Richard Powers

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Length: 22 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2019

A monumental novel about reimagining our place in the living world, by one of our most "prodigiously talented" novelists (New York Times Book Review).

The Overstory unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fable that range from antebellum New York to the late 20th-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

An air force loadmaster in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan. An artist inherits 100 years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut. A hard-partying undergraduate in the late 1980s electrocutes herself, dies, and is sent back into life by creatures of air and light. A hearing- and speech-impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another.

These and five other strangers, each summoned in different ways by trees, are brought together in a last and violent stand to save the continent's few remaining acres of virgin forest. There is a world alongside ours - vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.

©2018 Richard Powers (P)2018 Recorded Books

Loved the first half, struggled with the second

The first 12 hours or so of this book were marvelous. I loved learning about trees and their meaning to us and the world around us, by following 7 (think...) storylines and their interaction with trees. One note was I wished this story could have taken place all over the world instead of just the United States, I feel like that would have been really empowering. One of my favorite parts was learning about a Banyan tree in Laos, however we were only there momentarily because an American pilot fell out of a plane.

If the book had ended around the middle mark - as seven short stories of people learning how amazing trees can be - it would have been one of my favorite reads in awhile. It did not. It kept going, and going, and going. The group of characters whose stories intertwined became less and less realistic, their decisions and relationships with each other became so entirely un-human that I couldn't really take any of them seriously. Eventually most of them started truly irritating me. I think this was in part due to the narrators voices for all the characters, while the distinction between each was good, I began associating my distaste for them every time she would speak in their tone.

The last 7 hours were brutal. Not only because I had started to truly despise half the characters, but I also started to hate myself and all of mankind. I think this was probably the point but the author kept repeating several lines so often that I began to roll my eyes. Yes, I get it, we are destroying the planet by cutting down trees. Yes, I get it, humans are ruining everything. Yes, I get it, humans are hopeless. The end didn't really leave me with much other than being relieved at its being over.

The one thing I will say is that we (humans) are remarkable creatures too and are capable of doing amazing things, and it's time we put that power and creativity to good use and save our home. I think mankind is capable of living in a sustainable world, we just need to pull our heads out of our butts and make it happen. I wish this book could have given us a little more of that instead of the nothing that 'we will destroy our ability to live on this planet, and then we will be gone and the planet will be better for it.'

We Are a Part of Nature

This majestic novel reminds us that we are not apart from Nature but are a part of Nature, and our survival may depend on our collective realization of that reality. Divided into four parts: Roots (which introduces the nine main characters), Trunk (which shows how the characters are related to one another, although several never actually meet), Crown (which catches up with the characters 20 years later), and Seeds (which shows you how each ends up). Powers creates a group of lively and believable characters, most born in the '50s and '60s, who emerge slowly and lushly over time, much like a stand of trees.

Perhaps the most interesting and riveting of characters is Dr. Patricia Westerford who conducts original research proving that trees are social creatures that "must have evolved ways to synchronize with each other." Rejected and ridiculed by the scientific establishment, she leaves academia to become forest ranger. Another character Adam Appich, a grad student in psychology, also fascinated me. He discovers that "humans need good stories to be persuaded by scientists' alarms." Late in the novel he concludes, "Humankind is deeply ill. The species won't last long. It was an aberrant experiment." I am not, however, certain that that is Powers' opinion.

While listening to "The Overstory," I felt the spirits of Thoreau and Muir nearby. Also nearly were: James Lovelock whose Gaia hypothesis postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating system, Donald Peattie's "Natural History of North American Trees," and German forester Peter Wohlleben's "The Hidden Life of Trees." It is interesting that Patricia Westerford shares the same initials as Peter Wohlleben.

This is one of Powers' finest works. I heartily recommend it to those who love Nature, especially trees and forests, and are worried about the fragile state of the environment around the world. This novel will draw you deeper and deeper into that complex, shimmering and often invisible world.

Finally, the Audible narrator Suzanne Toren is superb. A great novel requires a great narrator. Toren fits the bill. She brings "The Overstory" to life.

I love nature, but.....

This was not my typical genre to read, however, I am very interested in nature, how magical it is and how it all works. But! This book droned on and on, and I began to care less and less about the story and its characters about half way through. For me, it was just way too long.

Deep. Engaging. Wise. Unforgettable characters.

So much of the best and worst of human nature, set against a backdrop of slo-mo ecological collapse. The worst, of course, comes out in the interplay between politics and capitalism.

Destabilizing and brilliant

This is a saga as opposed to simply a story. The characters, landscapes, descriptions, and folded myth are blended and balanced perfectly.

A worthy read and certainly a ‘re-read’ - it’s that complex and enchanting. At the end I had emotional vertigo ! Tolstoy, Poe, etc would all stand and applaud!!

Perfection

I haven’t encountered such a profound, beautiful, impactful, eye-opening book in a long time. Powers has the ability to capture the ages and cycles of a human life span in a way that makes the reader feel empowered with the broad vision and wisdom of a tree. This book has changed me - made me sadder and wiser and hopeful. What beautiful, flawed, human characters! The inspiration blooms slowly and rises tall. I hope this hungry feeling I’m left with measures itself out in tree time.

Too long, disappointing, anticlimactic ending

This book was really good for the first half. But that’s where it went off the rails. The characters were interesting the interconnection that eventually developed was interesting, but then it just went on and on and then it really was a very anti-climactic ending. The couple to me, to me, had no business being in this book. They were two characters that didn’t belong and did not intertwine into the story very well. Abridged, this might be better, but it still won’t change the ending.

A Gift To The Earth

Never in my reading about ecology and global warming have I read a more compelling case for action than Powers has made with his lyrical fiction.
Power’s writing proves that occasionally modern fiction can compete with the best of the classics. There is no question that the Pulitzer was awarded to one of the best books I have ever read.

Struggled to engage

While this book is well written I just couldn’t get into the story. The short story format left me unable to connect with a character before the author was off again, and with little sense of how the numerous stories were interconnected. I love nature, but there just wasn’t enough to maintain my interest.

Tree lovers delight

Well actually you don’t need to love trees to enjoy this book. Richard Powers is a great storyteller weaving together the stories of many complex characters reflecting the complex ecosystems of tree forests all in one wild ride.