The Overstory
Jul. 13th, 2020 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThe Overstory by Richard Powers was recommended as a good lockdown book on a podcast I listened to a while ago. I thought it sounded interesting, so I bought a copy and pushed it up my reading pile to read this month.
Several people have asked me what it's about. The only answer I've managed to give is: it's about trees. But that's a woefully inadequate description. It's a complex, layered, weird and wonderful tale about connections, deforestation, destiny, hopelessness and the power of nature. There are multiple strands following multiple characters, some of whom come together and some of whom don't. It requires close attention and punches deep in an emotional and visceral way.
I'm not sure I fully understood the end, and it lost me a little bit in the lead up to it - but it's a powerful book I would definitely recommend. It's also amusingly meta in being a book about the destruction of trees, which is made of paper and so destroyed trees in its production. There is a book within the book that is also acknowledged as being like that - as well as affecting its readers not quite enough for them to take action to save the trees, which I am sure will also be the case for The Overstory itself in the main.
It has important messages to impart, and it does so masterfully.
Several people have asked me what it's about. The only answer I've managed to give is: it's about trees. But that's a woefully inadequate description. It's a complex, layered, weird and wonderful tale about connections, deforestation, destiny, hopelessness and the power of nature. There are multiple strands following multiple characters, some of whom come together and some of whom don't. It requires close attention and punches deep in an emotional and visceral way.
I'm not sure I fully understood the end, and it lost me a little bit in the lead up to it - but it's a powerful book I would definitely recommend. It's also amusingly meta in being a book about the destruction of trees, which is made of paper and so destroyed trees in its production. There is a book within the book that is also acknowledged as being like that - as well as affecting its readers not quite enough for them to take action to save the trees, which I am sure will also be the case for The Overstory itself in the main.
It has important messages to impart, and it does so masterfully.
