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The Overstory by Richard Powers: book review



The Overstory (2018) is set in America – anywhere where there are trees.

 

This tome is sectioned into four parts: Roots, Trunk, Crown, and Seeds.

 

The first part, Roots, sets the scene and story of eight different people whose lives and interactions revolve around a specific tree or trees in general. For example, a tree saves a life; lovers plant a sapling every year they are together; a father plants a tree to represent each of his children; generations of one family take a photograph of their tree on the same day every month for over a hundred years; and a wheelchair-bound computer geek creates a best-selling environmental game. 

 

Part two, Trunk, presents the disparate group of individuals coming together for one cause: defenders of the forest. The woods are calling them to become activists, and they must go. Each person has something to contribute, some reason for being at the site of the protests. The themes of protecting public forests, police, prison, and debaters of progress are well-covered.

 

Parts three and four are the shortest chapters.

 

Part three, Crown, is the aftermath, the consequences, of the protests. What do the protestors do next? What is the single best thing a person can do for tomorrow’s world?  

 

Part four, Seeds, reduces the evolution of the plant to just one day – ‘plants land just before ten’ in the evening. Part four also reduces the lives of eight people to five: Nick in a tent, Mimi under a knobcone pine, Douglas in a cell, Adam in his bunk, and Neelay at his computer.  

 

This novel is about trees and human activism and human resistance. Tree information forms the largest two sections: tree parts, diseases, death, destruction, animals, dendrology, concentricity, research, tree intelligence – everything about trees. From Birnam Wood to Dunsinane. 

 

The handful of humans who interact with the trees in this mammoth tale have interconnected, resourceful, innovative, inventive, creative lives. They see the catastrophe and want to do something to avert it. 

 

This is a tome that requires perseverance to get through. This is the War and Peace of trees. Yet, not that much perseverance because each person’s tale is interesting – their reasons, their approaches, their philosophy of trees – all trees, or specific trees, or just one tree. Each tree’s tale is interesting – their life, their longevity, or their reason for their demise. This is about remorse and defiance, hope and fear, blindness and wisdom, and plain idealism. 

 

This is a remarkable book. But, readers need to get used to short sentences. Choppy sentences. Effective sentences. Thoughtful sentences. Best book ever. 










MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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