The Overstory - Rambling Readers

Paperback, 512 pages

English language

Published Jan. 7, 2019 by W. W. Norton & Company.

ISBN:: 978-0-393-35668-7

(2 reviews)

The Overstory is a novel by Richard Powers published in 2018 by W. W. Norton & Company. It is Powers' twelfth novel. The book is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests. Powers was inspired to write the work while teaching at Stanford University, after he encountered giant redwood trees for the first time.The Overstory was a contender for multiple awards. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize on September 20, 2018 and won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction on April 15, 2019, as well as the William Dean Howells Medal in 2020. Reviews of the novel have been mostly positive, with praise of the structure, writing, and compelling reading experience.Patricia Westerford, one of the novel's central characters, was heavily inspired by the life and work of forest ecologist Suzanne Simard. Westerford pens the fictional novel …

The Overstory is a novel by Richard Powers published in 2018 by W. W. Norton & Company. It is Powers' twelfth novel. The book is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests. Powers was inspired to write the work while teaching at Stanford University, after he encountered giant redwood trees for the first time.The Overstory was a contender for multiple awards. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize on September 20, 2018 and won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction on April 15, 2019, as well as the William Dean Howells Medal in 2020. Reviews of the novel have been mostly positive, with praise of the structure, writing, and compelling reading experience.Patricia Westerford, one of the novel's central characters, was heavily inspired by the life and work of forest ecologist Suzanne Simard. Westerford pens the fictional novel The Secret Forest, which mirrors notable ecological texts such as The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate- Discoveries from a Secret World by German forester Peter Wohlleben and The Secret Life of Trees by British science writer Colin Tudge.

5 editions

Sally Strange reviewed The Overstory by Richard Powers

This book is so over-rated.

3 stars

I guess, since I already paid a lot of attention to trees, and already considered them more or less to be people, and was already familiar with some of the research into how trees communicate with each other, it didn't impact me as much as some other readers.

I also really disliked the fact that Powers has a large cast of characters, whose stories span a century and most of a continent, and not a single one of them was Black or Indigenous. To not mention the Indigenous peoples of the Americas in a book that's about the nature and ecology of North America seems disrespectful at the very least. Then again, if Powers were to mention Native Americans, he would have to grapple with the fact that many Native American societies were quite successful in consciously stewarding and co-evolving with trees and other species, which would then detract from …

I guess, since I already paid a lot of attention to trees, and already considered them more or less to be people, and was already familiar with some of the research into how trees communicate with each other, it didn't impact me as much as some other readers.

I also really disliked the fact that Powers has a large cast of characters, whose stories span a century and most of a continent, and not a single one of them was Black or Indigenous. To not mention the Indigenous peoples of the Americas in a book that's about the nature and ecology of North America seems disrespectful at the very least. Then again, if Powers were to mention Native Americans, he would have to grapple with the fact that many Native American societies were quite successful in consciously stewarding and co-evolving with trees and other species, which would then detract from his anti-human message.

Much of Powers' interesting information about tree science can be found in "The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben (note, he has the same initials as the tree scientist character), so, if that's what you're after, maybe read that first.

emptty reviewed L'arbre-monde by Richard Powers

Très bon livre

5 stars

Une super saga de l'amérique des 20ieme et 21ieme siècles, avec une place importante donnée aux arbres.

Lists

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction