The Overstory: A Novel

A story that leaves the reader in wonder, and worry. Storytelling is the best way for me to understand a complex issue and begin the process of comprehending, and Richard Powers is that storyteller. The awesome vocabulary is a bonus.

A commentary on the relationship between humans and our planet, corporate greed and AI. The characters are from such different backgrounds and compelling. I'm not sure we haven't passed the point of no return, but we are definitely close. I loved this book and will read it again in the near future.

This remarkable book has embraced and woven the powerful scientific and spiritual integration of our historic forests as well as the human interaction that has influenced their survival. The storytelling is impeccable!

This is a wonderful book, dense, poetic, beautiful. The portraits of the people inhabiting the book are drawn in such a way as to make them real and available to the reader. We all recognize ourselves in these people and live in their stories.

As for the 1 star review above entitled "lazy...," perhaps laziness lies in writing a review of a book you haven't read. I suppose if Mr. Powers had wanted to write a biography, he could have. Instead he has a higher purpose. Perhaps you could write a biography of someone you are interested in and we could read an excerpt and write a review based an 1/10 of it.

After reading, my neighborhood looks different, at once more full and more barren. Natural history and natural religion. Hope and despair. Tears rolling down my cheeks as green struggles through cracked cement in this time of Trump.

A long book thats worth slowing down and enjoying.
If you read a printed copy you're going to feel pretty guilty by the end.
Would have been 5 stars except the denouement felt unnecessary and heavy handed.

Phenomenal read if you are nature inclined. Weaving together such disparate story lines and exposing the how our roots entangle around concern for the preservation of life. A brilliant eco- perspective on the importance of complex interrelationships.

I love Richard Powers, but this latest one could have used some ruthless editing. I do admire his tackling such a deep subject from so many different angles, but I think his ambition may have gotten the better of him. But buy it anyway: We need all the Richard Powers that we can get in this world!

To criticize anything about this latest masterpiece would be as foolish as our attempts to
“Improve” our environment through capitalism.

What emerges from this book are the many respectable paths not taken and the price we are starting to pay for our tendency to hyperbolic discount the future to have “it all” today.

Our time on the planet is short but it appears our future will be much shorter, and the take away from The Overstory is that us wiping ourselves out isn’t a catastrophe looming as much as the retribution of the species we worked so hard to destroy.

It is too long perhaps but important for all humans to read regardless of age. Maybe a child's version with Nick'S images would be possible. It is full of tree truth that everyone understands if they can remove layers of post truth.

After finishing this book, I will have deepened appreciation for trees. I have been to most of our US forests. The Sequioas are the sentinels of the West. To walk near them I was as if I had was I had walked back in time. Encroachment has scarred our remaining forests. Even though I have been lost in a forest, I felt safe. There is no better sounds than the whistling of the trees of the smells of new growth. I guess the next Ark better take as many trees and plants, as animals.
I would recommend this book for a general audience, including teens.