The Overstory

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Powers, Richard, Adult Book / Fiction / General / Powers, Richard
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	Due 05-19-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	Due 05-21-2024
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	Canceled Transit
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	Due 05-24-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	Due 05-24-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Powers, Richard	4-week checkout	Due 05-06-2024

Roots -- Nicholas Hoel -- Mimi Ma -- Adam Appich -- Ray Brinkman and Dorothy Cazaly -- Douglas Pavlicek -- Neelay Mehta -- Patricia Westerford -- Olivia Vandergriff -- Trunk -- Crown -- Seeds.
A novel of activism and natural-world power presents interlocking fables about nine remarkable strangers who are summoned in different ways by trees for an ultimate, brutal stand to save the continent's few remaining acres of virgin forest.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

The Overstory submitted by kimberlybalk on July 10, 2019, 9:36am This book was powerful and illuminating.

Sequoia-like in its ambition submitted by amy on July 21, 2019, 11:02am A hefty novel, with an ambitious and compelling narrative structure. Powers takes on the daunting task of criticizing contemporary society in a grand lyrical style and with an intellectual rigor that breaks new ground in environmental fiction. Here trees play a central role, with their haunting presence and power to move humans to pathos, reverence, and action.

extraordinary writing, imagery submitted by 21621031390949 on August 30, 2019, 11:38pm This book is a tour de force of prose. It tells the stories of several disparate individuals and then weaves their stories together, but the beauty is in the telling. The writing is lush, rich, with each word chosen carefully. The information about trees and forests is so dense, one has to read and re-read to catch it all. It is magnificent.

Update 2020: Remarkable book that I'm reading for the second time because there is so much to digest: multiple plot lines, beautiful writing and imagery, and so much botanical information! This is a book about ecology, climate change, and the environment which educates without being preachy. My only criticism of this book is that it is so long that many people will not read it.

Highly recommend!

The Overstory submitted by Clown81 on August 31, 2019, 8:27pm Forceful.

Highly Recommended! submitted by AGAPHD on June 20, 2020, 2:45pm I loved this! Beautifully written and a powerful meditation on our relationship with the environment.

Fascinating beginning that doesn't know how to conclude submitted by mowjac on August 28, 2020, 12:36pm Sensual, evocative writing in the early chapters rushes us into our characters (human and non) lives for a fantastic opening. Unfortunately, Powers' vision doesn't take us to his posited conclusion and instead leaves us in a chasm of disarray. I wish he had had the conviction to go where his opening projects, but he didn't. I found the latter part of the book falling on environmental rationalism and slogans rather than staying with the grief and loss our modern culture engenders.

Beautifully written submitted by cthrom on June 15, 2021, 8:25pm A marvelous novel worthy of its Pulitzer. The language is so delicate and exquisite -- I savored every paragraph. The through-line is extremely poignant. Highly recommended!

Long submitted by nmrhoads on August 9, 2021, 9:33pm Very long but so worth it. Amazing story that weaves everything together prefectly

Fantastic, someday classic. submitted by clk.9123 on August 21, 2022, 4:56pm This book is truly marvelous and well worth the length and time commitment to read. It will be a classic in the future, to be sure!

My favorite book. submitted by jrpolaczyk on June 11, 2023, 1:40pm I love this book. It has many characters and many inter weaving stories that surprise and inspire. It will change the way you think about trees and nature. More people need to read this one.

Perhaps overly ambitious submitted by khrobinson on July 11, 2023, 11:04pm I was interested in this novel because of its commentary on trees as a teacher/guide. The scope of the book was epic, drawing characters together across generations like the roots of a forest ecosystem, but I felt it was too long with too many story lines that were only minimally woven together. Less could have been more.

Interwoven submitted by kathscot on July 24, 2023, 7:50am The idea that we are all interwoven, including the trees, is a transforming concept.

Rich appreciation for nature, interesting set of characters submitted by timbresson on July 29, 2023, 4:47am Really it’s the attention to detail of nature that pulls you in to Richard Power’s story. The characters are a bit flat-ish being as that you jump around to so many of them. I do enjoy the interweaving nature but the complexity of their attitudes leave something to be explored. Regardless, it reads quick enough not to dampen the enjoyment.