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The Overstory – A Novel

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In his extraordinary 12th novel, Powers follows nine characters whose lives are bound up with the beauty, history, science, mythos and heedless destruction of trees … Passionately ecological in its themes, the novel doesn’t hammer at them. The green message becomes a natural element borne eloquently through the narrative. Mail on Sunday Animism, Tree-consciousness, and the Religion of Life: Reflections on Richard Powers' The Overstory". Center for Humans & Nature. February 26, 2019 . Retrieved December 1, 2021.

Nicholas Hoel – an artist of Norwegian and Irish descent who comes from a long line of farmers and whose great-great-great grandfather planted a chestnut tree that survived blight for decades and enthralled the Hoel family for generations.Dennis tells Patricia that the loggers say"Lets go let a little light in that swamp." Forests ... - MarieA

Mind-boggling and visionary. The multi-stranded novel is a masterpiece in which science and poetry are deeply intertwined Andrea Wulf, author of MAGNIFICENT REBELS, Guardian The Overstory is divided into four sections, titled "roots", "trunk", "crown", and "seeds", mirroring the life cycle of a tree. So: there’s plenty to appreciate if you’re predisposed to liking books and disliking the idea of environmental apocalypse.My fence is made of wood, and my garden holds an oak tree, an acorn, three apple trees, plum trees, three cherry trees (plus a baby cherry trying to make it), AND my garden holds a three-year-old chestnut experiment. Meanwhile Neelay starts his own company and becomes fantastically wealthy and successful with his immersive Mastery games, constantly building richer and more complex worlds with his coding. Patricia writes a best-selling book called The Secret Forest, all about how trees communicate. Adam decides to write his dissertation on the psychological profiles of environmental activists, and he begins interviewing people. Dorothy and Ray try to have a child but cannot, and in their dissatisfaction, they dive into reading and other hobbies. Soon Dorothy starts having an affair.

Ray Brinkman – “a conventional intellectual property lawyer and Dorothy’s husband who later in life falls in love with nature.” Announcing the 2019 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists". PEN America. January 15, 2019 . Retrieved March 13, 2019. Renews romanticism for the contemporary age; making space for the sentimental to breathe freely again, and challenging us not to be afraid to care … Powers’s mission is urgent: not only are we living through an age where science is rewriting what comprises consciousness, but we are simultaneously exploiting non-human life to an unprecedented extent … Powers’s place as one of the few established writers longlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize is well deserved. ... And if Powers himself was a tree, it would surely be a mature oak, for The Overstory displays the kind of abundant creativity that restores faith in human endeavour. New Statesman

Beyond the Book

People underestimate coding. I knew what I was doing when I sent them Saint Alan. It's all part of My plan. Nicolas Turcev (November 12, 2018). "Richard Powers lauréat du Grand prix de littérature américaine 2018". Libres Hebdo (in French) . Retrieved November 12, 2018. The overstory is the name given to the part of a forest that protrudes above the canopy. When you look at a rainforest, for example, what you see from above is the canopy with trees standing out above it. What you don’t see unless you get into the rainforest is the understory that sits below the canopy but above the ground, then the shrub layer below that and, finally, the forest floor. In conclusion, the book is truly beautiful and well-written. I believe its core message was something like this: "It feels good, like a root must feel when it finds, after centuries, another root to pleach to underground. There are a hundred thousand species of love, separately invented, each more ingenious than the last, and every one of them keeps making things. (p. 144)

What Richard Powers wants his readers to realise is what this means for humanity. He wants us to realise how important trees are for the world. And he chooses to do this not with a text book but with a story. I do admire him for attempting to mesh these disciplines but it makes for a grandiose writing style and a sometimes odd juxtaposition of disciplines. These being not limited to - dendrology, ecology, eco-warfare, computer science, psychology, mythology, poetry, evolution, and taxonomy. This often verges on information dumping and threatens to lose sight of the fact this is suppose to be a novel.

BookBrowse Review

At times, Powers’ writing is as beautiful and wondrous as nature, and his messages about activism and resistance are poignant but, ultimately, his execution is uneven and the final product is a book bloated with redundant characters. As the book progresses, it becomes clear the author--or publisher--wanted this to be a novel and not a collection of short stories. There’s a refrain about hearing the voice of trees, which I don’t disagree with but comes across hokey, and one of the characters gets jail time. It’s all a bit forced to be honest. Smith, Rosa Inocencio (April 16, 2019). "Writing the Pulitzer-Winning 'The Overstory' Changed Richard Powers's Life". The Atlantic . Retrieved February 5, 2020.

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