Some Thoughts: The Overstory by Richard Powers

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The Overstory might a Marmite book, you either love it or hate it. That's probably a bit of an exaggeration but opinions on this book are certainly strong on both sides. Personally, I can only give it a tepid recommendation. I'm not up for a full on review since the book is all over the place with interlocking stories — I'll leave real reviews to experts — so consider what follows to be some of my thoughts about what got in the way of me loving the book the way so many do. Keep in mind that despite what you read, I didn't hate the book, I just think it could have been better and more effective.

 There are great, even awesome descriptions and I really enjoyed the science bits that show how trees interact with each others and humans. The writing hits lyrical highs that make you want to go out and hug a tree. The story of what happens to the chestnut tree in America is heart wrenching and the descriptions of life in a dead is beautiful. But then you also get new age spiritualism crunchy granola philosophy, heavy handed preachy messages, and a strident indictment on over development. It's hard to argue with the basic point that we are destroying our plant biomass at an alarming rate and losing all the potential benefits that could be held in the plants but the way the message is delivered is numbing after a while. And how many times do we have to be told about tree rings and how trees outdate human civilization. There is one scene where a character is laying on an immense stump and we learn what was happening are various parts of his body. that is pretty neat.

It's also about 150-200 pages too long. I think it would have been better with some serious editing and several large chunks either removed or pruned or pollarded. Pollard means to cut off the top and branches of (a tree) to encourage new growth at the top. It is used in the book to describe one of the characters editing a manuscript. And please don't ascribe my complaint about the length of the book to having a short attention span. My attention span is fine it is just that there are many pages that do nothing for me the reader. 

The story focuses on 9 people. Five comprise a hardcore group of environmental activists/ecoterrorists who all feel that the trees have called out to them, leading them to be where they need to be, to take action. Honestly, if that is what was happening then then I'd say the trees have a black sense of humor and are having them on because things don't go all that well for them. Kind of like "Well we're doomed so let's find some susceptible humans to mess with along the way". The five are all given so much backstory that I wondered if they were padding to fill some pages. On one of my Facebook book groups the someone describes the character who goes by the name of Maidenhair as a manic pixie dream girl to which I appended and perhaps some Rima the Jungle Girl from Green Mansions. If you've read the book think about the part where she is living in a tree and see if you don't agree.

As to the other four characters, you have a botanist, Patricia who specializes in trees who writes a book that has a profound affect on everyone; a paraplegic software developer who created a best selling simulation game (think Second Life on steroids) after communing with trees who then comes to realize his world simulation is too much like the real world  where accumulation of more stuff is the goal (kind of letting the trees down and they don't talk to him anymore) and counters this with another project that will probably create Skynet; and a husband and wife on the brink of divorce who discover nature in their back yard. I'm still not sure about the point of the husband/wife story except maybe think locally then get ground down by the authorities.

Patricia has the most interesting story to me. She walks through nature and we see the world through her eyes. What she shows us is what makes the story soar. Her story is the one that resonates the most with me. She is the one who discovers how trees communicate and help each other. The book Patricia wrote, The Secret Forrest, is the one I want to read. Her book is also a thread that connects the characters; I  think I remember that everyone has read her book. 

In the end, I found the book depressing and without a ray of hope. For the five eco-terrorists, only one has anything like a positive outcome. The message seems to be we need to "unsuicide" in order to save the planet. The suicide being the devastation we are wrecking on the environment.

Most reactions to the book are glowing and it did get a Pulitzer and National Book award so I'm outside popular opinion. I promise I didn't pick up the book with a preconceived opinion and I don't intend to come across as slagging a popular book for the sake of being ornery. The review in The Guardian, "How could The Overstory be considered a book of the year" does a good job describing my issues. to be fair, the author of the critical review also praised it in the review "The Overstory's lofty view rises above mere polemic". He just didn't think it "book of the year" worthy. 

Keywords: activism, eco-terrorism. environmentalism, trees