Title: The Overstory
Author: Powers, Richard
Published by: W W Norton & Company
Year: 2018
First published: W W Norton, 2018
Date reviewed: 12.22
ISBN: 978-0-393-35668-7 pbk
Thanks to Jack S for the gift of this book!

This Pulitzer Prize-winning book is a monumental effort by Richard Powers, in both length and scope. It’s a book about trees and people. The two are intertwined against a background of the destruction of the North American forests for timber; the ‘timber wars’ between the felling companies and the environmentalists who fought to save the forests is an important thread, but not the only one. Powers makes a powerful case for the need to preserve what’s left of the planet’s forests, and there is plenty of fascinating information about trees, forests and the entire forest ecosystem.

He deliberately structures the novel as if it were itself a tree; the book’s four main sections are titled “Roots”, “Trunk”, “Crown” and “Seeds”. This arguably forces his narrative to fit the concept, but the interwoven threads of his characters’ lives is handled well.

I found I couldn’t read large chunks of it at one sitting; I think this may be due to his writing style. He uses a lot of short sentences. Very short. Frequently elliptical. There are times, I think, when the narrative would benefit from a better flow. But overall I’m glad to have read it, and I thank JS for introducing me to it.