Reflections on the Eighth Week of Summer –The Overstory

 

Spence raved about The Overstory by Richard Powers. Spence said the novel covered the same themes as Barbara Kingsolvers’ Unsheltered, which I’d read and appreciated. He encouraged me to read Powers’ novel.

I did. But the 502 pages written from an omniscient point of view took me 106 days to read. Still, the novel was worth reading.

In addition to Powers’ reverence for and engaging facts about trees, he develops arboreal characters and nine human characters who are connected to trees. They face physical and legal danger because of their commitment to save trees.

My favorite images are of Nick and Olivia living at the top of a giant redwood, of Ray and Dorothy letting their suburban yard turn back into forest, and of Nick’s monthly chestnut drawings turning into a motion picture flipbook of the chestnut’s growth.

The protests end in disaster and the protesters live with the consequences. Only "Learners," Neelay’s latest computer game, gives hope. Perhaps players will understand the world and life.