The Overstory by Richard Powers

This came recommended by a California librarian that Alice Jane follows. I read her review, then others on Amazon and decided it was worth the risk to order. So glad I did. A book that totally flipped my lid...opened my view and changed it forever. It also made me want to get more into the science of trees and figure out how much of this author's interpretation of trees' power is accurate. And just to learn more.

And even though it's about trees, it's equally revealing about the people who defend them. Their stories are told up front, and at first I thought they were separate essays because they weren't connected. But as the book unfolds, these individual stories come together. They are told with such imagination and detail that you almost believe they are true. Colorful, unpredictable people with intimate details of their lives and thinking. It's so personal you realize it must be fiction because no one could know such diverse characters so intimately.

Maybe it's a sign of my declining cognitive abilities, but I had trouble connecting the later characters with their earlier stories. I kept getting two of them confused...I read at night when I'm sleepy, and this story was so good, I read when I should have been sleeping and I think I zoned out or couldn't keep them aligned. I am ready to begin again at the beginning and enjoy it all over again, keeping the characters straight. Because I know the end.

The vocabulary in this book is challenging. Second time through I will pause to look up more words, like "arhat." I believe it will be worth it. One of my favorite parts is Powers' description of the time two characters live in the top of a tree. It's an incredible description the makes me want to fly up to the treetops and experience it. So many wonderful descriptions of inner landscapes as well...these people are fascinating, passionate, and human.

I could easily see how they went "over the edge" into radical action. I want to be better as a result of what I learned here... like use less, want less, conserve more, recycle more carefully, pay my respects to trees more often.

I'm not sure I understood the ending. It gets rather dystopian and dark. I don't believe our future is dark, and I'm not sure that's what Powers is saying. Not sure who or what the "listeners" are. Or the world that Neelay, a computer programmer created...not sure what's going on there either. But I will take it on again and see if I can figure it out.

I'm proud of the times I have listened to trees, loved and appreciated trees, and tried to protect them. I'm remorseful about my paper usage, my wanton cutting of them in Cleghorn Canyon, and my ignorance. I will do better.

Here are some quotes that I highlighted:

Page 260 - "The tree runs straight up like a chimney butte and neglects to stop."

"She spreads her arms against the furrows. She's like a flea trying to hug its dog. Her face tilts straight up the titanic trunk. "I can't believe it. I can't believe there's no other way to protect this thing except with our bodies.""

Page 264 - They look together: high-wire surveyors of a newfound land. The view cracks open his chest. Cloud, mountain, World Tree, and mist--all the tangled, rich stability of creation that gave rise to words to begin with--leave him stupid and speechless. Reiterated trunks grow out of Mimas's main line, shooting up parallel like the fingers of a Buddha's upraised hand, recouping the mother tree on smaller scales, repeating the inborn shape again and again, their branches running into each other, too many and fused to trace."

Page 339 - "If people knew what went into making trees, they would be so, so thankful for the sacrifce. And thankful people don't need as much."

Page 443 - "You and the tree in your backyard come from a common ancestor. A billion and a half years ago, the two of you parted ways. But even now, after an immense journey in separate directions, that tree and you still share a quarter of your genes..."

Page 455 - "When you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down."

Page 545 - "If we could see green, we'd see a thing that keeps getting more interesting the closer we get. If we could see what green was doing, we'd never be lonely or bored. If we could understand green, we'd learn how to grow all the food we need in layers three deep, on a third of the ground we need right now, with plants that protected one another from pests and stress. If we knew what green wanted, we wouldn't have to choose between the Earth's interests and ours. They'd be the same!"


June 2020
I just reread this book and like the ending better and stayed with the characters better. And it still fascinated me and taught me a lot. So glad I took it on again! And my favorite quote, that haunts me every time I rip a paper towel is this one:

Page 455 - "When you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down."