I’ve never thought much about terrorism as activism, which is one of the environmental avenues explored in this book. One Goodreads reviewer called this “tree porn.” Tree porn this certainly is, and I’m blown away by the understanding and research Powers displays on biology and earth science, tree species, and the complexities of environmental activism. I try not to read a lot of reviews before writing my own, but I did peek at some for The Overstory. The way that Powers writes about trees is beautiful. One of the most impressive parts of this book is that all the characters and their stories do become. I like this part of the book best, because I generally enjoy character studies and not a lot of plot. The beginning- which reads like short stories- is a study and introduction of each character. There’s a lot going on in a forest, and Powers attempts to comment on all of it. It could have been cut by a good 200 pages or so. Perhaps like the growth of trees, this is a dense, slow book that’s overwritten at points. There’s one thing all the characters have in common: their love of trees. I found myself wondering how in the world these characters and their stories would connect, which is what motivated me to keep reading. The Overstory follows the lives of several characters who eventually come together.
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