The Overstory

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A monumental novel about reimagining our place in the living world by one of our most prodigiously talented The New York Times Book Review novelists.An Air Force loadmaster in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut A hard partying undergraduate in the late 1980s electrocutes herself, dies, and is sent back into life by creatures of air and light A hearing and speech impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another These four, and five other strangers each summoned in different ways by trees are brought together in a last and violent stand to save the continent s few remaining acres of virgin forest.In his twelfth novel, National Book Award winner Richard Powers delivers a sweeping, impassioned novel of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of and paean to the natural world From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, The Overstory unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond, exploring the essential conflict on this planet the one taking place between humans and nonhumans There is a world alongside ours vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.The Overstory is a book for all readers who despair of humanity s self imposed separation from the rest of creation and who hope for the transformative, regenerating possibility of a homecoming If the trees of this earth could speak, what would they tell us Listen There s something you need to hear. Free Read [ The Overstory ] by [ Richard Powers ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Richard Powers s The Overstory soars up through the canopy of American literature and remakes the landscape of environmental fiction.Long celebrated for his compelling, cerebral books, Powers demonstrates a remarkable ability to tell dramatic, emotionally involving stories while delving into subjects many readers would otherwise find arcane He s written about genetics, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, music and photography In 2006, his novel about neurology, The Echo Maker, won a Richard Powers s The Overstory soars up through the canopy of American literature and remakes the landscape of environmental fiction.Long celebrated for his compelling, cerebral books, Powers demonstrates a remarkable ability to tell dramatic, emotionally involving stories while delving into subjects many readers would otherwise find arcane He s written about genetics, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, music and photography In 2006, his novel about neurology, The Echo Maker, won a National Book Award And now he s turned his attention,fully than ever before, to our imperiled biome and particularly to the world s oldest, grandest life forms trees The Overstory moves the way an open field evolves into a...Two quotes from different parts of this bookThe best arguments in the world won t change a person s mind The only thing that can do that is a good story AndYes And what do all good stories do There are no takers Neelay holds up his arms and extends his palms in the oddest gesture In another moment, leaves will grow from his fingers Birds will come and nest in them They kill you a little They turn you into something you weren t I should come clean at the start of this review Richa Two quotes from different parts of this bookThe best arguments in the world won t change a person s mind The only thing that can do that is a good story AndYes And what do all good stories do There are no takers Neelay holds up his arms and extends his palms in the oddest gesture In another moment, leaves will grow from his fingers Birds will come and nest in them They kill you a little They turn you into something you weren t I should come clean at the start of this review Richard Powers is my favourite author I have read all his previous novels and have been desperate to read this one ever since I first heard about it a few months ago I am grateful to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an ARC a couple of months prior to publication date.The overstory is the name given to the part of a forest that protrudes above the canopy When you look a...The Overstory is the second Richard Powers book I have read after Plowing the Dark and although I liked this a lot , I find it equally difficult to talk about Perhaps it s simply the scope of it the cast of characters alone is vast, and if I start trying to write a summary of each of them I ll be here all day The plot is even harder to pin down It is, of course, basically about trees Trees as the extraordinary, underappreciated, misunderstood organism and life force they are Tree The Overstory is the second Richard Powers book I have read after Plowing the Dark and although I liked this a lot , I find it equally difficult to talk about Perhaps it s simply the scope of it the cast of characters alone is vast, and if I start trying to write a summary of each of them I ll be here all day The plot is even harder to pin down It is, of course, basically about trees Trees as the extraordinary, underappreciated, misunderstood organism and life force they are Trees as an analogy for humanity Trees as the guiding force that bring the people in this novel together and steer them towards various courses of action.Billions of years ago, a single, fluke, self copying cell learned how to turn a barren ball of poison gas and volcanic slag into this peopled garden And everything you hope, fear, and love became possible.The first half was my favourite The first half takes its time introducing the cha...The Overstory is the first Richard Powers novel I have read but he, and indeed this book, comes highly recommended not least by my good Goodreads friend Neil and this was certainly a striking if flawed read The first part of the novel consists of 8 separate short stories ranging from 9 to 33 pages with the background and life of some, at that time, unconnected characters.In each of the stories trees play a part, albeit with very varying levels of significance And all the stories are told i The Overstory is the first Richard Powers novel I have read but he, and indeed this book, comes highly recommended not least by my good Goodreads friend Neil and this was certainly a striking if flawed read The first part of the novel consists of 8 separate short stories ranging from 9 to 33 pages with the background and life of some, at that time, unconnected characters.In each of the stories trees play a part, albeit with very varying levels of significance And all the stories are told in something of a breathless present tense, one key th...A brilliant treatise on the value of trees and nature, the interconnection between all things, humans unfortunately,often as destroyers than nurturers included The structure of the novel resembles something like vast root networks coalescing into tree structures nine characters from opening stories that don t connect eventually do connect in a long section called Trunk , and from there these lives take on a number of differing directions Powers has filled this book with facts and th A brilliant treatise on the value of trees and nature, the interconnection between all things, humans unfortunately,often as destroyers than nurturers included The structure of the novel resembles something like vast root networks coalescing into tree structures nine characters from opening stories that don t connect eventually do connect in a long section called Trunk , and from there these lives take on a number of differing directions Powers has filled this book with facts and theories presented in lyrical, non dogmatic language that s as close to poetry as straight prose can get He has a view and it s not hidden this is a deeply political novel that s both beautiful and, in its own way, joyful To read thes...I received an ARC from WW Norton through the goodreads giveaway program.It is evident from the very first page that Powers has an agenda with his latest novel The Overstory Powers wants us to realize that we have a Midas problem Human beings have established a culture of insatiability which will ultimately lead to our own destruction How do you win I mean, how would you even lose The only thing that really counts is hoarding a little bitYou reach a certain level in the game, and g I received an ARC from WW Norton through the goodreads giveaway pr...I can t imagine how to assign a star value to this book I mean, I have no idea what 5 stars or 4 stars might signify with regards to a work like this But I feel obliged to do something This is exactly what one would expect from a Powers novel numerous passages of gorgeous writing, complexity, overflowing with ideas and allusions, intellectually demanding, emotionally uncertain, occasionally utterly opaque, and deeply resistant to categorization The Overstory the title is a play on wo I can t imagine how to assign a star value to this book I mean, I have no idea what 5 stars or 4 stars might signify with regards to a work like this But I feel obliged to do something This is exactly what one would expect from a Powers novel numerous passages of gorgeous writing, complexity, overflowing with ideas and allusions, intellectually demanding, emotionally uncertain, occasionally utterly opaque, and deeply resistant to categorization The Overstory the title is a play on words follows several characters over the course of many decades The characters lives intersect in pairs then in larger numbers, then split apart only to intersect again The subject that unites them is trees as physical objects, metaphysical symbols, complex and sentient organisms, saviors, commodities Powers weaves so many threads and st...I can t stop thinking about this book A sprawling literary eco epic, The Overstory is the kind of novel that changes people It s a riveting call to arms and a bitter indictment of our wasteful culture More than this, it s an incredibly human story with a huge cast of rich characters that you ll never forget Dense but accessible, Powers is a master of intersecting science, art, and spirituality without sacrificing plot I pity the next customer who comes in looking for a book about trees P I can t stop thinking about this book A sprawling literary eco epic, The Overstory is the kind of novel that changes people It s a riveting call to arms and a bitter indictment of our wasteful culture More than this, it s an incredibly human story with a huge cast of rich characters that you ll never forget Dense but accessible, Powers is a master of intersecting science, art, and spirituality without sacrifi...Provocative and powerful It gives one pause about how cavalier man is when it comes the natural world and how little we understand and appreciate the gifts offered by nature Powers relates insightful tales of how a group of passionate individuals took responsibility for saving trees and the envi...Richard Powers is fast making his way into my favourite writers of all time a permanently shifting category that at the moment includes A.S Byatt, Sarah Hall, and William Thackeray The Overstory, his latest book, is maybe his most ambitious yet it seeks, essentially, to instill in its reader a sense of sympathy and identification with trees That Powers actually manages it is confirmation that he is one of the most skilled writers currently working that I can think of The Overstory starts w Richard Powers is fast making his way into my favourite writers of all time a permanently shifting category that at the moment includes A.S Byatt, Sarah Hall, and William Thackeray The Overstory, his latest book, is maybe his most ambitious yet it seeks, essentially, to instill in its reader a sense of sympathy and identification with trees That Powers actually manages it is confirmation that he is one of the most skilled writers currently working that I can think of The Overstory starts with a section called Roots, divided into six separate strands that introduce us to our main characters They range from Nick Hoel, whose family farm houses virtually the only chestnut in America to be spared the blight that kills other specimens, to Douglas Pavlicek, a Vietnam vet whose life is saved by a banyan tree, to Olivia Vandergriff, a feckless col...

The Overstory
  • English
  • 25 September 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 502 pages
  • 039363552X
  • Richard Powers
  • The Overstory