What readers think of The Overstory, plus links to write your own review.

The Overstory

A Novel

by Richard Powers

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There are currently 6 reader reviews for The Overstory

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BSG

OMG

Just finished reading this book for the second time. I may master it in another 10. Undoubtedly the biggest book I have ever read - as complex and rich, as giving and demanding, as damning and revelatory, as the overstory and understory themselves. Reading it may not change your life, but it will change the way you look at it, the way you look at it in its natural context, and, perhaps, the way you chart it going forward.

lbrown

The Overstory

An amazing book of natural rediscovery. I'm out in my yard awaiting spring so that I can follow the trails through my little aspen grove, smell the pines, and explore the soil at 9,000' in the Colorado Rockies. I'm on my third read and still discovering things that David Attenborough tried to show me in The Private Lives of Plants almost 25 years ago. The Overstory reawakened my perception of the "real" world outside my own door.

HalJordan

Life changing

I've never read a book that compelled me to come onto the internet and find out what other people thought about it, and to ask questions to better understand its meaning. I won't write a review here of the plot - its well cataloged in many places. Instead - I just wanted to tell you its beyond worth reading. I hope it becomes mandatory reading in high schools soon.

Remorse

Reading this book brought a revelation. It also made me very sad that it was not available to read 70 years ago. I grew up in logging country and lived in Humboldt County during the 70s, 80s and 90s when all the timber wars took place. If I had had this book to read then, I would have joined the protestors and 'tree huggers' without reservation. What a mess we humans have made. We just never know when to let well enough alone!

Tom Matamoros

Way Better Than Very Good

Overstory is an exceptional book. Richard Powers deserves to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is the smartest and most accomplished American novelist. I recommend all readers of literary fiction read Overstory. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Robert Walz

Moral response

This book is challenging to read. I had to re-read so I could fully appreciate the stories of each the main characters. The book also challenges with many underlying issues, issues that go to the survival of these trees and to our own survival. It is a must read for anyone that is concerned about trees or global climate change. Issues around HR 1147 is a-real life example as the Tongass Rainforest is being attacked by the Trump administration.

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