Book Look: The Overstory, by Richard Powers

 This is a gorgeously written, important book. It’s emotionally complex, morally challenging, and intellectually fecund - all of which makes it an eminently worthwhile read, though I’m not entirely sure I found it to be a particularly satisfying read.

The novel leads off with eight extremely long vignettes that introduce the characters (or sets of characters) that the story will trace over the course of the next 500 pages: a biologist who specializes in plant communications, a troubled young woman who experiences a life-altering rebirth, a solitary artist whose muse is nature, a socially awkward lad who grows up to be a psychologist fascinated by why people engage in futile behaviours, a modest intellectual property attorney & his sensation-seeking wife, a rough-around-the-edges-but-heart-of-gold Vietnam vet, the daughter of a Chinese emigree father who becomes an engineer, the son of an Indian emigree father who becomes a coding genius.

The thematic link between these backstories is that each tale references trees – sometimes in a direct way (there’s a lovely bit about a chestnut tree in the vignette about the artist), sometimes in more symbolic ways (trees as metaphors for family, memory, time, nature, hope, creativity, growth & rebirth, wisdom, salvation, etc.). Honestly, a part of me wonders if Powers didn’t lift large portions of this from short stories that he’d written earlier and separately … which isn’t meant as a critique, but would explain why so much of this section, while absorbing, doesn’t end up having much relevance to the subsequent tale.

From these seeds germinates the rest of the novel, in which the author’s protagonists separately and collectively embark upon journeys that will culminate in an understanding of the profound ecological significance of the largely unappreciated kingdom plantae. Worth recognizing Power's effort to incorporate cutting-edge botanical and ecological science into this part of the narrative. These pages hammer home, again and again, the message that earth is a single, interconnected biosphere, that healthy ecosystems perform ecological services that are key to sustaining Earth’s habitability, that ecosystems are sentient in ways we are only just beginning to understand, that preserving biodiversity is essential to preserving functioning ecosystems, and that - in our capacious and thoughtless appetite for resources - humans are likely to end up driving all life (including themselves) to extinction.

Powers’ other, equally important message: that forests serve a profoundly important aesthetic and spiritual purpose, reminding us that the true art of living isn’t about the resources we acquire, but about the connections that we make during our lives and the legacy that we leave in our wake – the nutrients that nature recycles to create new life, the enduring ideas and memories that humans recycle to create understanding.

A frequent issue I have with novels is that the characters neither reflect nor grow, so it feels strange to be dinging Overstory for the opposite problem! The time Powers spends tracing the complex inner journeys of each character comes (I felt) at the expense of creating a consistent and engaging external journey. Some of the characters do end up dabbling in activism, but this aspect of the novel never develops in any sort of important way. By the end of the novel, you understand that the consciousness of each character has been altered in profound ways, but they’ve largely failed to translate those weighty new understandings into any sort of useful action. Which is clearly enough to win you a Pulitzer Prize, but not particularly gratifying if, as a reader, you’re itching for a bit of inspiration or hope.

FYI, I recommend that this be read within easy reach of internet access, and that readers take the time necessary to look up the individual species that Powers references throughout. The background knowledge I brought to this as a biology/environmental science educator substantially heightened my ability to appreciate that wonders that Powers describes throughout –the spiraling bark of the bristlecone pines, the swollen bellies of baobob trees, the mesmerizing way that mimosa leaves furl at the slightest touch. At the very least, do a quick image search on “unusual trees” and take the time to appreciate the truly remarkable diversity and evolutionary cunning of these ancient and indispensable organisms.