Summary: (Amazon):
It is a sweeping, impassioned work 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, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel 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. 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.
Reviews:
NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/books/review/overstory-richard-powers.html
The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/richard-powers-the-overstory/559106/
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-most-exciting-novel-about-trees-youll-ever-read/2018/04/03/bb388a4e-3686-11e8-8fd2-49fe3c675a89_story.html
Awards:
Winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction
Shortlisted of the 2018 Man Booker Prize
New York Bestseller
A New York Times Notable Book and a Washington Post, Time, Oprah Magazine, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, Kirkus Reviews and Amazon Best Book of the Year
Author's Website: http://www.richardpowers.net/the-overstory/
Articles:
1. Climate Fiction: Can Books Save the Planet?:
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/08/climate-fiction-margaret-atwood-literature/400112/
2. The Novel Asks: What Went Wrong with Mankind:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/richard-powers-the-overstory/559106/
3. How could the Overstory be considered a book of the year:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/dec/18/how-could-the-overstory-be-considered-a-book-of-the-year-richard-powers
4. The Secrets That Help Some Trees Live Over 1000 Years:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/dec/18/how-could-the-overstory-be-considered-a-book-of-the-year-richard-powers
Interviews:
1. Shakespeare and Co, :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JFoiOn0XkI
2. Chicago Review of Books: https://chireviewofbooks.com/2018/04/18/overstory-richard-powers-interview/
3. NPR: https://www.npr.org/2018/04/19/602903697/novelist-richard-powers-finds-new-stories-deep-in-old-growth-forests
4. New York Botanical Gardens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKKMPe4rNbI
5. Waterstone Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwZC58-ptwk
6. Sierra Club: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/his-new-novel-richard-powers-writes-tree-s-point-view
Old Growth Forest Network: https://www.oldgrowthforest.net/
Note: Doylestown Township's Central Park's and Heritage Conservancy's Hart's Woods has been recently designated as a forest that has the characteristics of an old growth forest https://www.oldgrowthforest.net/events/2019/11/2/dedication-of-harts-woods-bucks-county-pa
The Overstory Podcast from Sierra Club: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/overstory Not about the book but interesting and relevant. Thanks Ann for sharing.
Forest Bathing Opportunities at Bucks County Audubon's Honey Hollow Environmental Education Center: April 11 and May 30, from 9-11:30. 2877 Creamery Rd. in New Hope, PA
Inspirations for Discussion Questions:
a. Litlovers:https://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/fiction/11275-overstory-powers?start=3
b. PBS: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/discussion-questions-for-the-overstory
Our own Discussion Questions: (some from the above sources and some of Heidi's own, who will be leading the discussion)
1. What
were your experiences with trees as a child and now as an adult? Have trees
shaped your life in any meaningful way? Do you have a favorite tree?
2.
What might the title, Overstory, signify?
3.
The Overstory is
split into four sections: Roots, Trunk, Crown, and Seeds. How do those sections
reflect the thematic numerous concerns of the novel—that human development (in
the micro and macro) mimics growth in the "natural world," that human
beings are deeply, intimately bound to nature? What are the significances of
these sections? Were you surprised when the storylines intertwined?
4. Of the novel's nine opening stories, which do you find most engaging? Is that because you find the characters more compelling …or the storyline itself … or can the two be separated?
4. Of the novel's nine opening stories, which do you find most engaging? Is that because you find the characters more compelling …or the storyline itself … or can the two be separated?
5. There are many wonderful passages and poems throughout the
novel. Do you have any favorites?
6. How does the author treat eco-warriors: are they the novel's heroes? Does he seem sympathetic to their causes … or impatient with their stridency? What is your attitude toward eco-warriors, both the ones in the novel and the ones in real life?
6. How does the author treat eco-warriors: are they the novel's heroes? Does he seem sympathetic to their causes … or impatient with their stridency? What is your attitude toward eco-warriors, both the ones in the novel and the ones in real life?
7.
Some reviewers claim that characters in The Overstory are
short-shrifted, that they are subsumed by the book's ideas. Others say the
book's characters are convincing and invested with humanity. Which view do you
agree with? Do the characters come alive for you, are they multifaceted,
possessing emotional depth? Or do you see them as fairly one-dimensional,
serving primarily as the embodiment of ideas?
8.
This novel is considered part of a new genre, Climate Fiction or cli-fi. What
do you think about it? Does it reinforce what people already think or change
opinions?
9. We
have read many books about trees in this group including, The Hidden
Life of Trees by P. Wohleben and The Forest Unseen by
D. Haskell along with your own readings. Has the book changed the way you look
at trees in any new ways?
(reddit.com)
