The Overstory by Richard Powers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I knew this book would eventually come for me. I picked it up and put it down at bookstores so many times, but recently an acquaintance put it directly into my hands, so I knew it was time. Heavy, mesmerizing, built tree ring by tree ring, OVERSTORY reminds us of how swiftly change comes, how irreversible harm can be, how time moves both torrentially and imperceptibly, and how human lives are interlocked with forests in ways we are still reaching to understand. Powers’ message is clear: the precious diversity of trees is something we ignore at our peril and surrender to as part of the path to transcendence and survival as a species. (Before you scoff, check: are you leaning against, standing upon, eating from, reading from, or breathing from something made by a tree?)
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