2023 #19 The Overstory (Powers)

 

The Overstory by Richard Powers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an incredibly artful book, both in its writing and its metaphorical structure (the tree analogy is overt). Powers has the ability to look at the present as if it were the past (and vice-versa), leaving us with a strong blend of optimism and pessimism (pessimoptimism?) in looking at the future. There are nine protagonists (we can use the term loosely) whose stories intertwine like a leafy canopy, but the real focus of the story is the power, history, and life of trees. Honestly, if that doesn't engage you, you are probably the perfect audience for this book. NOT engaging with trees is the not-so-subtle criticism Powers offers humanity. His powerful and descriptive language draws us to the trees, or at least the idea of them. The research aspects are excellent, and it seems clear that a lot of the ideas of Peter Wohlleben and others surface through the story and the characters.

What is particularly compelling is how Powers pulls in ideas of generational trauma and legacy, so not only are there nine main characters, but a variety of generational lessons packed into several of the individual's story lines. The connections become apparent in the first section of the novel as Powers introduces each character and there are one or more links from one character to the next.

Suzanne Toren does an astounding job voicing all the different characters, although as always, I wish audiobooks didn't resort to voicing folks of other ethnicities with accents--while understandably an efficiency, it seems a missed opportunity. I was somewhat uncomfortable, assuming Toren does not have a hearing-related disability, with her voicing of Patricia Westerford, whose character does not speak until the age of three, and is revealed to have a deformation of her inner ear. That said, it IS an essential part of the character and Toren's depiction allows the words, not how they are said, to be front and center.

As much as it is about trees, it is also about humans. Not just how we inhabit and interact with the planet, but how we create our own overstories and understories in the relationships we have--those that we damage and allow to decay, and those that we plant and nurture.

View all my reviews

2015 #5: Orfeo by Richard Powers

Orfeo by Richard Powers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a hard time getting into this novel because it made me feel conspicuous as a musicologist. The first quarter of the book seemed to be trying too hard to establish its musical street cred, but I understand now…that may have been the point. The protagonist spends his life trying to establish his own credibility, most importantly with himself. There are many references to some of the biggest composers and pieces of the twentieth century, and Powers is very gifted in the artistic and nuanced way he writes about music. By the midpoint of the novel, Peter Els--the main character--seems to adopt a more Cagean-sense of music and Powers, too, seems more comfortable in his prose. He's a tough character, Els--you never really know how to connect to him (and he never really knows how to connect to anyone). He's an Orpheus running from the Underworld, but not to rescue Euridice. The undertow of music pulls at him constantly, and his life cycles through submitting to that force and fighting against it. Powers is masterful in his ability to recount narrative through multiple flashbacks which, at the end, help us understand that we are all fugitives of one sort or another.