After finishing the book, I wasn’t sure whether I would write a review of The Overstory. I hesitated, not wanting to write a bad review because as an author, I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of criticism, if it’s not constructive. But the whole point of book reviews is to help a reader decide whether to read a book or not. To let a reader know what they are getting into. So as a service to readers, I will list a few of my impressions of this Pulitzer-winning novel.
First of all, the book is long. The paperback version is 512 pages. When reading it in Kindle, the percentage indicating how much you’ve read never seems to go up. The author has a point to make, and it’s an important one no doubt, but he could have made it quite effectively in much fewer words.
Speaking of words, the author has a very rich vocabulary. He knows a lot of about trees and he knows a lot of words about trees. Too many. Even if you are a crossword puzzle fanatic or a professional Scrabble player, you will still struggle reading words like these:
* coprophagic
* mycorrhizal
* involucres
* krummolz
It is possible to skim over the words you don’t understand but the vocabulary was not my main problem with the book. There are nine main characters in the story and I found that I couldn’t connect to many of them. All of their lives revolved around trees, and the need to save the environment, but not all of them were essential to the plot. In hindsight, I can’t even remember most of them. Disturbingly, in one chapter the characters’ names changed from one paragraph to the next.
Interesting things take place in the book that will certainly stick in one’s mind, but other story lines seem placed there for no reason.
The author tells us, over and over, that trees play an important role in our lives, one that is easily overlooked. Trees live, breath, communicate, and even move, and we barely see any of this. If the author’s argument is that by saving the trees we can save ourselves, it is an important one. But the author could have conveyed this message in a much shorter novel, with fewer characters, and with a less scholarly vocabulary.
I believe The Overstory is seriously overrated. It’s a good book, a well-written one, but I can’t determine exactly why it won the Pulitzer.
Richard Powers is an American author who has published twelve novels that explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction. He and has taught at the University of Illinois and Stanford Universities. He won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory.
Original tree image by Casey Horner on Unsplash.
I often find that true of many prize winners. As a children's writer, I am often stunned by books winning children's book prizes because the winners often do not appear to appeal to children. Children do love words and pictures, and some of the winners are wordless or their pictures are unclear. They are lovely art forms but not appealing to kids.
ReplyDeleteThank you this review. I tried reading "The Overstory" last year and came close to throwing it across the room after 100 pages. Picked it up again when my book club assigned it. Determined to finish it although my opinion about the book has not changed. Too many of the stories remind me to the satirical animation "Bambi Meets Godzilla": Characters alive one moment and dead the next with no foreshadowing or story arc.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this review. I am a scientist and a wary fiction reader. I got neither satisfying characters nor real science from this long, long book. I do recognize those words you list, but I groaned when I read them. I'm not a snob, but I'm with Lynne, wanting to throw it across the room.
ReplyDeleteI found this book completely uneven and my response mirrored that. Positive was the environmental message and information about trees,including mythology derived from them that speaks truths. Negative was the rambling, the confusion, the characters and paltry back stories that were not needed. And sloppy sappy writing, especially towards the end where it seemed the author was also tired of his work. This book could have been fantastic--it needed a rewrite and a good editor. In its present state it is gelatinous and not worthy of the Pulitzer. It seems these prizes are more nods to pressing issues of the day rather than works of art
ReplyDeleteI agree!
DeleteI am in the middle of reading this one, and at the moment it seems more like a collection of short stories than a novel. I am listening to it on audio-book so its easier to skim over the obscure words, as most of them are scientific terms a glossary at the end would have been a useful addition.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Burt's Books
It will be interesting to know what you think about it at the end!
DeleteHaving finished Anna Karenina for the first time on December 31, I wanted something contemporary –– hopeful, important –– for the start of the new year. The Overstory, like Mr Powers' chestnut, has been patient, awaiting this moment. Drat! Persevering through page 23, I tried to ignore the distraction of adjectives and adverbs. And seems this goes on for all of its 502 pages. So: scanning the shelves of books I hope to read one day, I've decided to opt-out, and will relegate this one to the laundry room of my building . . .
ReplyDeleteMy Sister-in-law gifted me with a few acclaimed books, Overstory being one of them. I love to read but it was a slog, so gave up. It seems the books that receive the most accolades are often not enjoyable. I am not in school anymore, I read for enjoyment not for an intellectual challenge. The Overstory is going to the used book store for a credit on something worth my time.
ReplyDeleteI also had a similar experience, trying and failing, reading The Overstory. It was especially disappointing because I had read and enjoyed several of his earlier novels.
ReplyDeleteEmbraced by academicians, I'm sure. Not my cup of tea. Best to be succinct:
ReplyDelete"What is not in the open street is false, derived, that is to say, literature."
Henry Miller, Black Spring