The Overstory, by Richard Powers
An engineer, a psychologist, a Vietnam veteran, a college dropout, and a failed artist walk into a forest...
Much like the trees it is about, this novel is a slow-growing, deeply interlaced giant. These five characters are the core of the book, in the sense that they spend a significant amount of time together; they are orbited by four more: the biologist, the computer genius, and the childless couple. Each character contains hidden depths, and a connection to trees all their own. My guess is that each reader will be drawn to one over the others, as I was drawn to the biologist. The sections focus on one of these nine, and though all are wonderfully written, that personal preference makes one rather impatient to get back to the story that interests us most. The trick is to lose oneself in the lyricism of the writing, much as we seek to lose ourselves in nature.
This is not simply literature for art's sake; there is a powerful, urgent message in this novel. Trees are ancient, far more so than humans, and we have only just started to expose the tip of their grainy iceberg. We (meaning the general public) only recently learned that trees send messages to each other through chemicals in the air. When people think about consciousness, communication and forethought are often considered main indicators of a conscious mind. When one tree, attacked by beetles, releases a chemical that warns distant trees of the infestation, does this not indicate both forethought and communication? Perhaps we live our lives so quickly and in so short a time that we are incapable of even seeing the extent to which trees and forests are alive. And there is so much more use for trees than for making houses and cabinets and chairs. Medicines are constantly being discovered from trees, and of course we all know how important they are for cleaning out our air. If we chop them all down to make transient objects that are used until they fall apart and then thrown away, what are we missing that could do us so much more good? And what part of our humanity dies when we destroy such an ancient and noble thing as a forest?
As always, shop local!
Much like the trees it is about, this novel is a slow-growing, deeply interlaced giant. These five characters are the core of the book, in the sense that they spend a significant amount of time together; they are orbited by four more: the biologist, the computer genius, and the childless couple. Each character contains hidden depths, and a connection to trees all their own. My guess is that each reader will be drawn to one over the others, as I was drawn to the biologist. The sections focus on one of these nine, and though all are wonderfully written, that personal preference makes one rather impatient to get back to the story that interests us most. The trick is to lose oneself in the lyricism of the writing, much as we seek to lose ourselves in nature.
This is not simply literature for art's sake; there is a powerful, urgent message in this novel. Trees are ancient, far more so than humans, and we have only just started to expose the tip of their grainy iceberg. We (meaning the general public) only recently learned that trees send messages to each other through chemicals in the air. When people think about consciousness, communication and forethought are often considered main indicators of a conscious mind. When one tree, attacked by beetles, releases a chemical that warns distant trees of the infestation, does this not indicate both forethought and communication? Perhaps we live our lives so quickly and in so short a time that we are incapable of even seeing the extent to which trees and forests are alive. And there is so much more use for trees than for making houses and cabinets and chairs. Medicines are constantly being discovered from trees, and of course we all know how important they are for cleaning out our air. If we chop them all down to make transient objects that are used until they fall apart and then thrown away, what are we missing that could do us so much more good? And what part of our humanity dies when we destroy such an ancient and noble thing as a forest?
As always, shop local!
Comments
Post a Comment