Most books I can read in a couple of days. (I came home last night at 7:30 and finished a novel by 10:45, just to give you a clue. It was a trashy, fun, light-hearted novel, but still.) Some novels, those I really like and those that grab me, usually take closer to a week. "The Overstory" kept me reading for three weeks and I read two other novels in the middle of it. It was that intense and that powerful. I hated to put it down and I hated for it to end but at times I had to walk away. It is consuming. At least it was for me.
The first third of the book introduces us to several very different characters, times, places and concepts. All are intriguing and sometimes beguiling and often frustrating but in their introduction they all seem round and approachable, if not in real life but in this novel. Most of these intros have trees as supporting roles or, in the case of a few, major roles along with the people. Trees are paramount here.
The second third of the book brings those characters together somewhat and other, deeper themes are revealed, botany and biology and ecology come into the picture. The scope widens and we see not just the characters and their alliances with trees but we see the world and its alliance against flora. But we are also shown some of the inner workings of botany and biology and the amazing connectivity that people and trees have. (Trust me, it might sound boring but it anything but that.)
Finally, the last third of this novel is so ripe with themes that I cannot even tell you much about them. Situations and characters fly out of control, good and bad stuff happens, people act according to their beliefs and those beliefs are bludgeoned. And so much faith is tested, not just that of the characters but of the reader as well.
It sounds esoteric, it is not. It is gorgeous. I can open the book and pick any paragraph and it resonates with beauty and brains: Out in the yard, all around the house, the things they've planted in years gone by are making significance, making meaning, as easily as they make sugar and wood from nothing, from air, and sun, and rain. But the humans hear nothing.
Or what a portrait this is: Dennis shows at noon, reliable as rain, bearing broccoli-almond lasagne, his latest midday masterpiece. She thinks, as she does several times a week, how lucky she has been, to spend these few years married to the one man on Earth who'd let her spend most of her life alone. Game, patient, good-natured Dennis. He protects her work and needs so little. In his handyman's heart, he already knows how few things man is really the measure of. And he's as generous and eager as weeds.
Seriously, as eager as weeds. Wow.
There are situations in this novel that are frightening and the reader fears for the characters' lives and hearts and minds. There are other times when things go right and the reader smiles and enjoys a moment of tenderness. But underneath all of it is the heartbeat of trees, their connected roots, what they have given to the earth and the atmosphere and how we mortals are ruining them and the atmosphere and how we cannot stop it. Richard Powers has written a masterpiece, one that has deep meaning and such soul. Please find a copy and read it. It is not for everyone, it is not light, fun, airy, quick. But its meaning is deep and incredibly meaningful to all of us. Read it and tell me what you think.
Steve, who loaned it to me, said something like "this would be a great book for book clubs." My answer was "this would take a book club a year to discuss." It is that massive in scope, and yet it is about small people doing small things wishing for massive results. And then there are the trees.....
Check it out.
It's on my library request list. I am number 30 of 38 requests and there are 10 copies. Who knows maybe spend some bucks and buy it!
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