title: The Overstory: A Novel by: Powers, Richard published: 2018-04-03 read: 2020-09 preview

The overstory starts of with a number of unconnected life stories of people, families, with the only common thing being a tree, or trees, central to their lives.  Gradually these stories all come together, and the whole book embarks on an epic of the characters, whom we have appreciated in the previous chapters, saving trees.  All previously disconnected characters go do tree setting, chaining themselves to trees, and anything in their power to prevent (which seems to never work) or slow their slaughtering. 

While I do feel influenced by the apparent facts in the book, I grew increasingly irritated by the longwindedness of the story.  The continued repeats of plots and events made me bored out of my wits, and just managed to read 2/3s or about 400 pages of the book, before finally deciding to put it down.  The book may have caught me on the wrong foot, and I may have to give it another chance. Whenever my reviews are negative, it’s probably my fault!

And in this case, with a Pulitzer Prize and Ann Patchett, whose books I like or love, saying it’s one of the best novels – I apologise for my stupidity.

I will revisit this book. Until then, my low rating – as always – just indicates my connectedness with the book, and must not be misunderstood as a quality measure of this.