April - The Overstory by Richard Powers
I knew I would eventually read The Overstory though it sat on my bookshelf for more than a year. Maybe its 500 pages was off-putting, such a hefty commitment.
But, I have spent a good portion of my professional life working in environmental causes, everything from a nature center to helping corporations manage their land as habitat and working with volunteers to improve an urban watershed. My husband and I met working for the environment, and his company restores ecosystems. Our household is environmentally conscious. I mention this background just so you know I was always going to like The Overstory.
Richard Powers has created an epic American story about the environment and the destruction of natural resources. But for all of its focus on saving the planet and the ways we need to learn to see nature, the book is character-driven. It's a beautiful thing.
Powers begins with multiple storylines, some intersect, and some never do. We have scientists, an artist, immigrants, activists, and a couple who never directly experience the wild but connect with nature in their backyard. The stories of these people, of Mimi, Neelay, Douglas, Olivia, Adam, Patricia, Ray and Dorothy, keep us reading, propel the story forward, and allow us to feel the loss of the natural world. We travel with them through time, and tragedy, and love. We feel the healing power of nature and the heartbreak. Lots of heartbreak.
Powers portrays the beauty of the American landscape. He gives us poetry and beauty. He takes us into the tree canopy and lets us experience the majesty, the power, and the unexpected diversity of life in that realm. He also rips us apart with the bare truth of how quickly our iconic wild places are being lost to development and commerce. Much of this land is ours - public property, federal lands owned by everyone but exploited by a few. He takes away the blinders that keep most of us blissfully unaware of the level of destruction required to feed our insatiable consumerism. And He helps us understand that these landscapes are extraordinary, are sacred, are irreplaceable.
This is a beautifully written book with a powerful message. I don't hesitate to recommend that you take the time to read it. But there is no happy ending. The Overstory leaves us wounded.
You can grab a tissue and a bottle of wine and then order a copy at your local bookstore or at mine, Blue Bicycle Books in Charleston, SC.
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