By Wayne Oldroyd
Do trees talk? Should we listen? Here is a simple theme of Overstory their lives.
First, is the story of the spreading chestnut tree, photographed by four generations now tended by an artist alone and without audience. Thus, begins the exploration of relationships along a circuitous path having many emotional branches and connections.
A young Asian Indian boy given his first computer falls in love with the codes of its circuitry. Later He falls from his favorite tree now paralyzed for life. A hard partying coed who is squandering her education is accidentally electrocuted, dies and brought back to life with a mission. The trees are calling to her. A Vietnam airman – saved from a deadly fall from his plane by a Banyan tree – decides to oppose the destruction of an unruly tree grove no longer in sync with its townscape. A chance meeting creates a lifelong relationship.
A young woman loses her father but remains connected by a jade ring forever being turned by fraternal love and loss. She too becomes a casualty of an unexpected event and cause. A deaf daughter is inspired by her father to pursue language of the trees. She struggles against the solitude of her love of these complex beings marginally understood by humans that view them as resources to be harvested and enslaved to unremitting greed of human consumption.
An ancient Redwood fights for its life, recruiting and joining these lovers to defend it from the greed and ignorance of humanity that share their DNA. Their battle becomes all too real and the passion to preserve comes with a tragic cost to their cause and connection.
The romance between characters is neither sexually driven nor bodice -ripping passion so often found in romance novels. Don’t expect any sexy romantic encounters. To the contrary, each relationship is nuanced by the paucity of physical intimacy. The characters have depth and nuance that are found in the real world.
Overstory is a complex but very readable book, Richard Powers merges the magic of science with the reality of today’s society. He serves you a delightful banquet of interlaced stories allowing you to do digest each sentence paragraph or chapter at your own pace. If you accept the depth of the author’s thoughts and premises, you cannot help but be moved to love the trees or at least appreciate their organic personality by species.
I recommend this book to you because I believe author succeeded in revealing the story of how trees talk, how humans interrelate and unfortunately how humans destroy – stories that need to be heard. You will be moved by each character and artfully educated to why trees should be respected and protected. Overstory will challenge you to recognize that trees are “wonderful beings” with innate adaptability, intelligence, and the capacity to communicate with — and heal — other trees.
Richard Powers is a gifted American novelist writing in the grand realist tradition, identified as a “historian of contemporary society.” Literary critics believe that “He has the courage and intellectual stamina to explore our most complex social questions with originality, nuance, and an innate skepticism about dogma.” I must agree.
J. Wayne Oldroyd is a differently abled photographer, retired city planner, and grandfather of four.
