Farming Fiction - The Overstory by Richard Powers
I’ve long been a fan of giving books to folks as gifts and recommendations, and I’m equally interested in the things that I’m recommended or gifted. Not too long ago, I received The Overstory by Richard Powers, and I have been engaged by it, although I am aware of the criticisms it has received regarding the way it characterizes BIPOC characters. I’m not done with it yet, so I’ll withhold going to deep into it, but I have been deeply moved by certain passages in the book.
It all started one night a few years back when I was headed to a concert of my favorite band probably of all time, the Mountaingoats. I rarely do all that much in terms of going out, certainly later in the evening, a result of both having had a child for the last 7+ years and also now living 35 minutes outside of Austin. This night, therefore, was going to be special. The show had been moved due to COVID, and it was notable because things were getting back to normal regarding event attendance.
On the way to the show, I listened to a Fresh Air interview NPR’s Terry Gross conducted with Dr. Suzanne Simard, a Canadian scientist, professor and researcher, also author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. Simard, in the face of scores of belittling and condescending academics, researchers, and folks involved in forestry (primarily men, for what it’s worth), detailed her growing understanding of how trees interact, share, and communicate. The interview - and the book - are certainly worth reading.
To finish my personal story, it turns out the venue had rescheduled the concert, and I drove to Austin for nothing. To my defense, there was a small gaggle of confused patrons walking around the locked doors of the venue, clearly my ill-informed cohorts who had also failed to receive the bad news.
As for The Overstory, I have found a focus on the trees motivates me to consider the largest species of plants on our property - primarily juniper (colloquially cedar), mesquite, oak, cedar elm, winged elm, and a fairly large willow on the edge of our seasonal pond.
It could be that Richard Powers’ choices fail to see the forest for the trees, so to speak, to open his universe to the full diversity of human characters rather than simply uplift the trees. That is probably not for me to say, although I will repeat that there are moments in the narrative that are deeply captivating. If nothing else, The Overstory has changed the way I interact with and envision the trees on our land, for which I’m grateful.
