The Overstory

A huge book about a group of humans trying to save the living sentinel of our earth - trees. Richard Powers's writing is beautiful and lyrical, bringing trees to life in a way no encyclopaedia nor textbook ever could.

The human characters are nowhere near the number of trees that populate this book, but for a novel, there are many: 9. We meet them individually then together: the descendant of a farming family, a second generation Chinese American, a bright but odd kid, a lawyer and the woman he can't live without, a young, scarred soldier, a crippled tech genius, an academic, and a beautiful uni drop out.
Many of them meet within the second half of the book and become members of a radical green movement to save the earth from human plunder.

I normally shy away from books with a strong message but the writing is so evocative, the information on trees so fascinating, and the author's presentation of the human experience so unique that the 500 plus pages didn't feel heavy.

This was not an easy book to read, but it is one that will make you look at trees and plants with a lot more respect and wonder, and it could be the one to make you realise the real cost of our neglect of the environment.