Richard Powers (1) (1957–)

As a reader, I'm sometimes not sure if "Gain" is reporting or fictionalizing history. So much of the narrative appears to recount actual history--the influence of specific corporations, for example--or a summation of technological processes--like the explication of what's involved in developing a disposable camera. On the other hand, the characters are fictional and there is a plot and there is action and there are all the other elements we associate with "story." The approach does remind me of Michener, though--thoroughly researched realism. I am fascinated by "Gain's" accumulation of detail. I've never had ovarian cancer (or any other kind of cancer, for that matter), but, having read this novel, it seems that I understand, or at least am sensitive to, what people go through in chemotherapy.… (more)

If you want your next book to be a challenge, look no further. This is a book of big ideas, too many to list. It is unusually dark and very heavy on the reader. The central theme is environmentalism, but it is a lot more than that.

While reading this my brain made a weird connection to Terrence Malick's Tree of Life. Not only because of the tree as the prevalent motif, but there is just something grandiose about these two works of art, something that will partly always remain unreachable to the audience, but you can sense that it is there. It is art pushed to the extreme, profound, but also insufferable at times. A lot is left to the interpretation of the reader.

Overstory touches on all the topics I love to read about, but it was still a hard work. It feels much longer than it actually is (around 500 pages). After the first part (Roots) that is a collection of stories through which we get to know the ten (!) main characters, things get a little complicated.
In the remaining parts of the book there are many superfluous descriptions, redundant characters and general lack of direction. Moreover, some ideas were really pushed too hard onto the reader through a black and white lens.

However, some paragraphs were so profoundly beautiful that it almost seems worth it. I kept rereading some sentences and have highlighted more paragraphs than in all the books I've read this year so far.

If the book had been edited and cleaned up a little more, I would have enjoyed it much more. It is a book you want to root for, you want everyone to read it. But, it is very inaccessible and I would be reluctant to recommend it to more casual readers.… (more)