For this month’s Writer’s Book Club, I read Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstory. It follows the family histories and lives of nine people and their tight connection to trees. It was a struggle to get through—too wordy and too preachy. I’m surprised it won the Pulitzer. Because of that, I also recommend nine other Pulitzer Prize-winning novels for you to enjoy.

What I liked about the book

The Overstory began well with Nicholas Hoel’s heritage and the fate of their beloved chestnut trees. One tree survives through all the generations of Hoels. I appreciated this wonderful illustration of the longevity of trees. And the relationships people had with trees were intriguing. Nicholas carries on his family’s tradition of photographing the chestnut once a month for years. Douglas Pavlicek survives a crash by landing in a banyan tree and then spends years planting seedlings. And scientist Patricia Westerford discovers trees can communicate.

I also enjoyed learning what it’s like to be a tree hugger and actually live in an enormous redwood tree. Yikes on the height.

Powers divided the book into sections: Roots, Trunk, Canopy, and Seeds and the characters’ actions within these sections adequately portrayed these titles. Pretty clever.

What I didn’t like about the book

The format was tricky, bouncing from one storyline to the next, often on the same page. I had to constantly remind myself who was who. Additionally (spoiler alert), five characters commit an act that ends in tragedy. Instead of owning up to what they did, they run. At that point, I lost respect for them and their cause. It was a struggle to finish the book when I no longer cared what happened to them.

I also didn’t like the repetition and the wordiness. Powers states so many times that humans are destroying trees and that I lost count.

I wanted more (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing)

I wanted to know more about how trees communicate. And rather than highlighting just the radicalism in combating tree destruction, I would have liked to see the positive actions human beings are taking to save and cultivate trees.

How this book has affected my writing

This book definitely had an agenda at the expense of character and story development. My books also tend to have an agenda, particularly Carpe Diem, Illinois (yahoo unschooling) and God on Mayhem Street (gay rights), but I’ve tried to capture both sides of issues, not make it so, pardon the expression, clear cut. I’ll continue to do so.

The Overstory gets 👍🏻 👍🏻  for clunky story telling.

Nine Pulitzer Prize winners for fiction I recommend

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – Atticus Finch was the original unschooling parent.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara – still my favorite book on the Civil War.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry – a classic western. The miniseries was terrific, too.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy – this post-apocalyptic novel is not for the faint of heart.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz – read my review of this epic family tale, narrated expertly by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud – a treasure of short stories about a loveable curmudgeon.

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan – Is this a collection of short stories? A Novel? One thing is certain, “Time is a goon.”

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – a well-crafted WWII novel.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – beautifully written Appalachian tale. Read my review here.

A little help!

My award-winning young adult dystopian novel, The Devil Particle, only needs four more reviews on Amazon to reach the magic fifty reviews and the chance of getting some additional marketing from Amazon.

If you’ve read The Devil Particle, please leave a review. Your review doesn’t have to be long. A simple “I enjoyed this book” is enough. Thank you!