“The Overstory,” by Richard Powers, was published in 2018 and won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
The novel is complicated. It follows nine very different characters, whose lives become intertwined and connected as each one of them becomes aware of how their fellow humans are destroying old growth forests.
Although the human plotlines drive the action, the book is, most importantly, about trees. Through the stories of the human characters, readers vicariously experience their spiritual awakenings, growing awareness and connections to trees. Through one of his characters, a botanist named Patricia Westerford, Powers also introduces readers to a great deal of scientific information.
It's the March meeting of the Talk of Iowa Book Club. Host Charity Nebbe explores “The Overstory” with expert readers Debra Marquart, Jim Pease and Eric Tate.
Interested in joining the next meeting of the Talk of Iowa Book Club? Our April selection is "An American Sunrise” by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. Join the discussion on April 20th.
In the meantime, chat about book club selections and other literary interests with Charity and hundreds of other readers from across the state in the Talk of Iowa Book Club Facebook Group.
Guests:
- Debra Marquart, Iowa Poet Laureate, professor of English at Iowa State University, poet, author and musician
- Jim Pease, emeritus associate professor, Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University
- Eric Tate, associate professor of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences at the University of Iowa
