The Overstory, Rickard Powers (2019 Pulitzer Prize for fiction)

 

Characters
Roots
Nicholas Hoel Chestnut tree – sentinel tree Flip-book – 76 years of monthly pictures   Mimi Ma Mulberry Tree Winston Ma – father, three jade rings and scroll, suicide   Adam Appich Maple tree Studying social psychology   Ray Brinkman and Dorothy Cazaly Linden tree Community theater Add new plant to yard each anniversary	Douglas Pavlicek Prisoner 571 in experiment (did not give blanket to help another “prisoner”) Banyan tree – saved life when shot down in Viet Nam Planted saplings to replace those taken down   Neelay Mehta Paralyzed – fell from oak tree Develops computer games Ms. Gilpin – teacher, took notebook   Dr.  Patricia Westerford “Plant Patty” Research that trees are social creatures debunked, but years later vindicated Dennis Ward – husband   Olivia Vandergriff Electrocuted and revived by falling out of bed
Trunk
Life Force Defense LFD Mother N Moses   Olivia and Nick >> Watchman and Maidenhair Douglas fir – Mimas On platform 200 feet in air for one year *Olivia killed in last protest   Mimi and Doug >> Mulberry and Doug-fir   Ray and Dorothy – Dorothy – community chorus and affair Ray – working more hours	Adam >> Maple “Bias Boy” in grad school Thesis – Identity formation and Big Five personality factors among plants rights activists   Dr. Patricia Westerford The Secret Forest   Dennis – Patricia’s husband   Neelay - Computer game “Mastery”
Crown – next 20 years
Mimi – Therapist, “Judith Hanson” Father’s jade ring and Chinese scroll   Adam – professor, early tenure, published Lois - wife   Neelay – Mastery 8   Nick – returns to farm and digs up flip-book	Ray – stroke Dorothy – affair Letting yard go back to nature   Doug – caretaker at Friendliest Ghost Town in the West Alena – read journals and turned Doug in to police   Dr. Westerford – established seed bank
Seeds
Nick – no more movies, working on “Still” Man in red plaid coat helping   Dorothy and Ray – Ray deceased	Dr. Westerford – The New Metamorphosis   Adam and Doug in jail for destruction of property and murder

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       Maidenhair and Watchman lived in Mimas for one year.  Could you imagine doing that??

2.       In her speech at the conference, Home Repair: Countering a Warming World, Patty asked, “What is the single best think a person can do for tomorrow’s world?” (page 464).  Twenty years ago, Mimi thought the answer was to “burn down a luxury ski resort before it could be built” (page 464).  What do you think Mimi’s answer would be at the end of the novel?   How would the other main characters answer that question?

3.       What part did Neelay play in the story?  Also, Dorothy and Ray – why were they in the novel?

4.       When Doug was arrested, the deal offered him was to turn in just one other person in exchange for a reduced sentence (page 450) and he chose Adam.  Why did he choose him?  Do you think that was the best choice given that Adam had a family and was a late-comer to the group?

5.       Do you think his decision had anything to do with the fact that Adam did not go for help when they told him to after the accident?  Adam’s rationale was that Olivia was dead already and if he went for help they would all be arrested.

6.       Why did Adam present little defense after his arrest?  Why did he feel so guilty but none of the others felt moved to turn themselves in?  He told his wife, “If I save myself, I lose something else” (page 488).  What did he mean?

7.       Right before he died, Ray thinks the best defense for Adam is “self-defense…Stand your ground. The castle doctrine.  Self-help” (page 497).  Do you think this would have worked?

8.       When Dorothy and Ray decided to let their yard go back to nature, their neighbors complained and the local government first fined them and then cleaned up the yard without their consent.   How do you think people in your neighborhood would react if someone decided to let their yard be natural?

9.       Was there a better way for the Life Force Defense (LFD) and the five main characters to share their views and stop the logging?

10.   When Adam was talking with Doug at the end, when Doug was identifying him to the authorities, they talked about what they had accomplished.  Adam said, “We accomplished nothing” and Doug replied, “She would have done it all again” (page 431).  Did they accomplish anything? 

11.   When Adam is checked into prison, he hears a voice in his head telling him, “You have been spared from death, to do a most important thing” (page 495).  What do you think it is?

12.   Twenty years later, new fires are being set using the LFD’s old slogans.   Who is setting these fires?

13.   Nick has a job working at a fulfillment center similar to Amazon (un-named in book).   He feels the product the company is promoting is not so much books as it is convenience.   Nick thinks that “ease is the disease” and that “Once you’ve bought a novel in your pajamas, there’s no turning back” (page 379).  Do you see this as a problem?

14.   Who is the man in the red plaid coat helping Nick at the end?  When Nick says to him, referring to conifer trees, “It amazes me how much they say when you let them.  They’re not that hard to hear,” the man answers, “We’ve been trying to tell you that since 1492” (page 493).

15.   How well did the author present both sides of the issue?  The loggers were working for jobs and materials for homes.  The environmentalists wanted to save the old forests.  Was, or is, there a middle ground?

16.   When Mimi and the others were welcoming Adam to their group, Mimi asked him what the best way was to convince people of their cause.  Adam’s response was, “The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind.  The only thing that can do that is a good story” (page 336).  Did this story make you see trees and forests differently?