The Overstory by Richard Powers (2021)

A groupsproject together with Anamaria Gusu and Annegien Schilling. Our take on the book The Overstory by Richard Powers. A story in which trees are the main character and the life of the families in the book are intertwined with eachother. "That's the trouble with people, their root problem. Life runs alongside them, unseen. Right here, right next." In his book "The Overstory", Pulitzer Prize acclaimed author Richard Powers invited you to discover nine stories about trees that are deeply interconnected with the humans surrounding them. From being silent bystanders to becoming overarching characters, the timber creatures reflect people's struggle of being disconnected from one's roots and purpose in life. Experience photosynthesis (life), putrefaction (death), germination (birth) and fertilization (love) in a heavy- blooming story about the unrecognized miracle of nature. In its structure, the book ramifies from decentralized narratives about broken families and estranged generations to the beauty of powerful communities of activism. As a reader, you start following the invididual characters with little connection to eachother wondering when and how they will come together. Every character either denies its bond to the trees they are assigned to or embarces the mirroring in thir own cycle of life. The seperation of the nine lives culminated with the formation of the tenth character: the forest. Playing with life and death, "The Overstory" creates a new perspective of the relationships between people and nature, leading you on the path of discovering the resistance that protects it, in other words, the understory.