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Dinosaurs
By Lydia Millet
W. W. Norton & Company, 9781324021469, October 2022, 240pp.

The Short of It:

Brief but packed with meaning. The kind of read you keep thinking about long after turning that last page.

The Rest of It:

Her exquisite new novel is the story of a man named Gil who walks from New York to Arizona to recover from a failed love. After he arrives, new neighbors move into the glass-walled house next door and his life begins to mesh with theirs. ~ Indiebound

I have high praise for Dinosaurs. Millet tells the simple story of a man suffering from loss, but it’s not at all sad. It’s hopeful. It’s hopeful in the way Gil interacts with other humans. His quiet observations and his easy going manner, allow him to guide and inform those around him, but completely without judgement.

After his long trek from NY to Arizona, the hours spent walking in solitude allowed him to process the past so he could step into the future. He arrives at his new home with no expectations but when he sees that his new neighbors have a glass house, he realizes that he will probably get to know them quite well. Giving full transparency a whole new meaning.

It’s hard to tell you exactly why I loved it so much. Not a lot happens but through Gil’s observations, we see what drives and motivates humans to do what they do. To know someone who can so seamlessly step into your life, offer support and much needed friendship, without judgement, is rare. I throughly enjoyed these characters. They aren’t perfect but they are good people trying to do their best.

Highly recommend.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Overstory
By Richard Powers
W. W. Norton & Company, 9780393356687, April 2019, 512pp.

The Short of It:

This work of fiction is bigger than the trees and people it’s about.

The Rest of It:

It is impossible for me to explain the magnitude of this work but I shall try. The Overstory is comprised of seemingly independent stories that eventually become entwined for a finale that I personally didn’t see coming.

Each story is in some way about nature and trees and the importance of their place in the world we live in. What they represent, how we can’t live without them, and in one story, how they speak to us. In the telling of this story, we meet a young woman who, after surviving an accident, begins to hear voices instructing her to leave everything behind and to just head out onto the road. Go where? She isn’t sure but while following these voices, she meets a person who is on his own quest for answers and together they head out on a journey that will change their lives.

In other stories, we meet a married couple who is unable to have children, a young man who is sentenced to a wheelchair but who finds fame in the video games he creates, a young woman who struggles to find purpose after her father commits suicide. There’s even more but it’s best if you go into the story blind. You must experience it for yourself. I found myself totally immersed in these stories and they had me yearning for fresh air and sunshine. I will never look at a tree in the same way again and if you shy away from short fiction do not shy away from this book because it is absolutely a novel, not just a collection of similar stories.

At 500+ pages The Overstory is a commitment but if you love the outdoors or if you’re like me and have found an appreciation for the outdoors since this pandemic hit, you will find yourself treasuring this novel. I read it in two days and when I turned that last page I sat there stroking its cover for a full five minutes. So much to think about.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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