The Overstory

Richard Powers

“‘Aren’t you hungry?’ she asks.

‘Always. Hunger’s good for you. People should stay hungry.’

He makes her oatmeal with melted cheese and hot peppers. He tells her, ‘I’ll need to think about it overnight.’” pg. 178

“She sets down her coffee, flips on the overhead lights, powers up her machine, and waits to boot into the corporate LAN.” pg. 190

“Truth blazed into his head, things so simple, hidden in broad light. At that moment, the tree above the new Buddha—cuttings from which still grow across the globe—burst into flowers, and the flowers changed into plump purple figs.” pg. 186

“They zip around like swarms of gnats, too fast to see—so fast that Earth seconds seem to them like years. To them, humans are nothing but sculptures of immobile meat. The foreigners try to communicate, but there’s no reply. Finding no signs of intelligent life, they tuck into the frozen statues and start cursing them like so much jerky, for the long ride home.” pg. 97

“That night the temperatures drop into the teens, with sandpapery snowflakes scouring his face like the whole great outdoors has turned into a California exfoliation parlor. He heads to Blackfoot, where he lays in a month’s worth of fruit cocktail in case the drifts come early.” pg. 85