The Oxford Brotherhood

I read this for a book club, so especially tried to read closely and take notes. The book had an interesting structure with multiple characters that you get to know well. To me the book unfortunately started to drag about halfway through. Lots of action but very detailed, so it required intense focus to read. The book really made me think, so I am glad I read it, though I think if it weren’t for the book club I may not have finished this one because it was hard to casually pick up and get excited about. It is very thought provoking with a clear message.

This book pulled me into its world of trees and gutted me. I loved the richly drawn human characters and the stories they and the author tell about and learn from trees. I didn’t love the whiteness of the book, but also the relationship Powers describes between people and trees is a particularly white western one—some sense of indigenous stewardship before the end would have made that less irksome. But the book is beautiful and devastating to read, and I can’t stop thinking about trees.