Halfway through I thought I'd already read this story, but then I realized I was thinking of [b:The Stand|149267|The Stand|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1213131305l/149267.SX50.jpg|1742269], which was twice as long but with much better pacing. I also started to suspect that the characters of [b:The Overstory|40180098|The Overstory|Richard Powers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562786502l/40180098.SY75.jpg|57662223] would not be okay with the number of trees that were cut down to publish such a bloated book. While at times I was tempted to DNF, I didn't completely hate this book. It was hard for me to keep track of all the characters, even with the lengthy exposition dedicated to each at the beginning, and I failed to emotionally connect with any of them. What compelled me about this book was the perspective of the forests and trees, and the sense of scale of their footprints and timeline--I'm not sure that the stories of any of the humans in this particular book did that broader perspective enough justice. Overall I didn't particularly enjoy reading this book, but it did give me some things to think about.