His heart is in the right place, but can't get into Powers's The Overstory

The answer to yesterday's question is: No. I have stopped reading Richard Powers's The Overstory, at about 1/4 in (+100 pp.). I'm sure there's a lot more I could learn about trees were I to finish reading this novel, but I'd rather spend some time among trees or read a nature handbook - and when I'm reading a novel please let it be a novel, replete with fully developed characters who interact w/ one another in intriguing and sometimes surprising ways. The first 100 pp introduce us to the 9 (!) protagonists by giving us a summary of their lives, sometimes over generations in their family, and it all just feels scripted and contrived, especially the tragic events in many of the lives. I recognize that in fact these characters will interact as the novel progresses, but this long opening section did little or nothing to advance my curiosity and interest. I have, since dropping this novel, looked up a few reviews online, and as one might expect they're all over the place, with some rave reviews (notably one by a well-known author that gave me the sense of not wanting to offend and author of equal statute) and a few outright pans, notably in the British press (they can be tougher, esp on American authors) - the gist of the criticism being lack of character development, inconsistent structure, and too much polemics. RP's heart is surely in the right place - who's gonna argue against trees, for God's sake? - and his mind is as acute and copious as ever, but, as I think one critic also suggested, I wish he'd written a pamphlet or a tract; this book just did not click for me as fiction.