Should I continue reading The Overstory?

About 100 pp (20%) in to Richard Powers's The Overstory (2018,) and what keeps me going is the promise from others that the 9 or so characters, each introduced in his/her own opening section, will come together and provide the novel w/ some semblance of a plot. Otherwise, I'm confused and disappointed. No question that Powers is a writer of extraordinary intelligence - writing w/ great facility and seemingly boundless knowledge about topics rarely confronted in contemporary fiction, e.g., computer programming, botany, in fact science in all of its manifestations - but at some points it seems he's just showing off his knowledge. Who are these 9 characters? Each of them suffers from some kind of severe personal or family trauma (suicide, accidental death, grievous injury); we do know from a brief hint that at least one becomes a radical advocate for preservation of trees, camping out at the peak of a redwood slated for destruction. But, honestly, let's get on with this story; the introductory passages are taking way too long and providing too little.