Member-only story
The Hoel Chestnut, Part 2
Silently present in ‘The Overstory’
No one else cares when John Hoel takes his camera and decides “…to capture the tree and see what [it] looks like, sped up to the rate of human desire.”
“His wife teases him…,” saying, ‘He’s waiting for it to do something interesting.’”
The flip book created by generations of the Hoel family shows the tree that lives its life alongside theirs.
“The farm is to Frank Jr.’s back each time he opens the lens. The photos hide everything…” Such as the Great Depression, wars, births, deaths, and family celebrations and scandals.
“The generations of grudge, courage, forbearance, and surprise generosity: everything a human being might call the story happens outside [the] photo’s frame.” (Richard Powers)
Years later, Nicholas marvels at how “three quarters of a century dances by in a five-second flip.” He is “watching for those decades’ secret meaning.”
