Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - North Woods

I liked this book. Though it came highly recommended and I wanted to love it. And I didn’t. This said, some of things that made me not love it are things that may be right up the alley of other readers: an omniscient third person narrative voice that can sometimes feel a little emotionally detached (not to be confused with the book being unemotional, it’s a very emotional book. Only that the narrator is giving us that emotion from a very outside perspective), and nearly every chapter featuring a totally new central character all linked together through living in or attachment to a single house over centuries.

Which for me, I tend to be attracted to very character driven books, and so being presented with a new central character each chapter just as I was getting to know the previous one was difficult for me to get into. But what I will say is, the book is super interesting. It’s very concept driven and the concept is incredibly compelling. One of the things I really did love in its concept was the usage of ephemera. Oftentimes, between chapters, there would be things like photographs, news clippings, obituaries, poems, journal excerpts, etc, which really made the world feel so real and palpable.

So for those who love somewhat experimental concept driven books, you will likely love this. And there are multiple characters who I did find incredibly compelling and was sad to depart from so quickly when the book moved on to a new inhabitant of the house. The book is also undeniably very well written and constructed. I think that while it wasn’t a five star read for me, it would be a five star read for many others. In fact I already recommended it to two different friends who I think would absolutely lose their minds over this book based on their reading tastes. So don’t let my criticism deter you if this is the kind of storytelling you like!

Content Warnings

very_mellifluous's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

So...this book was not what I expected it to be. It was more somber (only by my interpretation) as a whole, and because the main character is sort of, in reality, the house (or the north woods), there is a lot of death that we are brought along to watch and deal with, which is hard for me!

There is a lot of beautiful writing of Nature, and I want Daniel Mason and Anne Carson to collaborate on something. He has a lovely sense of writing rhythm into his prose and my favorite passages involved descriptions of the woods and flora/fauna within.

Truthfully I would have loved for the book to end on a high note, with the final inhabitant we watch be someone who cares for the house and 'resets' it, almost like Osgood, with her care and enthusiasm for the place. That does not happen, but what we do see is beautiful and idyllic. It occurred to me that Osgood and his daughters called the place Eden, and it seems that they truly imbued that into the land. Truly the character I care about most is the painter, William Teale, who deserved love!!!! There is a character involved in his story that I spent the rest of the book cursing at.

There is also a line from Osgood's narration at the start where he writes about the spirit of the eldest apple tree being a guardian for the rest of the orchard, and he writes: "I have come to the opinion, generally, that he who does good to the land shall be protected, while he who trespasses upon her will be met with violent return." It turns out that

Osgood grows to be this sort of figure himself,

which is very sweet and comforting.

Lastly, I found it interesting that the "original" pair we see inhabiting this space, the pre-Puritan escapees, were not more present in the narrative. Most of the other characters are threaded through newer storylines, but these are allowed to rest. I wonder why Mason chose to do this - instead, he uses Osgood as an anchor point (okay, we see a lot of the people in between Osgood and the first pair, but Osgood feels different). The first pair really feel like a localized Adam and Eve, who are too pure and mythical to dredge from the past. They spiritually inhabit the place, but don't make any appearances. I just wanted to note that for myself.

Also, the section when

Nora comes into the glade with Osgood

could totally be scored with Televangelism by Ethel Cain.

Content Warnings

emjay2021's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Fantastic. I started with the print book, but was having a hard time getting through it and had to return it to the library. Then I picked it up again as an audiobook and loved it. Don’t know if it was because of the different format, but the different narrators are all excellent and really add to the experience of the story. I felt like I was sitting around a fire with people taking turns telling stories about the land we were sitting on.

I loved all the callbacks to previous chapters and the recurring characters, human and non-human alike. THE BEETLES! Some stories were funny, some suspenseful, some poignant. There is something special about this book. Highly recommended if you like historical fiction and linked stories with a strong sense of place and detailed description. I’m so glad I gave it another chance.

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emily_koopmann's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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gena10's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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lilly_dav_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The author said it himself-just out of context, “The book was massive and terrible and untethered, and as a reader who prided herself on not slinking before difficult texts, she found herself in awe at its sheer strangeness.”
{+} loved the concept, loved how the stories weeded together in the most delicious of ways, loved that the stories are filled with ghosts of their predecessors.
{-} took me forever to finish because it felt very long winded at times.
But happy I stuck it out because it’s a beautiful tale of time, nature, and the humans who navigate time and nature.

Content Warnings

wordswithjustine's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

I almost DNF'd this book because I wasn't in a murdery frame of mind nor do I pre er books with much sex and it seemed like those things were maybe going to be the focus. I am glad I stuck with it. The nature focus shines through in the second half. The writing is absolutely extraordinary with so many strands woven together.

Content Warnings

fkshg8465's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is one of the most interesting storytelling formats I’ve ever read. Is done effectively. It’s almost like a bunch of short stories connected through time with the setting and the part characters weaved throughout to provide continuity. It was enjoyable to read and to contemplate.

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