Reviews

Greenwood by Michael Christie

alissaarchibald's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

ratkowe's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

The time jumps both worked and didn't for me. I liked how we went back in time and switched to going forward. But we spend so much time with some characters (300 pages vs 60) only for most of the story to not really matter in the end. The stories were also vastly different and it felt disjointed. It may be the point of the story but I didn’t enjoy it.

Yet, the throughline of trees and nature and community were enchanting and the prose was beautiful at times. Overall I think the story was fine for me and I can see why some people love it.

druy10's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

remora's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

this was good. i loved the differing narrative voices, and the jumps from person to person, time to time and back again - like tracing the rings of a tree inwards and outwards. hopeful despite everything.

adventurouspotato's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

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

3.75

The first half was quite tedious for me, but middle of the second half really pulled the story together. The things left unsaid for decades or between generations were emotionally gripping and I couldn't stop reading during the second 1974 and 2008 sections. In particular,

Willow learning the history behind the poetry recordings

hit hard for me.

I didn't really like the ending though, thematically it made sense but it just felt like

Jake made a huge mistake. It would have maybe been too perfect for her to inherit the island, and I can see how it would compromise her morals. But in the end she could have saved the trees, and it felt like she just threw away that power. Willow makes a similar decision earlier, but it feels more justified since she is portrayed as an extreme kind of person, and she does donate her wealth to people who she believes will preserve the trees. Jake knows the trees will die without her and still throws away the power to save them.

wynrii's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

4.75

alwill24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

thelauraxe's review against another edition

5.0

Maybe it's because I'm a forester in Western Canada but I love this book. The way it ties the story of a single forest into generations of a family is brilliant.

veganheathen's review against another edition

5.0

Books like this are why I like reading the 5 short-listed Canada Reads books each year. I would likely not have picked this up on my own, but I really loved it. It's beautifully written and really sucks you into the multi-generational stories of the Greenwood family. Each persons's story is intertwined with trees and/or forests which also tells a tale of corporate greed, deforestation and climate change.

alvic3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

4.25