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wordsmithreads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Wood is time captured. A map. A cellular memory. A record. This is why, Liam believes, carpenters like himself will never go out of business. Because people will always keep wood close: in our houses and on our floors, ceilings, and walls; in our trusted canes and our finest musical instruments; in our heirloom tables and old rocking chairs; and, most tellingly, in the very capsules that ease our journey into the ground. When carpenters call a piece of wood clear, they mean it is free of knots and wanes and blemishes. And during his many years of fussing over wood, cutting it to exact lengths and lovingly fitting it together just right, all before buffing it to a soul-warming shine, Liam Greenwood has often thought that people like clear wood best because they need to see time stacked together. Years pressed against years, all orderly and clean. Free from obstruction or blemish. The way our own lives never are.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Classism, Violence, Drug use, Colonisation, and Kidnapping
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Cancer, and Miscarriage
runesicle's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, War, Violence, Suicide, and Terminal illness
Minor: Vomit
inkling's review
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A family mystery that stretches over generations and takes an entire 500 pages to unwind. Some parts I liked, but it was too many different perspectives for me. I also read it very slowly which meant I had almost forgotten about certain characters before we came back to their story, and tis made it hard to feel invested in their stories. The trees are a central part of all of the stories but this book is not about trees, which was a false expectation I had.
I think this would be a cosy read if you have lots of time and like slower, slice of life books.
I think this would be a cosy read if you have lots of time and like slower, slice of life books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Drug abuse
Minor: Suicide
jlye's review
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved Greenwood so much. I was sad when I finished reading it because I wanted it to go on forever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, War, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Racism and Homophobia
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
This book is fantastic but MAN where are the Indigenous people? The absense didn't make sense to Canadian history or climate action culture.
"Because there’s nothing like poverty to teach you just how much of a luxury integrity truly is."
"What is nature exactly, Willow?...Is one of my reclaimed wood tables Nature? Am I nature?"
"Whenever she tells the story of the cyclone...she will puzzle over how to properly describe the sound it made as it ate through her library. She'll grapple with how one could possibly capture precisely the sound of ten thousand books drawn up into the air and scattered for hundreds of miles. And it won't be until years later--long after the Depression ends and poor people stop riding the rails...and long after she's able to again venture into that section of her field where they planted the windbreak of maples together, trees that have only thrived ever since. And long after the void he left in her life entirely heals over--only then will she arrive at a suitable answer: they sounded like birds."
"So know this: your father loved you with everything he had. He just didn't have much left."
"Time, Liam has learned, is not an arrow. Neither is it a road. It goes in no particular direction. It simply accumulates—in the body, in the world—like wood does. Layer upon layer. Light, then dark. Each one dependent upon the last. Each year impossible without the one preceding it. Each triumph and each disaster written forever in its structure. His own life, he can admit now, will never be clear, will never be unblemished, will never be reclaimed. Because it is impossible to ungrow what has already grown, to undo what is already done. Still, people trust the things he’s built, and there is something to that. It’s not enough, but it’s what he’ll take with him."
"What if a family isn't a tree at all? What if it's more like a forest? A collection of individuals, pooling their resources by intertwined roots, sheltering each other from wind and weather and drought... what are families other than fictions? Stories told about a particular cluster of people for a particular reason. And like all stories, families are not born, they're invented. Pieced together from love and lies and nothing else."
"Because there’s nothing like poverty to teach you just how much of a luxury integrity truly is."
"What is nature exactly, Willow?...Is one of my reclaimed wood tables Nature? Am I nature?"
"Whenever she tells the story of the cyclone...she will puzzle over how to properly describe the sound it made as it ate through her library. She'll grapple with how one could possibly capture precisely the sound of ten thousand books drawn up into the air and scattered for hundreds of miles. And it won't be until years later--long after the Depression ends and poor people stop riding the rails...and long after she's able to again venture into that section of her field where they planted the windbreak of maples together, trees that have only thrived ever since. And long after the void he left in her life entirely heals over--only then will she arrive at a suitable answer: they sounded like birds."
"So know this: your father loved you with everything he had. He just didn't have much left."
"Time, Liam has learned, is not an arrow. Neither is it a road. It goes in no particular direction. It simply accumulates—in the body, in the world—like wood does. Layer upon layer. Light, then dark. Each one dependent upon the last. Each year impossible without the one preceding it. Each triumph and each disaster written forever in its structure. His own life, he can admit now, will never be clear, will never be unblemished, will never be reclaimed. Because it is impossible to ungrow what has already grown, to undo what is already done. Still, people trust the things he’s built, and there is something to that. It’s not enough, but it’s what he’ll take with him."
"What if a family isn't a tree at all? What if it's more like a forest? A collection of individuals, pooling their resources by intertwined roots, sheltering each other from wind and weather and drought... what are families other than fictions? Stories told about a particular cluster of people for a particular reason. And like all stories, families are not born, they're invented. Pieced together from love and lies and nothing else."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Medical content, Infidelity, Colonisation, Suicide, Alcohol, Misogyny, Violence, Outing, Cancer, Grief, Gun violence, Ableism, War, and Sexism
Minor: Abortion
Wrongful imprisonmentatlas_reads's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Drug use
Moderate: Kidnapping, Death, Pregnancy, and Suicide
oceanxbluess's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I've found so many forever favourites this year already, and my luck didn’t run out when I recently read Michael Christie’s ‘Greenwood’.
Spanning over 120 years the book is structured like the concentric growth rings of a tree and focuses on 5 of the most pivotal rings in Greenwood history - giving the term ‘family tree’ a whole new definition.
The Greenwood family, as their surname suggests, are all in some way or another connected to trees - whether that be through logging, carpentry, dendrology, tourism or activism.
We flick from 2038 where ‘The Great Withering’ - the wave of fungal blights and insect infestations caused by climate change - has wiped out almost all of the world's forests and people around the globe are dying from a new cough-inducing strain of tuberculosis caused by the increase of dust storms, all the way back to 1908 where the logging industry was just beginning to find its feet.
Trees became a luxury, only affordable for the richest members of society, with Greenwood Arboreal Cathedral open for pilgrims, celebrities & billionaires to spend some valuable time with one of the last remaining forests in the world - although most of them just want to take a selfie in the trees to post to their socials..
Christie’s writing completely blew my mind. The story is structured in such a unique & apt way, and the details are absolutely insane! It was so easy to become invested in each and every character, learning so much about each of their lives with SO MUCH DETAIL. I adored every character.
This is what I would class as a climate fiction book, but the story comes incredibly close to our reality right now (as do most in this genre). Of course many of us have been aware of the detrimental effects of climate change across the globe for a while now, and with temperatures reaching 40C for the first time in the UK this week, it is becoming harder and harder for people to deny & ignore.
This is definitely one for fans of The Overstory. I also kept thinking of Once Upon A River whilst reading this, finding familiarities in how incredible the storytelling is.
This multigenerational, pageturner of a climate fiction book is a must-read and has definitely made it into my top 5 reads so far this year, and claimed a spot on my forever shelf.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, and War
Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Homophobia
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