Reviews with content warning for War - North Woods

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North Woods by Daniel Mason

8 reviews

ashleyjean6's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Original and well written! It's genre defying: historical fiction, ghost story, thriller, academic essay, nature essay, poetry. It is also both a novel, but one made up of many short stories tied together by a place. The book starts during the 1600s and continues to modern day and beyond. Without spoiling things, I can't add much details. Only to say that while the overall tone of each story is typically a combination of sad and bizarre, it is also thought provoking and inspiring in its sheer creativity. Highly recommend. The audiobook was also very well done!!

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atiek's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

5.0

I give this book beyond a five point oh. It'll break your heart and allow you to see justice in the same breath. It'll build you back up once broken down. All of the characters's voices are palpable and I strongly recommend listening to North Woods on audio for the best experience. I will be buying a physical copy of this book some day, it is that freaking great.

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deedireads's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedireads.com/.

See, now this is what I want every literary historical fiction novel to be for the rest of time. More books like this please!!

North Woods is super engaging and creative in structure, with the focus on the woods (and a house in those woods, complete with apple orchard) over 4+ centuries. We meet not only the people who lived in the house, but also the animals — and we get not only traditionally narrated chapters, but also songs, newspaper clippings, and more. It’s a tapestry, it’s a patchwork quilt, it’s the circle of life in miniature, and it is equally heartbreaking and delightful (and, at times, quite shocking).

Truly, I just loved this one so much. If you like books that span lifetimes, connect them in super-smart ways, cut to the quick of an excellent character in no time flat, weave in nature, and experiment with structure, run don’t walk!

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sarahweyand's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

This is a unique book among the ones I've read recently in that the central character of this book is a place and not a person. Such a wonderful concept that I think was explored and executed well. This book read more like a connected anthology than one singular story, but I think I liked this format more.

I will say that the style of North Woods inherently lends itself to shallower character development, so I didn't love that I felt disconnected from most of our characters. Combined with some of the chapters that were more character-driven, I found myself struggling to care. As is the case with any short-story style, some plots were more compelling than others, but I definitely liked more than I disliked.

Overall, I thought this was a cool take on historical fiction, and I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook. If you're not into historical fiction, this probably isn't the book for you, but I liked it!

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

4.5

North Woods feels like an American Classic. It’s epic in time spanning from the mid 1700s through to the present and then into the future, yet small in geographical scope centred on a single yellow house and the woods surrounding it in Massachusetts. It unfolds like a series of interconnected short stories, each focused on the current inhabitants of the house. Spotting the connections between the characters and the stories is all part of the enjoyment. Mason shows his writing chops by incorporating a wide variety of genres and styles in this novel. There’s poetry, letters, journals, magazine articles, hospital notes, and a speech; there’s nature writing (particularly strong), true crime and a ghost story. The novel features a cast of memorable, fascinating characters - jealous spinster sisters, a Black woman fleeing a slave catcher, a closeted gay painter, a lusty beetle - not to mention a whole host of themes, some explored in greater depth than others. There’s violence to both the environment and the people, people move on and the landscape changes, and yet humanity and the land continue to survive. There may have been a bit too much of the supernatural for my personal tastes but that didn’t stop me totally enjoying and being thoroughly impressed by this novel.

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mondovertigo's review

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adventurous funny reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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jesselynn's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

Rapturous, moving and eternal.

An incredible book. It is a true epic of life, death, nature, history, succession and reclamation. Told in many voices and styles, we follow hundreds of years of history revolving around a house deep in the woods of Massachusetts. This book haunts its reader with the voices of the past, rallies the timeless human and non-human experiences that are held in a perpetual clandestine shroud between walls, branches and soil. It is sweeping and vibrant and rich in longing and grief and nature. A truly fascinating literary joy and stellar achievement by Daniel Mason.

Thank you to John Murray Press/Hachette for the advanced reader copy.

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rachel_from_avid_bookshop's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

5.0

Daniel Mason's North Woods is a masterful literary art form exploring the four-hundred-year history of the woods surrounding a particular house in western Massachusetts. Mason uses songs, journals, letters, medical notes, and other techniques to share the lives of those who live, love, suffer, create, and die there. The manner in which this book reveals the life cycles of flora and fauna is lyrical, respectful, and full of wonder and awe. Throughout North Woods humanity shapes and changes the environment, but the natural world very much reveals itself to be omnipotent.

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