Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

North Woods by Daniel Mason

4 reviews

basil_touche's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

It took me until the story with the Osgood family to get truly captivated by this novel, but once I did I found it such an engrossing listening experience. The various narrators (except one which I found grating but thankfully doesn't feature much) really helped each chapter feel like the time periods they were set in and the prose was rich with detail, especially about the nature surrounding the house. The way each character's history linked in small ways was very rewarding to come across, and I much prefer that rather than having a big reveal. Feels more natural (ha) that way.

I also quite like how the supernatural elements were executed here as well, gradly being introduced until the last chapters focus more on it. It made me laugh hard at a part in the chapter with the seance, I'll just say good for them so as not to spoil anything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Dementia

Minor: Death of parent and Gaslighting

faithemt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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

5.0

best book i've read all year. 

Full review is here: 
https://goldintheclouds-faith.blogspot.com/2024/11/2024-book-review-48north-woods.html

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

angorarabbit's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

5.0

North Woods tells the story of a place through a few centuries in a 3rd person omniscient narration. The humans are flashes on the years, the real character is the place. Mr Mason tells this story beautifully in loving detail. My only complaint is that the “historical pieces” especially the songs do not quite ring true to the time they are supposedly written in. But that is a small quibble. This is a wonderful book that reminded me that life is fleeting for humans and even trees, but the place remains even as it becomes unrecognisable to those who lived on it centuries ago.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Slavery, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Suicide and Alcohol

There is discussion regarding lobotomies.

vireogirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Very disparate, some chapters much harder to read than others. The randomness was too much for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury