Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

North Woods by Daniel Mason

14 reviews

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

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

blankcrayon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

2.0

Interesting concept, but I didn’t enjoy the execution. I found myself wanting to finish the book, and I didn’t connect with the characters. The fantasy elements brought in toward the second half of the book were also not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death

Minor: Sexual content and War

emily_koopmann's review

emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Murder

mscalls's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Sexual content, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Colonisation

cryptofauna's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

1.5

what was even the point of this book. 
badly paced, no cohesive plot line or honestly any plot to begin with. had a few interesting moments in a couple of the short stories but it jumps around far too much to actually get properly aquatinted with some of the characters. (like i loved mary and alice because they were the most robust and had more time than anyone else to flesh out and have a compelling story i feel like)
i really don’t mind a book in this sort of format (one of my fav books of all time greenwoods is like this) but i feel like this did not do the multigenerational independent yet slightly connected stories well at all. 
honestly should have dnfed it but i was really hoping it would get better or have some kind of ending that tied it all up. it felt like there was supposed to be come deep meaning that i clearly missed
had high hopes for this one and i don’t understand why everyone else in these reviews is obsessed with it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

wordswithjustine's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, and Dementia

town_scar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Have we not all looked at houses all around the world and pondered what history the walls may tell? What the earth might know? 

This novel is a true masterpiece. A combination of prose and poetry that embodies naturalism and spiritualism at its core.

Perhaps my only gripe is that I wish there had been a greater focus on non-White individuals. The main owners of the house are all white (with a single brief exception) and while the original inhabitants of the land are acknowledged they are not given a voice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, and Colonisation

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cancer

mselvis's review against another edition

informative reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

ashleyjean6's review

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail