Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Greenwood by Michael Christie

6 reviews


This was stunning and a lovely multi generational/POV tale. It spent much longer in the past than I had expected from the description but I loved the way it worked backwards and then forwards again as if tracing the rings of a tree. 
This was a great story told well and I kind of want to pick it straight back up again to reread it. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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: Yes

This is such a difficult book to review because it has so many layers (like a tree!) to it; it's a deep one.

I went into this book blind, not really knowing what it was about, other than it followed a family through multiple generations, and I think that was the best way to approach this book; with few to no expectations.

At the heart of the story is a baby that is found in the woods, but the baby and its finder are being hunted down for the purposes of a cover up. What follows is an adventurous chase, multi-generational trauma, human flaws & struggles, addiction, love and so much more. Ultimately, it's a very human story with imperfect characters with their own struggles/motives.

When I started this book, it felt like it was going to be a book that forcefully makes you look at how terrible humans are because we're destroying the earth, and I'm someone who's all for saving and caring for the earth and nature, and getting that message across, yet I didn't want or need this message forced upon me. Thankfully this vibe didn't continue as heavily throughout the book. 

I found the first 100 pages or so quite slow, and I felt like I was being hounded by too many characters at once, but it gradually caught my interest the deeper into the story I got and I'm glad I stuck with it. So if you're reading this or thinking about it, be mindful that it's more of a slow/medium pace book and that you might have to stick it out to get truly captured by it. 

This is the first book I've read from Christie and I have to say, he writes beautifully. I found myself able to fully envisage what was happening, the scenes, the facial expressions; some sentences/quotes were really beautiful and poignant. The time periods are laid out like the inner rings of a tree, starting and ending in 2034, and although there's a bit of bouncing around between characters, I was still able to follow the story pretty well. It was a bit mind boggling to keep track of whose child was whose but I managed it! 

I found the ending a tad disappointing, though it was still a touching and thought provoking one.
I was hoping Jake would reclaim Greenwood island as hers and simply do good things for the environment, especially as it felt so heavily imposed at the beginning of the book. I didn't expect her to kind of give it all away, and also imagine a future life with a small child she just met. It was an odd ending in my opinion.


To summarise, this book isn't a particularly <i>exciting</i> one, but it's a somewhat smooth ride through a thought-provoking multi-generational story that covers some deep topics told through imperfect characters.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional mysterious sad slow-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

An absolute treasure of a multi-generational book. Christie does a really good job of sticking to his chosen themes, making us care about complex characters, and keeping track of a lot of details that the characters themselves mix up

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings