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fkshg8465's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Blood, Confinement, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide attempt
dizzymisslizzy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Murder, Mental illness, Car accident, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Homophobia and Suicide attempt
town_scar's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Death, Homophobia, Outing, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Blood, Car accident, Violence, Slavery, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, and Body horror
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexism, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cancer
mselvis's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Confinement, Body horror, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gore
rednikki's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
But Mason only tells the story through the white people who have lived (or in one case, visited) there. Excluding people of color from point of view was clearly a decision Mason made. The first time we encounter the place, it is through the eyes of some of the first white settlers of the US; we never see it through the eyes of the historical people of the land. There is one section where there is a person of color living in the place, and Mason chooses to tell the story through the point of view of a white visitor instead.
Rutherford's books also usually have at least some time points where there is hope and happiness. In Mason's world, there is only misery, tragedy and despair. Sometimes it's just an undercurrent, sometimes it is overwhelming – but whenever his characters experience joy they are punished for it.
Do not recommend.
Graphic: Slavery, Kidnapping, Animal death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Dementia, and Death
ashleyjean6's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Car accident, Child death, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Dementia, Murder, Slavery, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War
sjanke2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Confinement, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Blood, Car accident, Death, Outing, Medical content, and Slavery
chloesnotscared's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Car accident and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Medical trauma, Suicide, Slavery, Colonisation, Violence, Infidelity, Homophobia, Grief, Death, Mental illness, Animal death, and Murder
ellenszostak's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, Blood, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Murder
Minor: Infidelity
funktious's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Loved this. A bit like a commonplace book, assembled from various different sources (songs, pictures, case notes, magazine articles) then strung together by chapters focusing on different periods in American history, focused on a house in the New England woods. Love stories and tragedies, murder and sex, families both human and animal. Plenty of deaths but no one truly dies and they return to the story at unexpected moments and in strange ways. I loved how discarded objects and belongings kept showing up dozens of years later and how different generations were linked in completely unpredictable ways. And always the apples and the catamount and the trees. Really good autumn read.
I propose a new calendar: not one Autumn but twelve, a hundred. The autumn when the birches are yellow but still have their leaves; when the beeches are green but the birch leaves have fallen; when the oaks tint to the colour of ripe apricots and the beeches yellow; when the oaks turn a cigar brown and the beeches curl up into crispy copper rolls. And so on; I’ve missed a few. But to call it all just “autumn”!
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Murder