gomoon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, and Drug abuse
Minor: War and Homophobia
hamstringy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Colonisation
Moderate: Classism, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
kktaylor11's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
While Christie is clearly writing in the same branch (tree humor...lol) as Proulx, he writes an entirely different story, which was refreshing. As for the story itself - I'd say 90% of it is very good...10% of it is forced and frustrating.
The story starts with Jake, living in a futuristic world where a blight (the withering) has killed off nearly all the trees in the world. Jake works in a "tree cathedral" where people come to visit the few remaining trees, and a visitor with a mystery about her past opens the door to the rest of the book. (Spoliers to follow!) The story that unfolds is fantastic. I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the "tree ring" metaphor -- structurally the story travels from Jake to her parents to her grandparents to her great grandparents and then back out again, "almost like rings on a tree!" However - it's not as clunky as at sounds. Christie is more a weaver than a woodsman, captivatingly transitioning from one time period to the previous and back again with finesse and gentle elegance. There are no hard stop chapter changes, a new character is introduced, gradually becomes central, and then slowly eases out of focus. When I first realized what was happening I was frustrated because I wanted the story that had been introduced with Jake, but by the end I was actually sorry to see the historical aspect fade away.
Spoiler
As for the story itself, Jake's story ended up being the biggest weakness. In the beginning I was hooked - I wanted to know how the drama of the sick trees and the question of her future would be solved. In the end, however, they weren't, and to me that was the biggest problem with this book. Christie took a cheap exit -- he left the trees sick and dying, left the money on the table, and left Jake with no future and randomly added a completely unnecessary child. It felt like he got bored and just decided to ditch things. All the items that he had carried in the book through decades -- the records, the tools, the journal - in a few pages it was just "oh well, they're all in the dump now." It felt like a heavy handed "now I'm going to end with an ecological message about how children are the future and we have to save the trees" when the book itself had so elegantly made clear the importance of trees throughout. In short - I loved everything about the book except the ending.So what DID I love? Everett!! What a fantastic character! Christie really built him in such a three dimensional manner -- from scary, off-putting and negative to beloved. I might even have cried when Liam found Everett's coffin. OK, I might have cried a lot. Ironically, I also loved the character of Harris Greenwood - not as a person, but as such a well rounded, complete character! Watching Harris evolve over his lifetime was the epitome of a dynamic character, and not always in good ways. His brokenness, his intensity, his fear...it was all so powerful. I didn't love Harris, but I loved his character. I DID love Liam. I didn't like him at first, but I grew to love him, which just emphasizes how talented Christie is -- to create a character and pull us along the journey with Harris of coming to know and care for him. Lomax seemed a typical "bad-guy" and the "maybe it's my baby" part seemed forced and disconnected. Here's this guy who is so proud of being a father to seven children and the long suffering husband with his home and family and he's a "good guy" but apparently he's also sleeping with Euphemia? It doesn't fit with who he is painted to be. If he's a cheater who is sleeping around and then telling his lover (Euphemia) she has to give up the baby then it's not such a "fall from grace" for him to start the Opium trip. His character would be fine and effective - even sympathetic - if that twist was removed. It just felt cheap. I didn't love Liam 2 -- I wanted his character to be MORE fleshed out, but it felt like Liam 2's story is where Christie started to get bored and want to wrap things up too fast. Crawling from the house to the van and then back to the house was a little too much...It wasn't realistic first (if you have a spine severed that severely? Not likely.) and secondly it wasn't necessary. He could have done the same reflection lying on the floor without the back and forth dragging. It just felt forced...and I wanted to know more about him. We heard about his addiction, but his memories actually had nothing to do with it (aside from his detox with his mother.) How did he struggle? Also - no explanation of WHY he didn't answer Meena or every interact with his child? He loved her so much he almost lost it, but when she has his child he just totally ignores her? Doesn't seem realistic. Again - Christie seemed to be speeding up toward the end of the book. And then there's Jake. At the beginning I was really interested. Like I said above, I was actually frustrated when the book started going back in time because as it started I really wanted to focus on the future issues and how to solve the sick trees she's spotted. As soon as the Lomax hints started being dropped I got frustrated. It was too obviously a way to spin the end of the story. Take that out, let her claim her inheritance, and save the patch of trees. Or get rid of the "cathedral" and live on the island by herself. Better yet, let her BE pregnant and have the baby and live in Cabin 12 and emphasize the healing power of nature and why it has to be saved for the next generation -- that would make SO much more sense than her just picking a random child from a dump on the last pages of the book. The story is about family and continuity even when it's not expected or desired...but not just "hey, let me buy you dinner" while walking away from what the whole story has centered on. Honestly, Greenwood Island is the central spot in the story and at the end she just walks away from it into the dust and the retching and imminent death. So what was the whole point?
In the end, my assessment is this: Christie is a phenomenal historical fiction writer, but his post-apocalyptic writing leaves room for improvement. In my rating this one is good enough I'll keep it, think about it, and recommend it to friends -- but I don't think it will last for generations. 4 Stars.
Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
Minor: War and Infertility
jlye's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, War, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Racism and Homophobia
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
"Because there’s nothing like poverty to teach you just how much of a luxury integrity truly is."
"What is nature exactly, Willow?...Is one of my reclaimed wood tables Nature? Am I nature?"
"Whenever she tells the story of the cyclone...she will puzzle over how to properly describe the sound it made as it ate through her library. She'll grapple with how one could possibly capture precisely the sound of ten thousand books drawn up into the air and scattered for hundreds of miles. And it won't be until years later--long after the Depression ends and poor people stop riding the rails...and long after she's able to again venture into that section of her field where they planted the windbreak of maples together, trees that have only thrived ever since. And long after the void he left in her life entirely heals over--only then will she arrive at a suitable answer: they sounded like birds."
"So know this: your father loved you with everything he had. He just didn't have much left."
"Time, Liam has learned, is not an arrow. Neither is it a road. It goes in no particular direction. It simply accumulates—in the body, in the world—like wood does. Layer upon layer. Light, then dark. Each one dependent upon the last. Each year impossible without the one preceding it. Each triumph and each disaster written forever in its structure. His own life, he can admit now, will never be clear, will never be unblemished, will never be reclaimed. Because it is impossible to ungrow what has already grown, to undo what is already done. Still, people trust the things he’s built, and there is something to that. It’s not enough, but it’s what he’ll take with him."
"What if a family isn't a tree at all? What if it's more like a forest? A collection of individuals, pooling their resources by intertwined roots, sheltering each other from wind and weather and drought... what are families other than fictions? Stories told about a particular cluster of people for a particular reason. And like all stories, families are not born, they're invented. Pieced together from love and lies and nothing else."
Graphic: Homophobia, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Medical content, Infidelity, Colonisation, Suicide, Alcohol, Misogyny, Violence, Outing, Cancer, Grief, Gun violence, Ableism, War, and Sexism
Minor: Abortion
Wrongful imprisonmentfeathery's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Cancer, Bullying, Blood, Animal death, Drug use, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Classism, Addiction, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Gun violence, Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual content, Outing, Infertility, Vomit, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Excrement, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Outing, Miscarriage, Rape, Murder, Abortion, and Sexual violence
oceanxbluess's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Drug use, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, and War
Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Homophobia
matadyne's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Outing, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Alcohol, Abandonment, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Minor: War
hmatt'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? Yes
5.0
It starts slower than I usually enjoy, but the characters really grew on me. I wasn't expecting the depth in the characterizations and the nuance within each character's storyline.
Spoiler
Imagine my joy at the low-key queer storyline AND how it resolved to be not-quite-as-tragic-as-it-could-have-been!The writing style plus the Canadian-centric setting really reminded me of Emily St. John Mandel, except perhaps more developed with a better plot than most of her work (sorry, I love her writing, but Station Eleven is a clear outlier when it comes to a solid plot).
I know this is a book that I will read again - I'm sure it's one of those ones where you notice so many more little details on the re-read. And I love that there's a book club kit for it (that has recipes).
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Violence
Moderate: Infidelity, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual violence
Minor: Bullying and Emotional abuse
kelly_e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Author: Michael Christie
Genre: Historical Fiction/Climate Fiction
Rating: 4.75
Pub Date: September 24th 2019
T H R E E • W O R D S
Atmospheric • Mesmerizing • Extensive
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Greenwood is a multi-generational family saga spanning more than a 100 years, running parallel to a story about trees, a continuous metaphor for the constant weathering and survival that is life. A story packed with secrets, growth and sacrifice that dives deep into the meaning of family, and shines an ever needed light of climate change, it's one of the books that will stay with you long after the final page.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I am so pleased to see this novel as the @readcanlit January 2021 selection, otherwise I may have never picked it up! I had received wonderful feedback from several trusted sources, but each time I read the blurb, I couldn't phantom it being a book for my taste. Now after having read it, I'll gladly admit it was nothing like what I was expecting, and I continue to struggle to put my thought into words. Michael Christie has delivered a timely literary masterpiece!
Greenwood is my first dip into climate fiction, and I must say I am impressed with this genre blending novel! I originally thought the structure was confusing, but came to understand it was a beautifully woven aspect for a novel centering around trees, mirroring its concentric rings. There were so many astonishing metaphors sprinkled throughout between life and nature. It delves deep into the roots of what makes a 'family' a family, and explores how branches of a family tree aren't always so straightforward. There was so much to love, and every time I put it down my mind kept coming back to it, however, I did find it an extremely slow build and long book. At times I had difficulty keeping track of the characters and the different timelines, and for that reason alone I couldn't give it full stars. At the end of the day, books, trees, and families all have their own story to tell.
Greenwood is certainly worth your time and I would recommend it to everyone. To be honest, I'm not sure you want to miss this one! More specifically to anyone who appreciates nature, enjoys a good multi-generational family saga, is looking for a great Canadian read, and/or enjoys historical fiction or climate fiction. I can also attest it makes a wonderful choice for book clubs!
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• everyone!
• nature lovers
• book clubs
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"How intimately a book is related to the tree and its rings, she thinks. The layers of time, preserved, for all to examine."
"No, her son is not hers alone. He descends from many bloodlines. Or, more precisely, he descends from the one, great bloodline: born of the Earth and the cosmos and all the wondrous green things that allow us life."
"Everett turns back to regard him and places his hands on Liam's head. 'There aren't any normal lives, son. That's the lie that hurts us most.'"
"People can adapt to anything, as long as it is necessary. And though she's been turned out of her Eden, she's leaving with a story. Only a partial story, it's true, but as far as she can tell, that's the only type there is."
Graphic: Addiction and Drug use
Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gun violence, Infertility, and Physical abuse
overdose