Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

North Woods by Daniel Mason

2 reviews

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

 North Woods feels like an American Classic. It’s epic in time spanning from the mid 1700s through to the present and then into the future, yet small in geographical scope centred on a single yellow house and the woods surrounding it in Massachusetts. It unfolds like a series of interconnected short stories, each focused on the current inhabitants of the house. Spotting the connections between the characters and the stories is all part of the enjoyment. Mason shows his writing chops by incorporating a wide variety of genres and styles in this novel. There’s poetry, letters, journals, magazine articles, hospital notes, and a speech; there’s nature writing (particularly strong), true crime and a ghost story. The novel features a cast of memorable, fascinating characters - jealous spinster sisters, a Black woman fleeing a slave catcher, a closeted gay painter, a lusty beetle - not to mention a whole host of themes, some explored in greater depth than others. There’s violence to both the environment and the people, people move on and the landscape changes, and yet humanity and the land continue to survive. There may have been a bit too much of the supernatural for my personal tastes but that didn’t stop me totally enjoying and being thoroughly impressed by this novel. 
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jesselynn's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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

4.5

Rapturous, moving and eternal.

An incredible book. It is a true epic of life, death, nature, history, succession and reclamation. Told in many voices and styles, we follow hundreds of years of history revolving around a house deep in the woods of Massachusetts. This book haunts its reader with the voices of the past, rallies the timeless human and non-human experiences that are held in a perpetual clandestine shroud between walls, branches and soil. It is sweeping and vibrant and rich in longing and grief and nature. A truly fascinating literary joy and stellar achievement by Daniel Mason.

Thank you to John Murray Press/Hachette for the advanced reader copy.
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