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A review by shona_reads_in_devon
North Woods by Daniel Mason
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
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North Woods is almost a collection of short stories; shining spotlights onto a selection of lives lived in and around one house in the remote Western Massachusetts countryside.
And in this seemingly simple premise, Daniel Mason has packed a punch of such profundity that at times it took my breath away.
Beginning in the early days of colonial settlement and travelling through the centuries up to the present day, the reader accompanies men, women, beetles, squirrels and spores, among other things. Through these characters lives' Mason explores ideas as wide ranging as the cycles of nature, love and desire, crimes of passion, loneliness, mental health, ghosts and the occult. And overarching all of this are ideas of separateness and connectedness. A sense of both atrophy and also continuity and eternalness.
I started this novel feeling a sense of disconnection - the frequently changing perspectives were jarring and I struggled to settle in, but I put my trust in the process and was rewarded for my efforts. As this story develops, and we travel through time in this rural New England home, the strands of each story weave together and the sense of a history - a natural, a personal and a national one - coalesces.
An incredible read, and one I'm likely to return to, as it is ripe for drawing out further connections and deeper meaning.
__________________________________________________
North Woods is almost a collection of short stories; shining spotlights onto a selection of lives lived in and around one house in the remote Western Massachusetts countryside.
And in this seemingly simple premise, Daniel Mason has packed a punch of such profundity that at times it took my breath away.
Beginning in the early days of colonial settlement and travelling through the centuries up to the present day, the reader accompanies men, women, beetles, squirrels and spores, among other things. Through these characters lives' Mason explores ideas as wide ranging as the cycles of nature, love and desire, crimes of passion, loneliness, mental health, ghosts and the occult. And overarching all of this are ideas of separateness and connectedness. A sense of both atrophy and also continuity and eternalness.
I started this novel feeling a sense of disconnection - the frequently changing perspectives were jarring and I struggled to settle in, but I put my trust in the process and was rewarded for my efforts. As this story develops, and we travel through time in this rural New England home, the strands of each story weave together and the sense of a history - a natural, a personal and a national one - coalesces.
An incredible read, and one I'm likely to return to, as it is ripe for drawing out further connections and deeper meaning.