North Woods
North Woods ~ Daniel Mason
A yellow house in the woods of western Massachusetts is the setting for 12 connected stories. Mason tells of the inhabitants of the house, beginning with a couple of Puritan lovers and ending 400 years later. North Woods tells of these lovers, then an apple farmer, twin spinsters, a naturalist painter, a young black woman fleeing slavery and bounty hunters, a schizophrenic, a reporter of true crimes, a history buff, a beetle, and a mountain lion. The writing is so inventive and engrossing.
Now, in the place that was once the belly of the man who offered the apple to the woman, one of the apple seeds, sheltered in the shattered rib cage, breaks its coat and drops a root into the soil, lifts a pair of pale green cotyledons. A shoot rises, thickens, seeks the bars of light above it, gently parts the fifth and sixth ribs that once guarded the dead man’s meager heart.
North Woods is so lyrical, beautiful and horrible at the same time. I will admit that I didn’t always quite understand what was going on in some chapters, and I had to go back and re-listen, but that did not lesson my enjoyment of a story extremely well told. Such beautiful writing. Highly recommended.
26 Comments
Jenny
This book also sounds amazing! I have to say I’m enjoying these daily book reviews. Can you do this year-round? : )
Kyria @ Travel Spot
This book was a nominee of the GR Readers Choice awards last year and I put it on my to read list then, but still have not read it. It has a 4.1/5 rating on GR though! I am glad you liked it and will keep it on my to read list! I have to admit, my reading these days has been lacking, as I am not out riding as much where I had 6-10 hours a day to listen. So I am working through my list!
Daria
Gahhhh, I love it! Give me all the eeriness and the unstettlingness :))
J
This may be for you, Daria!
NGS
This is EXACTLY the sort of thing I want to read – sort of like Great House by Nicole Krauss or No Two Persons by Erica Bauermesiter. I tagged it in Libby.
J
I haven’t read either of those, so I don’t know. But if you read this, I know you’ll give a thorough review, compared to my brief one, and I will likely have forgotten that I read it, so it will be a nice surprise to come across it.
Alexandra
Definitely sounds a little different if not, out there. Maybe not something I’d read. I have so much to read at the moment.
J
There’s only time for so much, Alexandra. So if this isn’t your bag, I say, Move On!
Sarah
I have started this book twice and DNF– I am hoping audio does the trick!
J
That may be the trick! I listened to it.
Tierney
I LOVED this book. It was in my top 5 from last year. I am partial to Western MA and although magical realism isn’t my jam, I thought it worked really well in this book. I also think the ending was perfection. Since it was so linear, I was wondering how it would end and I thought he did an excellent job.
J
Agreed, I really liked the ending. It was a really good book, I’m glad you read it too. I think we have similar taste in books.
Ernie
Another book I’ve never heard of. Sounds really good. What in interesting premise to chronicle the various people who lived there over time – at least that’s what it sounds like.
J
Yes, that’s exactly what it is. Also some not people.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
This sounds intruiging. I wonder… is it just wierd or also a bit scary?
J
Hmmm. Mostly just weird, with some scary moments thrown in for spice.
Maya
This sounds so magical–I kept skipping it when it showed up on my recs because the cover gives nothing away… but your description makes me want to read it, Jules! I echo Jenny–your book reviews are lovely. *Can* you do them year round?!
J
LOL, well, generally I DO them year round, or at least I *feel* like I do, but then sometimes I go looking for a book I’ve read, and no, no review. And this year for some reason I just didn’t write very many, so I decided to save them up for NaBloPoMo. 🙂
Stacey K.
I love the idea of a book that weaves histories together. I will 100% be reading this book.
J
I hope you enjoy it!
Margaret
I would like to choose this book for my Book Club! I’ve heard many positives about it.
J
Oh, if you do, I hope you’ll write about it. 🙂
Michelle G.
This book sounds very intriguing and original.
J
It was both of those things, for sure!
Meike
We just read this with my book club and I thought it was beautiful. I gave it 4 Starson GR. The Endingen was a surprise what I love in a book. It almost felt like short stories.
J
Yes, thinking of it as short stories helped me, because often I was searching for connections beyond the house. Sometimes they were there, and other times not so much.