Enjoyed how the house became a character in the story and what it represented to the people who lived in it.

This novel offers the history of a single piece of land over the course of a few hundred years through the increasingly interwoven stories of its inhabitants. I found it unique and encaptivating and would highly recommend. It is a fascinating look at the way things change and the way things stay the same, and how the past can be read literally and figuratively on a place.

4.5 stars
This is a story of a house in the New England woods. And of the people who inhabit it, from the time of the Puritans until the present. And of the cycles of nature and of human nature. Of the changes wrought by people and by nature itself. There's innocence, there's violence, there's beauty, there's evil, there's a little bit of the mysterious. Very different and very good.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

North Woods is an epic novel that defies definition. It is a book of connected stories about a plot of land in North Massachusetts and all those who inhabit it, both big and small. This is a book about building up and tearing down: man builds, and nature destroys; nature builds, and man destroys. It is a book about people from generation to generation, some who leave this land, some who never do. And it is about the ghosts that remain.
Mason characterizes the minute virus that kills the chestnut trees with the same depth of understanding that he details the characters in his book. And those characters all have strong personalities, some more menacing than others. Environmentalists will love this book, with its vivid descriptions of the flora and fauna.
The author quite successfully uses different voices to tell these stories. He utilizes letters, diary entries, songs, true crime reporting (a la Raymond Chandler), and regular narratives effectively. As the novel progresses, the voices become more contemporary.
I repeat, this book defies definition. It is one of the best I’ve read this year.

Daniel Mason takes us on a journey through time within one house. Stretching from Puritan lovers escaping into the woods until the fall of the Anthropocene, Mason tells 12 stories with interstitial links that explode into a cacophony of humanity. The novel unfolds through narrative, letters, medical charts, poems, real estate listings, and more in a way that is almost brash but manages to work every single time. Along the way we see warring narratives of religion and myth, wilderness and cultivation, familial love and romantic love, apples and literally anything else. So much of life is crammed into this book and into this little corner of Massachusetts and shows that while time passes, home and sanctuary remain. Oh, and ghosts.

This was an impressively written book. It's effectively a book of short stories which span decades and are connected in unexpected ways to a place - a home in Massachusetts. There are historical, ecological, supernatural and human elements to these stories, some of which are so engrossing that I was sad when it ended. The place - both the physical home as well as surrounding lands - create the unity and tie the stories together. The description of the trees, the leaves and the smells are evocative and make it easy to imagine the place. I haven't read anything by Daniel Mason before, but this work is an achievement and makes me want to read his other work.

I loved this so, so much. I started and stopped a handful of times, thinking that the writing of the first chapter would be the writing throughout (and it was hard!) - but that was just part of Daniel Mason's brilliance. I loved following the little cabin in the North Woods over the centuries. Alice and Mary were my favorites, and after their section I was HOOKED. Loved.

North Woods was a super unique novel- I don’t think I have ever read anything quite like it before. It is multiple stories in one about the woods and a cabin and the nature, creatures and humans who all have occupied the land throughout many, many years. The writing was gorgeous and this is just one of this books that will impact you and stick with you, always. I look forward to reading more from this author!

This book is fantastic. A wonderful story about a place, North Woods, and all the fascinating characters that inhabit it during centuries. The prose is flawless and the structure very smart. I was drawn in from the first sentence. It is a very atmospheric novel that I will read again for sure.

This book is so unusual, but I found that I didn’t want to put it down!

It is the story of a house and the residents who lived in it over time. It tells of history, of haunting, of lovers and haters, of conmen (or women!). But the theme that runs through the whole story is the plants, the trees, the apples, the insects -- and with such wonderful descriptions of everything. Mason is a Master of writing these beautiful accounts!

Starting somewhere in the 1700’s to present, it is interesting how Mr. Mason is able to change the language according to the age and era of each tale. Every section is so different. It is a “collage” of interconnected stories, and I loved it!

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Daniel Mason, and Random House for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

Incredibly beautiful writing. Mason paints a picture with words - a wonderful sense of place. It’s creative, imaginative, inventive. Bits of plot appear in a misty world of inspiration. The seemingly disjunct stories are interrelated and connected to a location. The words of nature are evocative - apples, woods, wildlife … bodies. With time the vagueness comes together. The ending is powerful.

This book was twisty and turny, and always beautiful. If you love short stories, you will love this. Each chapter can be read as its own thing, but it all fits together perfectly as well. These are stories about a house in the woods. The house changes over time, its inhabitants change, the world changes. What's gorgeous are the descriptions of nature. Daniel Mason's writing is propulsive. It feels like you are running in the woods with the couple who are gleefully escaping in the first chapter. You just are plunged into every new time period and situation without context or explanation. It's fun and interesting, and feels like how life just moves and moves and moves, and all we can do about it is feel awed.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book.

North Woods is a book of interrelated stories about a New England house, its inhabitants, and the passage of time. There are eccentric characters, ghosts, flora and fauna, insects and animals all tied together through this house and the surrounding property told over the course of centuries.

What worked for me:
* I love a book where the house is a character in the story and the house is the main character of this story.
* The ending took a surprising, full circle turn that I thought was very well done.

What didn’t work for me:
* Despite the house being the thread that weaves everything together, the book had a haphazard feel at times. It is told chronologically, but I would’ve liked a stronger basis in time (more description regarding each time period perhaps) or more character development to ground the story a bit more.
* Books with interconnected stories always risk the outcome of some chapters being more interesting than others. I found certain sections much more compelling than others.

What both worked and didn’t work:
* The writing about nature was gorgeous but appeared to be at the expense of character development in many of the chapters.
* Various chapters felt like they were written by different people, which is a tribute to this author and his ability to write, but also made for a lack of cohesiveness in my opinion.

Maybe this was just literary fiction that was a bit over my head? I don’t know. Ultimately I’m glad I read it, but it’s landing in the ‘I appreciate it more than I liked it’ category.

3⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy. North Woods released September 19th.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Daniel Mason's 'North Woods.'

What an absolutely fascinating and engrossing way to structure a novel. The central 'character' is the house and land in rural Massachusetts and around that anchor point in space and time revolves multiple characters and multiple stories that stretch from Puritan and pre-Revolutionary times into the near/mid-future.

Some of the people who inherit or assume guardianship of the house and land are connected through blood or happenstance and others are not connected in any way except through the yellow house and the forests and some of a myriad of physical items that survive the centuries.

There's a very strong thread of botany running through this novel. The second (white) owner of the land settles on it because of the presence of a particular strain of apple (having been wounded by an apple-juice stained bayonet, you could say it was in his blood). From there we learn about the destruction of the forests by man - for planting and leisure - and by nature when we witness the destruction of the great chestnut and elm forests by spores and mites (and we get to witness that from the point of view of the spores and the mites).

I suppose, inevitably, as the story moves forward through the 20th century, to the present day the reader can relate more closely with the characters and the arrival of a mother and son - Robert - into the tale is relatably tragic.

There is also a very clear vein of the supernatural in the novel and it sits very comfortably, it's not (generally) a frightening supernatural but a watching and a positive one as the novel concludes.

I really enjoyed this and will now go back through the author's catalogue to enjoy what I'd previously missed.

This book is getting loads of buzz, so the question is- does it warrant the accolades? In short, I'm going with yes. This book has a little of everything. Woodcuts. The woods themselves. Western Massachusetts (home to my parents, not far from my own home in Southern NH). It has romance, murder, mental health issues, LGBTQ representation, mysticism, and of course it's the story of what is essentially one house through time. I loved the structure of the book once I realized what was going on, and the characters were all unique and well-individuated. And if you don't love one of the stories, just hang in there! Another will come and add another note to the symphony of this calendar year of the forest.

I'm not sure all the stories worked perfectly for me, but the sisters and the last few stories are by far the best. I adored this. I think it will definitely win prizes. And more importantly, it's quite funny and charming in spots, addressing just about every issue you can imagine along the way. This book has gravitas, or at least some serious cajones. Five stars.

4.25⭐️

I struggled with rating this novel. The prose is absolutely beautiful and more than once moved me to tears. But there’s an unevenness in the interconnected stories, some of which are far more moving and engaging than the others. At times I felt quite removed from some of them, even as I continued to admire Mason’s use of language. But then, just as suddenly, something would draw me right back in.

I plan to read this a second time in the coming months and may update my rating and review then. In the meantime, I suspect it will continue to marinate. For now, I’ll quote a passage that really spoke to me:

<i> How bittersweet your departure. Trust this will find you safe at home after your journey. We cannot decide what mood we find ourselves in. Whether to bask in the lingering glow of your presence, or to mourn your departure. ….. Such joy that your sweet company makes, does leave a shadow in its wake. To think that you were here but a week- it felt both a minute and a lifetime. Your are like no one else I know, have ever met. My sole consolation, and it is a great one, is the realization of my life’s fortune in your friendship- for it IS fortune. To think of all that had to happen so that we might meet, and all that might have happened to prevent it. …. Yes! I’d found- I knew!- my life’s friend. </i>

Thank you Daniel Mason, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 5
Pace: 3
Plot development: 4
Characters: 4
Enjoyability: 4
Ease of Reading: 4

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

This book started out slow for me by I loved the premise and after a break, started again. I love an epic tale and as a realtor, I loved the story of a house from the POV of different occupants

What an interesting book!! Rather than a person, this book tells the many tales of a house and the people who came and went (actually, stayed is the better word).
Each chapter is written in another person’s voice, and you get to know their character mostly by how they narrate. I particularly enjoyed that detail. From the natives to the twins to the English Lit professor to the thirty-something, you roll through all the iterations of this humble (and then not so humble and back again) house. It’s just very well done.
A very interesting and creative idea and the writing style was quite readable.

This book is achingly beautiful and unique. North Woods focuses on the people who have lived in a house in western Massachusetts over the span of 300 years or so, beginning with a pair of young Puritan lovers. Over time the house shelters an apple orchardist and his daughters, a painter and his family, a runaway slave, a schizophrenic son, a movie star, and more. And, of course, the ghosts of some of those who have gone before. In the course of its occupancies, the house bears witness to the foibles and follies of the humans who live there alongside their interaction with the flora and fauna of rural New England which surrounds them. It is a book about the passing of time, the solving of mysteries and the succession of species. It is a book about life, death and rebirth. It reminds us of both our fragility and our resilience. It reminds the reader of the importance of being a guardian to the place that we call home, and how acutely our lives are entwined with the natural world that supports us. Mason weaves a deft and magical tale.