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A Novel
by Daniel Mason
Book Reviewed by:A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries—a daring, moving tale of memory and fate from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Piano Tuner and The Winter Soldier.
When two young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become the home of an extraordinary succession of human and nonhuman characters alike. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to growing apples. A pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths an ancient mass grave—only to discover that the earth refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a sinister con man, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle: As the inhabitants confront the wonder and mystery around them, they begin to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.
This magisterial and highly inventive novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason brims with love and madness, humor and hope. Following the cycles of history, nature, and even language, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we're connected to our environment, to history, and to one another. It is not just an unforgettable novel about secrets and destinies, but a way of looking at the world that asks the timeless question: How do we live on, even after we're gone?
One
They had come to the spot in the freshness of June, chased from the village by its people, threading deer path through the forest, the valleys, the fern groves, and the quaking bogs.
Fast they ran! Steam rose from the fens and meadows. Bramble tore at their clothing, shredding it to rags that hung about their shoulders. They crashed through thickets, hid in tree hollows and bear caves, rattling sticks before they slipped inside. They fled as if it were a child's game, as if they had made off with plunder. My plunder, he whispered, as he touched her lips.
They laughed with the glee of it. They could not be found! Solemn men marched past them with harquebuses cocked in their elbows, peered into the undergrowth, stuffed greasy pinches of tobacco into their pipes. The world had closed over them. Gone was England, gone the Colony. They were Nature's wards now, he told her, they had crossed into a Realm. Lying beneath him in the litter, in the low hollow of an oak, she arced her head to ...
Here are some of the comments posted about North Woods in our legacy forum.
You can see the full discussion here.
Daniel Mason employs myriad points of view, writing styles, and genres. How did these shifting voices affect your reading of the narrative?
I most identify with Molly Mae's views on this question. The shifting of the characters was not so much confusing if you were able to sit and read to the end of a chapter or section. But when I needed to stop mid-stream, I found myself re-... - A.T.
Did Alice do the right thing to stay with Mary? How would their lives have unfolded had Alice followed her heart?
Twins have a bond that no others can understand, so it did not surprise me that Alice did not leave Mary. But who knew that Mary was so deranged? - taking.mytime
Do you agree that "One believes the world is enchanted or one does not – it is no use trying to convince another person otherwise." What's your opinion and why do you feel this way?
It makes no difference what the topic is - people have an opinion. Seldom can you change a person's mind. You might be able to add to it or subtract some point, but to change a persons mind - not likely. - taking.mytime
Have you read any of Daniel Mason's other works, and if so, how did this one compare?
I have read a few of Mason's other work and enjoyed them - however this novel I believe is his best. I was blown away by this novel. I rarely give a book 5 stars - maybe - maybe - 4 to 5 total in a year. To me 5 stars for this novel is at the ... - taking.mytime
How did Harlan Kane's body ends up in a tree?
The Catamount real I think. It saved Lillian from her traumatic life. Interesting about the cat putting the body in the tree to save for a future meal. - tracyb
The natural history of New England's forests is central as the novel mourns how chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease have decimated the woods. The book also ponders how people's decisions affect the landscape. Mason presents dueling visions: a utopian future where trees are restored to life, versus a dystopian one where heat and fire threaten survival. I found it rewarding to spot biblical echoes: The fleeing Puritans enact an expulsion from Eden; the Osgood sisters have a Cain and Abel dynamic; and Teale's intimate relationship with his friend is in the tradition of King David's with Jonathan. The focus on history and myth feels somewhat at odds with the matter-of-fact reappearances of the (un)dead. Mason doesn't explain what's going on but appears to be enjoying the intellectual gymnastics, in a way that reminded me of Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10½ Chapters...continued
Full Review
(780 words)
(Reviewed by Rebecca Foster).
Abraham Verghese, New York Times bestselling author of The Covenant of Water
North Woods is the most original and spellbinding novel I've read in ages. Mason makes bramble, brush, and orchard come alive with the spirits of their unforgettable former inhabitants. Their lives and passionate loves and their chilling acts of vengeance had me glued to my seat. Anthony Marra, author of Mercury Pictures Presents
North Woods is a sui generis work of pure brilliance, an epic written with a miniaturist's precision. Daniel Mason has unearthed, in the centuries-spanning history of a single New England home, a universal story of loss and reclamation. A critic once said, 'I'd rather watch a novelist fail at jumping over skyscrapers than succeed at jumping over shoeboxes.' In North Woods, Daniel Mason has discovered the secret to leaping over skyscrapers and sticking the landing. It's the best book I've read in ages. Maggie O'Farrell, New York Times bestselling author of Hamnet
North Woods is a monumental achievement of polyphony and humanity. Relating the narrative of an entire country via a single plot of land, it sweeps the reader through hundreds of years and an array of protagonists with a deft, heartbreaking, idiosyncratic zeal. I loved it." Tess Gunty, author of The Rabbit Hutch
Ambitious, alive, and lush with generosity, North Woods is an immersive sprint through time. It offers an inventive portrait of the individual and the collective, a vivid history of a cabin and a country, inhabiting each of its characters with a compassion that took my breath away. I emerged from this book as though from an enchanted forest, covered in leaves and changed by what I had seen there. ... Electrifying.
A mysterious recurring figure in Daniel Mason's Massachusetts-set novel North Woods — starting with the cover image — is the "catamount." This folk name, which originates from the Middle English "cat of the mountaine," usually refers to a particular North American wild cat species, the cougar (Puma concolor), which is also known as the mountain lion, puma, or panther and lives to around age 13 in the wild. The different names are used more or less interchangeably, but historically have corresponded to previously recognized subspecies.
The species once ranged across the whole of the Americas. However, ongoing bounty hunting led to the eastern cougar subspecies being declared officially extinct in 2018 (although it was ...
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