North Woods by Daniel Mason felt like a collection of short stories all centered around one place, instead of a novel. But I don't like short story collections and I loved this book. It had an element of magic realism with ghosts and also a strong sense of the swiftness of time passing, and of the never-ending cycles of life, death, and rebirth.

There was a deep reverence of wild nature embedded into the novel. When I finished reading it I wanted to bow and kiss the earth and embrace the trees nearby. The author also imbued an interest in human history, starting from Puritan times and going into the future. I found it so creative and refreshing to have story after story of humans interacting with the land, the trees, wildlife, and the house as the years went on. Most were written in story form, sometimes as a letter, article, or poem. Certain characters I cared about more than others, but I never was bored. North Woods is a sweeping, unforgettable novel that is unlike anything I've ever read. Highly recommended!!

Amazing. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time. It slowly reels you in, layering details and characters like a forest until a bigger picture starts to emerge. I feel like I need to go back and reread it to discover just how all those layers interact with each other. There are shades of The Oversory here at the end with Nora's chapters but the book is about so much more. Truly amazing.

One thing I found interesting about North Woods is how the novel is set up. The story is set around one house, with 12 stories all interconnected within. The nature writing is absolutely beautiful and paints a stunning picture in your head of the landscape, the mood, everything. The stories do lack some emotion and really are surface level but sometimes a read like that is just what is needed.

A stunning fairytale of a book about an old, rambling New England house and its inhabitants across time. Simple in structure, but so wonderfully complex in emotion and story and a reminder that every place, no matter how tucked away, has a story to tell if you’re interested in it.

I was pleasantly surprised by the magic, lyricism, and interspersed pictures that make North Woods a true work of art. I also found myself once again surprised (a common theme!) by some of the twists and turns in-between owners that would ruin the experience if I shared them, but just know it’s a quiet, fun ride the whole way through. *Just* my kind of book. I can’t recommend it enough.

Well..
As one reviewer stated.. this one is rather impossible to define.
It’s a hodgepodge and a narrative of its main character- a yellow house in Massachusetts. Traveling through time, it’s the story of the inhabitants- humans, ghosts, insects, wildlife and of course the original apple trees.
Mason is a brilliant and creative writer.
This is poetic and tragic yet he instills a sense of history and even humor.
Amazing feat.
Loved every character and every word.
Not to miss !

I enjoyed this slower moving novel about a specific place, over time. In North Woods we follow a house in Western Massachusetts across centuries. Sometimes we follow a person who lives in the house, sometimes we follow a bug eating its way through the trees around the house, sometimes it is someone related to someone who lives in the house. I liked this different take on how to create a sense of place, with all the different viewpoints.

This was a fun book to read in the fall because apples play a big role in the woods throughout the history of the property. I went apple picking with my kids and wished I could have tried the type of apple mentioned in the novel. I found this to be a quieter novel that, while it spanned centuries, had the reader walk through the woods many times to appreciate the setting. I read a chapter a day across almost two weeks and I found that to be a good way to take in this slower paced story.

Though this was undeniably well written, I couldn't really get into it. It moved too slowly for me and while the language was great, the plot really meandered for me.

I wasn't expecting to have enjoyed this novel as much as I did. This was a very original story and I loved how each story flowed into the next. I was engaged with every "story" within the novel and especially loved the story of the schizophrenic son, Robert. The ending made it all worthwhile because I wasn't sure how Mason would wrap up the story.

Ahhh, this book. It spans centuries but stays within one forested area of Massachusetts, and within one house that is rebuilt, passed down to the next generations, is abandoned, crumbles away, is rebuilt again, and the cycle starts over. And the same can be said for the forest and apple orchard surrounding the home -- in this book the only constant is that everything changes... and regenerates.

Most likely a book I'll remember as the one that took me nearly 5 months to finish, reading one chapter at a time. It reads like short stories, something I usually don't care for, but it suited me here. I loved the first few stories, some in the middle not as much -- the characters and the writing were so unusual, I didn't always like where I was taken. The final two stories I absolutely adored. This was a unique experience to say the least.

My thanks to NetGalley for my advanced copy.
P.S. I am not a fan of the book cover.

North Woods is a unique novel of the eco-history of a woods in Western Massachusetts over the years from early colonial settlement to the present. The subject is a particular spot in these north woods and to a lesser degree, the individuals that spend a portion of their lives, from days to many years, in those very woods. There is a raw and primitive beauty that draws these people and yet leaves them affected in strange and often unsettling ways. The woods themselves as well are changed and affected by the efforts of the people to tame them.
The book shows the ravages that people and nature can play on the land bringing disease and disaster. It also seems to illustrate a dichotomy between the almost naive nature of this beautiful place and the savagery and baseness of humanity. It is a haunting read filled with lovely language and description, but a sense of mystery and unease as well. I would recommend this title to readers who are interested in nature and man's connection to the natural world. It should also appeal to people interested in unique styles of writing as the author employs different features and methods of bringing this history to the reader.
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

To everything, turn, turn, turn the page
There is a season, turn, turn, turn the page
And a time to read Daniel Mason’s glorious #NorthWoods under Heaven.
ENCHANTING !

I wanted to love this book so much! The writing was lovely, the setting intriguing and the format unique, but I just couldn’t get into it. I got through a little over 150 pages, but I struggled to find motivation to pick it up. I unfortunately had to add this novel to my short DNF list but don’t let this review stop you from giving it a try! I do feel this would be enjoyed by reader’s who are more interested in multiple plot lines and historical fiction. Hoping I’ll be inspired to pick it up again sometime but unfortunately it just may not be for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read a digital copy in return for my honest review.

I am not a gambler. Slot machines make me tense. I refuse to fill out basketball brackets. I have bought a lottery ticket precisely once in my life.

The one thing I am willing to gamble on is a book, especially if I can even the odds. Case in point: I like old houses and New England, so when I read that Daniel Mason’s North Woods followed the inhabitants of a New England home across four centuries, I decided to roll the literary dice.

Unlike that lotto ticket, North Woods paid off. Gorgeously written, thought-provoking and surprisingly emotional, it’s one of my favorite titles of the year.

As promised, North Woods is the story of a house. It’s not famous, or sinister, or architecturally significant. It’s just…a house. There’s nothing remarkable about it, except to the people who live there. For them, it’s home, as distinctive and extraordinary as the inhabitants themselves.

The story begins when two young lovers flee their Puritan settlement for the Massachusetts woods. With each chapter, new people come to their cabin in the forest searching for something: sanctuary, redemption, fortune, a fresh start. The sprawling, vividly drawn cast includes a British soldier, a desperate mother, and a true crime reporter, among others. The characters are fallible and funny and vulnerable; while each appears for only one chapter, it’s impossible not to be drawn into their lives.

The story unfurls over centuries in poignant, powerful vignettes. Gradually, connections between characters are revealed – some subtle, some supernatural – but it’s not a typical “haunted house.” Rather, the sense of home is so intrinsic to the story, the past can’t help but echo forward.

This is historical fiction in the deepest sense: a very narrow, very thorough exploration of a singular place. The woods transform alongside the house, from wilderness to orchard to pasture and back again, with the changes chronicled in rich, effortless prose. Whether he’s talking about chestnut blight or the human heart, Mason’s writing is imaginative, precise, and immersive; it’s an absolute pleasure to read.

North Woods is the story of a house. But really, it’s story about what it means to be human: how messy, impermanent, and precious life is. It’s both entertaining and profoundly moving, a feat of writing for fans of George Saunders and Barbara Kingsolver. If there’s such a thing as a sure bet, North Woods is it.

Tales of Change

My favorite rendezvous with a book this year, I was completely unprepared for the affair. 400 years' worth of life for a plot of land– the people, the animals, the plants– completely separate stories told in a myriad of ways– and linking together in one solid symphony. There are books out there with loosely connected ties, and that can be nice… but nothing like this.

The characters in this western Massachusetts woodland setting include Puritan lovers, Native Americans, a British apple orchard farmer, his two spinster daughters, a mountain lion, a slave hunter, a landscape artist ostracized for his lifestyle, two beetles engaged in hot and heavy love-making, a psychic commissioned to communicate with the ghosts of some of the previously mentioned tenants, a mother and her schizophrenic son, a true crimes reporter, and a postgraduate student there to study flowers.

There is so much here– and my guess would have been too much– but Daniel Mason ties everything together beautifully. The voices of these characters, so different in tone and approach, are written so well that you shift with the points of view and trust the author’s touch. The separate pieces here all contribute to the mosaic.

“…she has found that the only way to understand the world as something other than a tale of loss is to see it as a tale of change.” This is the tale of nature’s change, of America’s change. There are ghosts, reminders of their effect on the environment they inhabited.

I have to enthusiastically swear by this odyssey. I followed it up by listening to the audio version on Spotify– very highly recommended, as well.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is an amazing novel covering a broad range of time periods, with all events happening on a single plot of land in the New England woods. The story begins with a couple who ran away from a settler colony and lived in a cabin in the woods by themselves. The characters who follow the initial builders of the cabin add their own pieces to the story. Each generation over the centuries brings their own way of life and leaves their mark on the land.

From the farmer who installed the apple orchard to the elderly sisters who looked after the orchard, even the wildlife has a tale to tell on this piece of land. A mountain lion passes through and leaves its imprint. Beetles come and go. Every one of the inhabitants of this house leaves some part of themselves there, a piece that connects them all, across many centuries. The scope of this novel is incredible, but the story works. It is impossible to put down.

This is the best novel I have read in many years. I was simply entranced by the interconnectedness of all the people, animals, and even the house and land itself. It all ties neatly together and the author's technique is so good that the reader just accepts this all as fact. An absolutely amazing achievement for an author. This book should win lots of awards!

I am grateful to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

North Woods is a series of interconnecting stories that all center around the same place and house in the north woods in Massachusetts. All of the stories are told with beautiful prose and are heartbreaking, and at some times even dark, but in the end all tie together to make a statement about the power of connection in the world.

I love the change in prose throughout the book, and the overall feelings of what it means to be human, and what makes a house a “home”, that this book elicits.

This is a book that will stick with me for a long time.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Mason covers hundreds of years in his book centered on a cabin in the woods of New England. It begins with lovers running away from their strict Puritan colonial society and finding a place to be themselves. Through the years, the cabin becomes the refuge and home to numerous others. This includes a young man with dreams of an orchard, twin sisters who cannot be parted, a painter and his good friend, a troubled young man, plus ghosts and animals - all with their own struggles and secrets.

The land is the common thread and the plot follows the variety of people who settle in the woods. Mysteries abound and bodies are buried. But the woods are the one constant. The land develops and changes as people inhabit the area and then pass on. Readers are like voyeurs, glimpsing the string of men and women who look to the woods for safe harbor, communing with nature and building a place to call home. But there’s also a sinister element to some of the house’s secrets.

Each resident brings their own needs, attitudes and developments while the land proves its resiliency. This is a haunting tale that demonstrates how ephemeral humans are while the land advances with new inhabitants, new usage and even new growth. The characters come and go; some more engaging than others. It’s possible that my rating was affected by my listening to the audiobook. This may be one of those novels that are better as a close read rather than simply listening to the narrative.

This is a novel about place, about one place, a house in the woods in Western Massachusetts and the land around it, and it's a novel about time. There's an orchard with the best apples you've ever tasted, twin sisters, one with a strong hold over the other, a secret and tragic love affair, a medium who thinks she's a charlatan- until she comes to this house and experiences the ghosts who live here. Over 400 years you see this (changing) house, these changing lands, and the people who live there. When I rate a book, I consider the writing (and this contains lovely poetic writing), but also, is it doing something important or kind of new, and does it take you on a journey? This gets 5 stars with no reservations. I loved this journey. I'll think about this book in the future, as well.

"North Woods" by Daniel Mason was one of my highest-rated reads of 2023. This weaving narrative centers on one house across generations of owners, squatters, renters, and trespassers. I was consistently surprised by Mason's ability to plant seeds throughout the narrative that unexpectedly bloomed into plot points throughout the timeline of the book. This is unlike any other historical fiction novel I've read and I've already recommended it to plenty of library patrons.

A small cabin, a safe haven for a young puritan becomes a welcome place for other living and non living residents. An English soldier is a deserter and finds the cabin and the apple orchard and finds solace. Spinster twins face feast and famine. A crime reporter stumbles up in the cabin and finds a mass grave. A con man, a painter, a panther and a beetle all travel through this cabin. Each person is haunted by it. The cabin is beautiful and eerie. It is a character in itself. The way the author weaves the stories of each character living in the cabin is very different, interesting. It has a spirit of whimsy and magical moments. North Woods by Daniel Mason is such a great story. I really enjoyed the way history and characters can be in the same spot but so many things can be different. Each person sees the same spot so differently. This was a four star read for me. I want to thank Netgalley and the author for my copy for an honest review. It was my pleasure to read and review this book. I have read many books and I just love it when a story has a surprise for me in every page.