I finished reading North Woods by Daniel Mason a month ago, and have not been able to stop thinking about it. Partially because of the beautiful prose that builds up such images in my head that made me yearn for that little strip of land in the woods; partially because I read the book in beautiful Banff, which was just the PERFECT place to read this book. I felt a sense of oneness with the world- of dissolving away.
If you are a nostalgic person like me, who constantly thinks about what used to be, what could have been, this book is for you. It is a tale of loss and reclamation; a tale of the invisible string that ties people from different centuries; the wonders that earth yields. It got me wondering about all of the inhabitants that occupied the land I am on, wondering if there are any strings between them and me; if every choice I made in life led to me to this place I am currently at because of some calling from a past life. I feel like I have discovered the architecture of the earth which exists beyond me. I wish trees could talk so they can answer my questions. I have yet to find a word of how the book makes me feel- is it nostalgia? spiritual?
Some lines that I adore:
"Leaves fall upon the brook that splits the hillside like a tear in the fabric of the earth."
"Now, in the place that was once the belly of the man who offered the apple to the women, one of the apple seeds, sheltered in the shattered rib cage, breaks its coat, drops a root into the soil, and lifts a pair of pale-green cotyledons. A shoot rises, thickens, seeks the bars of light above it, and gently parts the fifth and sixth ribs that once guarded the dead man's meager heart."
by Zealousideal_Draft31