Daniel Mason employs myriad points of view, writing styles, and genres. How did these shifting voices affect your reading of the narrative?

Daniel Mason employs myriad points of view, writing styles, and genres to tell this story across the centuries. How did these shifting voices affect your reading of the narrative?

Going into a wilderness, a remote location deep in the mountains, can present so many unexpected outcomes. The transition of style, genre, viewpoint made the setting come to life. It matured, changed, over the years just as the occupants varied. As a result, the main character, the home and setting, instantly captured interest from phase to phase. The reading experience was captivating.

What a difficult job for an author! To embody different characters, different time periods, different writing styles depending on the time period. Most authors develop and write about the same characters throughout the same book, so I greatly admire Mason’s abilities to change his writing style and language and time periods so frequently in one book. I thought he did an excellent job, though I thought some of the “stories” dragged a little.

Mason’s shifts fostered the march of time and highlighted the characters’ intentions, good and bad. I found the author’s writing style to be so engaging that I happily anticipated daily reading time.

The style of the book made me anxious to read what would come next. I loved the use of the illustrations and the ballads written from the grave.

The various writing styles made the story come to life. I felt very much a part of the action and was able to see the house through the eyes of one living in a particular time. What a great writer!

Mason’s ability to change styles and voices and points of view seemed effortless. The story was so unique and remained unexpected to the very end. I think mason could be a successful playwright if he so desired.
North woods is my very favorite type of novel…smart, poignant, unique and thought provoking.
I must admit I am a hiker and so appreciated the obvious love for all wildlife.
It was on my radar for awhile and it did not disappoint

Well done, Daniel Mason!

The shifting genres, writing styles and voices kept me so engaged that I became totally immersed in the entire experience of reading this masterpiece! I have friends however, who found the various shifts to be confusing at times. Perhaps they simply prefer a standard narrative.

I loved the unexpected sly humor, like an unexpected "Easter Egg." Osgood's "great fertilizer" still makes me laugh.

While I appreciated the difficulty of telling a story through so many different perspectives, the downside was that it prevented me from really engaging with the characters. At times it was somewhat hard to follow, and it caused me to spend less time trying to understand the various narrators. However, it was unlike anything I have ever read before, and overall, I enjoyed the author's unique approach!

It only enhanced the novel. Everything changes with time, that was shown in the story.

I found it to peak my interest. The poems were well done. I reall liked the letters. A sad time in story, much has changed in today’s world, but I imagine some is the same secret lovers.

The illustrations were a delightful addition!

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-reading from the beginning of the chapter to remember what was happening. I guess I do prefer a more straight narrative, though this was unlike anything I have read before and it was definitely captivating! If only I had all the time in the world to read this in fewer sittings, it would have probably been much more enjoyable.