I’m not sure it’s really possible to summarize this book. I’d have to include so many plot lines, so many characters, and way too much triumph and heartbreak for it to make any sense unless you just read the whole dang book. I can hardly wrap my head around it really. Author Daniel Mason wrote it so that it doesn’t align with any plot archetype I’m aware of, probably because it aligns with all of them at one point or another. Each generation that owns the home in the north woods has its own arc, ranging from comedy to tragedy and everything in between. This novel also has some of my favorite side characters, especially the throwaway characters that add so much flavor to the background without having to do much else. This guy for example is one of my favorite in the book, and is also one of the best one liners I’ve ever laid eyes on:

After the Minister’s was the house of Robert Jones, a higgler of knickknacks and thingumbobs, who drank straight from the bung, hung a sign from his fence saying “Smallpox” to keep away the tax assessor, and was prone to threatening intruders, even if they were just walking down the road.

This guy doesn’t show up again, but his very existence showed me exactly what kind of countryside it was at that time. It’s little things like this peppered throughout the novel that make it so enthralling to me. As time goes on and the world changes, so too do the small details. The characters go from tromping through untamed forests, to walking down paths through the wood with wildflowers and mushrooms to collect, to walking down alleys and roads into town. It’s a novel about the passing of time and nature of gradual aging more than it is about any individual, although I must say it is absolutely carried by the many interesting characters who come to own the house at one time or another. The house itself inherits much of its character from the people who live there and have lived there in the past, developing in lock step with the stories that occur on the land, become more and more sophisticated, as do the people.

Mason’s skill in developing characters efficiently shines throughout the whole novel. There were people I wanted to love, but ended up hating (looking at you, Mary, you witch). There were people I never expected to do as much as they did, ones whose stories ended tragically soon, and most importantly, very few disappointing endings among any of them. And endings there are plenty. One thing that’s unusual about this book compared to most is that you already know that the person you’re reading about is going to die at some point along the line simply because you’re nowhere near the end of the book. If that’s too much spoilage for you, that’s tough, because all the marketing explains that the book is about a house over the course of several centuries. Even if you went in blind, you’d realize it within the first thirty pages or so. Thing is, even if you know what’s coming, it doesn’t make much difference. How the characters make their way through life is so much more important than where and when you know it will end.

If I had to make one complaint, its that the structure of the book does give it more of an ‘accuracy by volume’ feel than a more traditional story arc. The characters are by no means shallow, but they aren’t particularly complex either. Their needs and motivations remain largely the same throughout their lives, and character growth comes through the realization (or lack thereof) of those goals and needs. Rarely do any of the characters fundamentally change. Like the land they inhabit, they age and grow by degrees, but the bedrock of their lives is constant.

I thought this was a great read, and I’m almost never able to engage with historical fiction. Its got great characters, an interesting structure, and more than enough story to go around. Can’t wait to discuss this one with the book club.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley