The Curator: time is an infinite loop vortex
North Woods by Daniel Mason, plus best of the year roundups and my take on a weird film
I have begun to believe that time is an infinite loop vortex.
I currently live in the same town I grew up in. I live a mile from my childhood home where my parents still live. I frequently pass by the places where I used to go to school or dance class or a friend’s house. Where I would go out drinking like I was invincible (and the Dell Taco that reminded me I wasn’t). It’s a visual and visceral experience. Where I was before I was this current me, all the selves layered on top of each other like the strings of a slinky crushing into one existence. One form, many mes.
But what if, even as all the past yous are crushed up together, our experience of the physical world leaves a dust trail behind? Surely bodies leave a mark - dust is skin, after all - but what about the spirit? Psychological bits? Like a snake continually shedding skin in one long divergent loop of cosmic dust. As you spiral up the infinite time vortex, a piece of you lingers wherever you’ve been. Follow it with your finger on a map.
Now what if - what if - all the dust trails of all the people before you were crushed up inside a single place? Say, all those who ever lived in your town? Your home? On a single plot of land?
Could a piece of you be stuck forever in a certain place for all time? Are we all just living the same day from now until infinity?
How long can I get away with just asking questions before you demand answers??? 😬
I actually don’t have answers, only experience and intuition (and a healthy love for the show Evil, go watch it now!). But I sincerely believe physical spaces and structures hold energy, long after the source of that energy is gone. Interparticular space leaves a lot of room for seepage! Today’s review asks us to consider if life really is that infinite loop vortex, what power over nature do we have?
First of all. The cover jacket says Mr. Mason is an assistant professor of psychiatry at STANFORD. Sir, how on God’s green earth do you have time to be a professor at a prestigious university AND a Pulitzer-nominated author? Someone give me what he’s having because the productivity, the range.
Second. I had to sit with this one for a few days to figure out my thoughts. The more I considered its form, scope, and themes, the more I appreciated it. This is not a surface novel. It will require some thinking to enjoy.
It’s about: a single house on a single plot of land deep in the New England woods and the centuries of inhabitants that linger briefly on its soil.
We meet: a war vet and his spinster daughters intent on propagating an apple farm; a crime reporter foiled in ever finishing his story; a painter suffering from unrequited love; a panther, a beetle, a fake mystic, a schizophrenic, a con man.
As we move through each story, the detritus of past lives remain, causing real-life consequences for those who come later
(see: infinite loop vortex).
There are people yes, but there is also nature. The story is filled with such profuse descriptions of the natural habitat that at moments I was lulled into an almost hypnotic state. The words rushed by like a stream. My standards for any future text description as “lush” have skyrocketed thanks to this book.
In North Woods, nature - specifically this plot of land - is a character. This includes both the natural landscape, the animals, and the bugs, and the man-made structures - as nature slowly reclaims the home, it too becomes a conduit for nature’s vendetta. It has agency. We have entered the Garden of Eden, we have plucked the apple of knowledge, we have sinned. We have built a house on the rotten core. The soil records voices, the trees emotions. Strong The Happening vibes here, as if humans were being punished for our sins by nature itself.
Ultimately, I see this novel as cynical. Humans ruin everything. The transcience of nature is not inevitable - it is human interference, pride, ego, and desire that disrupt. Chestnut trees suffer disease they cannot rebound from, the soil is spoiled by the pain of human remains, the panther is slaughtered. Everyone dies alone.
This got dark quickly but it doesn’t read like a dark book. There is humor and realness in between the despair. Some moments are magical, others inspiring. Yet every chapter is closed by the moment when the infinite loop vortex crushes so far into the north woods that the effects are irreversible. We cannot outrun our humanity, our desire, our desperation. And nature must bear the consequences.
Moodometer: For when you need a reminder we are all one earth-connected spirit and you can never escape generational trauma.
For Fans of: The Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
Rating: I give this a 5 Infinite Loop Stars
Have you read North Woods? Did you love it, hate it, or somewhere in between? Let’s discuss…
READING →
Finally finished Case Histories by Kate Atkinson and I’m a mixed bag of emotion. This is one of those I would love to discuss with others but it being such a backlist title, it isn't exactly top of the mind in the book world right now.
Started Myriam Gurba’s Creep: Accusations and Confessions on audio and I don’t know what I’m listening to - part memoir, part history text, part feminist manifesto. I’m holding off on reading
’s review until after I’m finished.
WATCHING →
The Killer directed by David Fincher. I went into this movie no prep no context. While The Smiths soundtrack made my day, I equally wanted to cover my ears after 20 minutes of the monotonous incel vibes internal dialogue (Read Max named my displeasure as the “sigma male” - not exactly my ideal man). I appreciated the technical mastery but it felt tedious. Mark, however, gave it five stars for all the things I disliked about it so here we are. I recommend watching and then listening to The Big Picture podcast for a full review.
BEST OF THE YEAR ROUNDUPS →
It’s that time of year again! No not Starbucks holiday cup day - the Best Books of 2023 lists. A few of some interest:
Barnes & Noble announced The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride as their 2023 book of the year. So I lost (I had Yellowface) but I also win because now I have an excuse to buy this book 😁. In a real turn of events, they also announced David Grann as the inaugural author of the year and well, at least Marty would agree!
Goodreads opened the first round of voting for their Choice Awards 2023 and it is just a giant list of books I wanted to get to and couldn’t. Genuinely though, my little heart got excited at a lot of really great books & authors on there this year. The Reese and Jenna picks are still present, but so are a gang of others to diversify the game.
Amazon released the statisticians from their cages and came up with their Best Books of 2023. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store as #1 is only mildly surprising given that it wasn’t one of Oprah’s. The Covenant of Water & Hello, Beautiful are still in the top 20 though, along with a book I’ve been meaning to get to for ages - Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor.
Time released their “100 Must-Read Books of 2023” and the overlap with everyone else is uncanny. There are Goodreads choices, awards nominees/winners, book club selections, and quite a few from my own [vast] lists. One I was surprised not to see there? Well, Britney of course!
NEW BOOKS →
There were a lot this week, including three new series installments, a generally lauded author, and a new-to-me buzzy. I could have added at least two more to this list but well it’s already long enough.
Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - The fourth installment of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series, these covers have become ubiquitous on social media for their cutesy heartfelt designs (and probably mentions of coffee). It’s about a magical time travel cafe, the people who frequent it, and the journeys they embark on. Described as heartwarming and wistful, I have yet to pick up this series but it sounds like a cozy hug, no?
The Book of Ayn by Lexi Freiman - A lot of buzz over this one and I can see why - it’s about an Ayn Rand radicalized writer who spirals out of control only to land in a commune on the island of Lesbos. It’s a satirical jab at millennial existential crises, Los Angeles culture, and “seeking meaning in the modern world”. Sounds equal parts intense and hilarious.
Day, a novel by Michael Cunningham - Confession Time. I was approved for this ARC on Netgalley and have not read it yet 🥴. It’s about a family struggling through the pandemic and there is a part of me that isn’t ready to face this yet? Plus I really struggled with The Hours (although I was probably suffering from a bout of immaturity at the time). Ocean Vuong calls it “quietly stunning” though so perhaps I should get to that ARC ASAP…
The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss - I love to discuss books with my coworkers in the halls outside my office. I had three people tell me they absolutely LOVED the first in the Kingkiller Chronicles (of which this is a character spinoff), so if fantasy is your thing, you might want to check out this book about a fae who repeatedly escapes trouble over the course of a single day.
System Collapse by Martha Wells - More series! This is the seventh installment in the Murderbot Diaries series and if nothing else, has great binge potential. I am not huge on sci-fi, but if you are, this series comes highly recommended just like the Kingkiller - I’ve heard quite a few people say that Murderbot is one of the best characters ever created. Book Riot describes Murderbot as “a security droid that accidentally gained sentience… [who] says it doesn’t like humans, and it wants to be left alone to stream television shows all day.” Me too buddy, me too!!
RESTACK OF THE WEEK →
This essay by Michael Estrin got me thinking about the ways writers get paid, and how it’s ok to value your work enough to say it out loud. Hence, you will see new ways to support my writing at the end of every newsletter. If you hate this, you can contact Michael directly @ michael…
LET’S CHAT →
Do you ever visit places your younger self frequented? Do you see yourself there as a ghost? Do you think I’m crazy for asking this?
What have you been reading lately? Is it any good or do you intend to chuck it after you’re done?
What TV show or movie did you last love? Drop it in the comments and I’ll give you a book recommendation!
In Case You Missed It
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
Interesting that the author is an Assistant Prof. of Psychiatry because every “main”character has a unique psychosis, or disorder that affects negatively someone in close proximity such as the father teasing his twin girls about which is the fairest, this leading to lifelong rivalry, jealously, and resentment. Other characters display mental disorders that were “in vogue” in terms of analysis at the time in which they appear in the novel and thus shed light upon the undisclosed era in which they lived. Perhaps Mrs. Farnsworth used laudanum for her nerves and therefore was sensitive to auras and voices in the house. The seance scene was enjoyable, the only real humor in the book.
You’ve put us on the trail of another intriguing book! Thank you! (Also: yes, how does Mason do it??) Speaking of time spirals and indentations and the power of place, I’m reading this from my car after a short walk toward some giant anthropomorph geoglyphs (intaglios) impressed into the ground some 500-2000 years ago in the rocky desert lands near Blythe, CA. Deep time indeed!