North Woods by Daniel Mason
Time is an infinite loop vortex.
I have begun to believe that time is an infinite loop vortex.
I currently live in the same town I grew up in, 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 me’s.
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. 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 do we have over nature?
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. Thanks to this book, my standards for any future text description as “lush” have skyrocketed.
In North Woods, nature - specifically this plot of land - is a character. This includes both the natural landscape, the animals, 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 diseases they cannot rebound from, the soil is spoiled by the pain of human remains, and 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…
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
Mmm yes yes this is why we are Substack friends!
This book has been on my maybe list for so long and you just kicked it to the TBR! Thank you!