Get ready to explore the intricate connection between nature and humanities’ history and future in North Woods by Daniel Mason. Our North Woods book club questions will help your book club travel through the many stories included in this unique book. The rich depictions of nature, the distinctive and often humorous characters, both living and dead, will provide your book club with plenty to discuss.
This North Woods discussion guide will help move your discussion with a synopsis and selected reviews. The 10 North Woods book club questions will cover every aspect of the novel, and will get your North Woods book club discussion off to a lively start.

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Synopsis for North Woods
(We always chose to provide the publisher synopsis because we feel that it’s worthwhile to discuss whether the official book description actually squared with your experience of the book.)
North Woods, Daniel Mason
When two young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become the home of an extraordinary succession of human and nonhuman characters alike. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to growing apples. A pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths an ancient mass grave—only to discover that the earth refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a sinister con man, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle: As the inhabitants confront the wonder and mystery around them, they begin to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.
This magisterial and highly inventive novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason brims with love and madness, humor and hope. Following the cycles of history, nature, and even language, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment, to history, and to one another. It is not just an unforgettable novel about secrets and destinies, but a way of looking at the world that asks the timeless question: How do we live on, even after we’re gone?
10 Book Club Questions for North Woods
These questions have been tailored to this book’s specific reading experience, but if you want more ideas, we also have an article with 101 generic book club questions.
- Which story was your favorite?
- “And yet to have claimed that a warm spring morning walking over earth carpeted with apple blossoms was somehow the same, substantively, spiritually, as a cold winter noon spent pruning, or a harvest evening heavy with the smell of juice and hay—this would have betrayed an ignorance not only of country life, but of the thousand seasons—of frogsong, of thunderheads, of first thaws—that hid within the canonical Four.”
This novel is rich with descriptions of nature and the changing seasons. How did it affect you? Were you able to feel immersed in the landscape?
- How did you feel about the portrayals of mental illness in this story?
- “Which is why, to this day, if you are passing the Fludd property on a morning, and you look into his apple orchard, you will see the diligent farmer, his wife, their three daughters, and their grandchildren, all squatting red-faced and bare-bottomed at the base of the accursed apple tree, thinking this will be the s—t that brings them fame at last.”
Humor and playfulness was a part of many of the stories, which scenes did you find the most funny?
- The house grew, decayed, and morphed throughout time. How did the house interact with the people who lived and visited? How did it reflect the lives of the people who passed through it?
- There were many tragedies that occurred, were there any that particularly touched you?
- There were many voices and lives in this book; human, animal, and plant. Did it come together for you? And if so, was there a common idea or thought that brought them all together for you?
- “They had come to the spot in the freshness of June, chased from the village by its people, following deer paths through the forest, the valleys, the fern groves, and the quaking bogs. For a moment, a stillness hangs over the rubble, and then it all begins again.”
What does the passage of time, the lives lived, and the creation and destruction, say about our connection to the earth around us?
- How did you feel about the structure of the book? Did it read to you like a collection of short stories? Or an interconnected novel?
- How did you feel about the supernatural elements in the book?
Selected Reviews for North Woods
(Use these selected Goodreads reviews to compare with your own experience of the book. Do you agree or disagree with the reviews?)
“If I had to sum up this book with one word, that word would be “connection.” Daniel Mason strips bare the tenuous connection between transient characters – those who once existed, do exist, and will continue to exist – within a setting that endures and is ever-changing. As one of the characters says about the boundaries that separate us, “One believes the world is enchanted or one does not.”
“Given the number or 5 star reviews of this book, I’m just going to conclude that either I’m not the right audience or it’s not the right time for me. It was really good for almost 200 pages, then quickly devolved into a long, strange trip, as Jerry Garcia might say. I mostly skimmed the last third of the pages, mainly to see where it was headed. I got no satisfaction, other than to say I was finished.”
“This is one of those books that is a technical marvel. Mason invents so many vibrant characters that are all completely unique, and the style of each tale reflects the time period it is written in. The plot is complimented by historical documents, psychiatric case notes, song lyrics and love letters, all of which make the story feel more authentic. However I have to say that the novel overall left me cold. I couldn’t really connect with the people it described – maybe it was down to the fact that the narrative jumped from one to another so often, and the differences between them often felt jarring. I can see why North Woods wowed the critics, and I’m still glad I read it, but it truly never moved or thrilled me.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about beautiful language. But there must be a satisfying story to go along with it. I knew it was about a house and those who inhabited it throughout the years but expected to learn more about those inhabitants. Yet their stories felt incomplete. In the beginning they didn’t even have names. And, just when the story of the current occupants got interesting, we moved to the next. We circled back once or twice, but again were left hanging.:
More Book Club Ideas
If you loved that, then we got a whole list of books that are similar to North Woods.
If your club liked how the story propelled through time, we’ve got a few more book club guides that may suit you. There’s a non-spoiler synopsis on the top of the article with a link to Amazon if you want to check pricing or reviews.
- Cloud Cuckoo Land starts in the 15th century and goes into the future with interstellar travel.
- The Many Daughters of Afong Moy isn’t set in one place, but it follows a long timeline featuring a family curse.
- Tom Lake features an apple orchard and the “now and then” of one woman’s story, as she tells it to her daughters.