Nature on a slower timescale
NorthwoodsThis is the story of a piece of farm land - mostly woods - in America, and stretches from the time of slavery into the future. At first I was irritated by the way in which none of the characters who live in the old yellow house, are developed fully. They all remain quite ephemeral and their stories are not resolved. But later I realised that the effect of this device is to make the land the main protaganist of the novel and highlight the timelessness and resilience of the natural forest, and even the cultivated apple trees, in contrast to the brief fleeting lives of the human inhabitants. It is a clever story which I can highly recommend.