"North Woods"

An interesting and enjoyable read, recommended to me by a friend who lives on Cape Cod.  The setting for the book is the northwestern part of Massachusetts, in the Berkshires.  The storyline follows a single parcel of land, the house on that property, and the sequence of inhabitants and visitors from colonial settlement times to the modern era.

Because it is an "impossible to summarize" novel, I won't take the time to do a lengthly commentary, but will instead refer you to this review in The New York Times.  I agree with all the points made in that review, and especially the cover blurb about the author's "polyphony."  The stories from different eras are told in different "voices."  I was especially impressed with a section describing schizophrenia written as though from medical history notes.  To my ear attuned by thirty years in medical schools, the text sounded "real," and I was not surprised later to discover that Daniel Mason is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Stanford.

I always enjoy encountering words and phrases that are unfamiliar to me:

"... the oldest son of the town fence viewer." (67)  There is a Wikipedia entry on fence viewer - a term that dates back to 1661 and was an important duty in colonial America.

"Lovely country, I should say, sleepy grey fields, low walls fretting the swell as far as one can see." (131).  Multiple potential meanings; here presumably "to disturb or cause to ripple" (re the swell of the land).

"P.S. - Ants ate the envelope glue so I hadn't sealed this yet..." (144).  Interesting historical anecdote.

"... an old ash, dead, wearing its loose bark like an écorché figure that holds his own flayed skin." (154)

"And the house, the tumble, the mazy skein of its rooms." (164)  "Like a maze" (presumably archaic) and a tangle, typically of yarn.  A bit contrived IMHO.

"... a fantasy novel she was writing, a gowny, spelly kind of book with so much scrying that Helen had been moved to warn her of the limits on the use of crystal balls in fiction." (285)  Clarified by the last phrase of the sentence.  Related to "descry."

"... stepped back from the cheval glass (c. 1870) and turned with a look of triumph..." (311)  " A classic example of an adjustable mirror is the cheval glass, which the user can tilt."  Lots of examples at Google Images.  Somehow related to horses (?); someone else can figure out why.

"... in a black tuxedo jacket with grosgrain lapels..." (311)  From the French, "coarse grained" referring to cloth (and often silk).

"... the chattering squirrels that gave chase across the catslide roof." (327) 

"A catslide roof is a gabled roof where the slope and eave on one side extends below the eave on the other side. Originally found on Early Modern and Medieval county homes in England, designers used them on Cotswold, Tudor and some Cape Cod Style homes during eclectic era of the 1920s. Although they can be found on any gable roof, they are particularly common on front entries like the example in the photo."

"... there was something in the pool, a muskrat or whistlepig." (353)  A term originally applied to groundhogs, now better known as a premium whiskey.

This was an easy addition to my list of recommended books.  Readers are invited to add their own reviews in the Comments.