Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m posting my review of Michael Christie’s novel, Greenwood.

This novel was short-listed for Canada Reads 2023.

Greenwood by: Michael Christie: Jake Greenwood works at the Greenwood Island as a Forest Guide in the year 2038. She knows there’s no relation between her name and the place, until maybe, there is one. When given a journal that was owned by a Willow Greenwood, she soon learns that was her grandmother, but the woman who wrote in the journal was actually her great, great, grandmother. Slowly the story unfolds – about her family and the island and suddenly her whole world opens up. Spanning over a century, this novel told a multi-generational story of love and loss in more ways than just one. It was beautifully crafted and written, the reader couldn’t help but be swept away by the story. The harrowing beginnings and how hopeless characters felt about the world, yet the world kept going. This novel started off a little rocky because the reader didn’t care for the first character we met in the future, but it was a great place to start. The way Christie told this story was so clever. The way he worked backward to come full circle was so effective. We’re given little hints here and there from past generations and we’re left wondering how all the pieces fit together as we read. The reader was enchanted by the two brothers and their story; how they started it all off and this reader was so glad to have gotten their story for as long as they did because it truly was the best story and watching it cascade down the generations was truly magical. At the same time, the way that Christie folded the forestry plots into this was perfect and felt like a metaphor for life and how everything is connected. The characters were so good and so complex, there were a multitude of sides to them, which helped in giving life to the story and adding the different layers. The more characters we were introduced to, the more invested we got into the story. The first few characters were alright, and felt more like side characters in the grand scheme of the plot, whereas the characters we met a little later were our main, deeply developed ones. They felt so real and raw; they didn’t quite feel relatable but there was a realness to them that the reader could appreciate about them. The reader didn’t want to stop reading about this family, like it could go on for a hundred more years and be just as interesting. Overall, this was brilliantly written and told, it showcased the effects of generational trauma and healing, learning and forgiving; a truly spellbound story.