Charles Frazier's "Nightwoods"

     As eager as I was to read Nightwoods by Charles Frazier, I was also a little nervous. The only other book I've read by Charles Frazier is his first novel, Cold Mountain. And for anyone whose read my first few awkward blog posts, you know that Cold Mountain is one of my absolute favorite books. Ever. Right up there with Jane Eyre.

     So for about two seconds I was kind of nervous that I wouldn't like Nightwoods because it wouldn't be half as good as Cold Mountain because hardly any book is as good as Cold Mountain.

     Those two seconds were a very short, very foolish two seconds.

     Charles Frazier is amazing. A brilliant wordsmith. Seriously. Frazier could write directions on how to open a soup can and it would sound like poetry.

     Like Cold Mountain, Nightwoods is a historical novel. Taking place in the 1960s, the novel tells the story of Luce, a young woman content to live alone in an abandoned lodge just outside her small hometown. But Luce's life of peaceful solitude is interrupted when her murdered sister's troubled children are dropped at her doorstep.

     Nightwoods is a relatively short book--only 259 pages. It's short but it's searing. The plot moves fast (but not too fast, it's swift and unpredictable like a river flowing through the mountains, slowing at all the right points and sweeping you away at all the right points). By the time I was halfway through, the book was all but glued to my hands. Plot twists keep the reader on her toes, break the reader's heart and leave the reader re-reading certain sentences over and over. But unlike some suspense/thriller/mystery type books, the plot twists are believable. They surprise the reader, but don't leave you wading through a confusing, contorted plot.

     The novel takes place in small town North Carolina at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains (Frazier really likes his mountains) and, like Cold Mountain, setting plays a pivotal role in the novel, described and emphasized and developed as if the woods and mountains were a living, breathing character. To Luce, nature certainly is a character. Before the children come, she spends her days studying the environment, watching the seasons change and learning about the animals and plants that inhabit her environment. She finds companionship in the natural world.

     Frazier's love and attention to setting is one of the many things that (I think) sets him apart from other authors. And it's not just the sweeping vistas and sunsets that he describes so poetically that you can practically see the mountains rising up out of the paper, but it's also Frazier's attention to detail. It's the little things. Like how Nightwoods is divided into three parts, and these three parts correspond with the changing seasons. Leaves are turning red and gold at the end of part one and are falling off the trees at the end of part two. For Frazier, it seems that setting isn't just a sloppily painted 2-D background that hangs behind the main action of the plot. No, the setting, the seasons, they are the building blocks of the plot. Yes, the novel is character driven, and the North Carolina topography and weather are as big a player as Luce when it comes to driving the plot.

     Nature seems to be a recurring theme--a motif, if you will--throughout all of his books. (Okay, I've only read two of his three books, but two out of three is pretty decent odds, right?) Frazier's love of nature is one of the principal reasons I was so enchanted by Cold Mountain. But Frazier does not limit his lovely imagery to the natural world in Nightwoods. He puts the same love thoughtfulness into his descriptions of Luce's hometown. An especially beautiful image that kept coming up was the effect lights have on a windshield streaked with water. Frazier also seems drawn to neon lights, a nice artificial juxtaposition to the natural world he loves so much. Lights in general are a poignant motif in his descriptions of the town. (Perhaps symbolic of something controlled and constant, unlike the ever-changing seasons, artificial light is something that humans can control...but I digress)

     Just to clarify, this book isn't just wonderful imagery and descriptions of nature. Trust me, there's a plot. A wonderful plot with lovable and fascinating characters. And like Cold Mountain, a beautiful yet understated love story. Another clarification: as much as I keep comparing Nightwoods to Cold Mountain, the two novels are very different. They share the same lyrical, literary voice (obviously, they share the same author), and many of the themes are the same (themes of natural cycles, love, survival, redemption) but they are not at all the same novel.

     Nightwoods is very much a story about family. About parenting and domestic abuse and familial duties. What does it mean to be a mother, sister, aunt, daughter? What does it mean to love your family? To not love them?

     But enough about plot. I don't want to spoil anything for you. Like all good stories, it's better the less you know before you even open the book.

     In short--read Nightwoods. It's gritty yet lyrical, searing yet sweet (Frazier is a master of incongruous juxtapositions). Whether or not it's better than Cold Mountain, well, that one's up in the air.