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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a phenomenal book. The writing is incredible throughout. It took me some time at the start to settle into the way it jumps around with characters and timelines, but it all came together so well that it was worth it. Technically a mystery but it felt much more like litfic with the exploration of all the characters and relationship dynamics. So deserving of the hype.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
A haunting mystery where silence speaks louder than words, and the missing voices echo just as powerfully as the ones we hear.
——
Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods is a mystery that unravels like a family heirloom chest—every drawer opened reveals another layer of secrets, grief, and betrayals. What begins as the disappearance of a girl named Barbara slowly pulls us deeper into the shadows of the Van Laar family, exposing old wounds, forgotten ghosts, and the haunting absence of Bear, who vanished a decade earlier.
What I loved most was how the novel shifts between multiple POVs and timelines, creating a layered, cinematic effect that feels like slipping in and out of flashbacks. It’s an intimate experience being inside each character’s head, hearing their raw thoughts and contradictions, watching how the same events refract differently through their eyes.
One of the choices I found most striking is the absence of Peter’s POV. It’s deliberate and powerful: by never letting us inside his head, Moore makes him loom larger as a figure defined by silence, control, and the distortions of others’ perceptions. The Van Laar men, with their obsession with power and reputation, come across as both unknowable and menacing, more like shadows that dictate the story than participants in it. That silence mirrors the family’s own culture of secrecy and forces the narrative spotlight onto the women and outsiders, the ones usually silenced.
Alice’s storyline especially gutted me. Controlled by Peter, dismissed by her family, and betrayed by those closest to her, she’s a woman silenced into submission, yet quietly observant and more perceptive than anyone realizes. The reveal that she was the one who killed Bear was devastating: not a calculated act of cruelty but a tragic outcome of exhaustion, fear, and a life stolen from her.
The ending felt both inevitable and surprising. Judy’s choice to let Barbara remain hidden was tender, even defiant in its refusal to force a neat resolution.
Overall, The God of the Woods is less about a tidy mystery and more about the devastating weight of family secrets, the vulnerability of children, and the many ways grief shapes us.
——
Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods is a mystery that unravels like a family heirloom chest—every drawer opened reveals another layer of secrets, grief, and betrayals. What begins as the disappearance of a girl named Barbara slowly pulls us deeper into the shadows of the Van Laar family, exposing old wounds, forgotten ghosts, and the haunting absence of Bear, who vanished a decade earlier.
What I loved most was how the novel shifts between multiple POVs and timelines, creating a layered, cinematic effect that feels like slipping in and out of flashbacks. It’s an intimate experience being inside each character’s head, hearing their raw thoughts and contradictions, watching how the same events refract differently through their eyes.
One of the choices I found most striking is the absence of Peter’s POV. It’s deliberate and powerful: by never letting us inside his head, Moore makes him loom larger as a figure defined by silence, control, and the distortions of others’ perceptions. The Van Laar men, with their obsession with power and reputation, come across as both unknowable and menacing, more like shadows that dictate the story than participants in it. That silence mirrors the family’s own culture of secrecy and forces the narrative spotlight onto the women and outsiders, the ones usually silenced.
Alice’s storyline especially gutted me. Controlled by Peter, dismissed by her family, and betrayed by those closest to her, she’s a woman silenced into submission, yet quietly observant and more perceptive than anyone realizes. The reveal that she was the one who killed Bear was devastating: not a calculated act of cruelty but a tragic outcome of exhaustion, fear, and a life stolen from her.
The ending felt both inevitable and surprising. Judy’s choice to let Barbara remain hidden was tender, even defiant in its refusal to force a neat resolution.
Overall, The God of the Woods is less about a tidy mystery and more about the devastating weight of family secrets, the vulnerability of children, and the many ways grief shapes us.
dark
mysterious
tense
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes