Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Le Dieu des Bois by Liz Moore

43 reviews

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Fantastic read! Beautifully explores dynamics of classism, sexism, prioritizing familial abuse and reputation over, no matter the victims. I see myself coming back to “The God of the Woods” again. 

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I’m not entirely sure why or how this book has won awards like Goodreads choice award - if anything, it should have won an award for being the most mediocre mystery novel I’ve read to date. There’s no other way for me to describe this story other than just plain messy. It isn’t mystery, it isn’t crime, it isn’t thriller, it isn’t literary fiction. It’s all of these genres hastily slapped together with eight narrators and a timeline of nearly fifteen years. There’s not a single character that has a shred of dimension, interest, or engagement. The men are rich, powerful, abusive, and addictive, or just bland. The women are spineless, frail, and hopelessly dependent upon men even as they bring about nothing but their downfall. The investigators are just cartoon sketches of your typical cops - a characterization lifted on any number of book or television cop dramas. 

There’s so much going on in this book that it eventually becomes dry, noisy, and cantankerous. I figured out what happened to both children by about half way into the novel - and endured the mind numbing timeline jumps and character narrations. Along the way, we get this slip shot attempt to make a commentary on the lives of the rich and powerful families of upstate New York, rights to hereditary land (which I thought would be a discussion about stealing native land, and yet it was not), and how the rich stay rich and are corrupt to to their core. I don’t need a book to tell me that, especially in this patchwork quilt of drama. 

I really ought to take this book as my sign to not read any more book recommendations I get from social media - I’m always left a little worse for wear after reading them. The only reason I gave this book 3 stars was because in spite of this novel being abominably dry, I was still engaged enough to have to think about the answers to the crimes in this book - albeit it took me half of the novel to figure it out, but hey, it was entertaining while it lasted. 

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

An enjoyable and plot heavy book about a missing teenage girl at a summer camp in the woods. Although the characters are fairly one dimensional, the book is intricately plotted with lots of characters, reveals, and hidden details. The book is full of twists and like any book where there are lots of twists and turns, how much you like or dislike certain twists can really impact how you enjoy the book. 

The most engaging parts of the story are the investigation surrounding the disappearance of the girl, but there is lot of plot dedicated to the back story of many of the character 15 years before this book takes place. These sections are more character focused with some investigative plot elements, and do a lot of heavy lifting setting up the major themes of the book, namely what is "Self Reliance," the despicableness of the wealthy, and the virtues of "the poor people." I think that this book maybe fetishizes the poor and downtrodden more than necessary, and the themes of wealth inequality are a little on the nose, making its message a little messy. 

Overall, an engaging mystery read with some heavy handed class inequality messaging that gets to make fun of Emerson. I think this book would ever be interesting to reread due to the large number of small references, connections, and hidden information that is hidden from the reader the first time through. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-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

4.25-4.5 / 5.0 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 —— The God of the Woods weaves together a fascinating mix of:
• Gone Girl-style regionalism/pacing (minus, thankfully, the depths of sadism),
• Baby Sitters’ Club Mystery girl-power nostalgia (leveled up for their original fans now grown),
• Thoreau references to appreciate & chuckle at, and
• multi-decade elite entourages & class commentary à la The Great Gatsby’s Buchanans.

In The God of the Woods, Liz Moore cinematically carries out a solid, multi-perspective, multi-timeline organizational style. Character development balances intentional voice-building with ownership of its clichés. The God of the Woods also nicely works to subvert expectations of the semi-thriller/mystery genre while intuitively exploring generational submission vs. empowerment, as well as issues of patriarchy vs. matriarchy, legacy, classism, mental health, instinct, and closure. I found at least 90% page-turning and worth 4.5+ stars — but at times longed for the author to take more chances or make things messier even more.

Are all of the characters likable? At times, all them I detest; other times, all of them, I appreciate in their own way. All of them earn their keep. As I read, I chuckled often to think to one GoodReads review noting so much dislike for the characters that they declared “Let her be lost; let all of them be lost, actually” (@brend). In answer to that review, I sense this aggravation was intentionally part of Moore’s goal: to generate in us Gatsby-level disgust for the whole lot, yet  challenge is to preserve their humanity, too.

All in all, I found this to be an engaging, mostly-satisfying read. It was also the first time my library surprised me a rare “skip-the-line loan” of an e-book, so cool!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I didn’t care for the rich lot at all. The first 100 pages dragged on for me. I don’t think I became fully invested into the story until Judyta came into the novel. However, I really enjoyed the ending! It was satisfying and wrapped up all of my questions! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
mysterious sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings