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kaylee_misch 's review for:
The God of the Woods
by Liz Moore
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒄,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑻.𝑱. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅. 𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒈𝒐𝒅 𝑷𝒂𝒏: 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔.
Finally crossed The God Of The Woods and am relieved to say I felt it lived up to the hype around it. I’d give it probably a 4.5 stars if I’m being picky, but will round up to 5.
This book is masterfully written. Moore paints such deeply real portraits of life for these characters. You are completely transported to the Adirondack estate, and you feel the grief, the anger, the suspicion of everyone. You relive what it was like to be a teenager, trying to figure yourself and your friends and your family out. Your heart breaks, your mind races, you want out of the woods.
The story of the Van Laars - their history, their home, their hardships, their heaviness - is told in such beautiful detail through the eyes of those who have all carried parts of its burden, for better or worse. Through their experiences, we learn just how far people are willing to go to maintain appearances, wealth, and classist divides. And we question: is there really such a thing as self-reliance, and how different is it from self-interest?
This novel will give you so much to think about, so many decisions to analyze, so many gray areas to consider how you’d handle if you were in them. It’s a mystery in story and a true work of literature in craft. I think this one is going to stick with me for a while.
Finally crossed The God Of The Woods and am relieved to say I felt it lived up to the hype around it. I’d give it probably a 4.5 stars if I’m being picky, but will round up to 5.
This book is masterfully written. Moore paints such deeply real portraits of life for these characters. You are completely transported to the Adirondack estate, and you feel the grief, the anger, the suspicion of everyone. You relive what it was like to be a teenager, trying to figure yourself and your friends and your family out. Your heart breaks, your mind races, you want out of the woods.
The story of the Van Laars - their history, their home, their hardships, their heaviness - is told in such beautiful detail through the eyes of those who have all carried parts of its burden, for better or worse. Through their experiences, we learn just how far people are willing to go to maintain appearances, wealth, and classist divides. And we question: is there really such a thing as self-reliance, and how different is it from self-interest?
This novel will give you so much to think about, so many decisions to analyze, so many gray areas to consider how you’d handle if you were in them. It’s a mystery in story and a true work of literature in craft. I think this one is going to stick with me for a while.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Grief, Gaslighting, Classism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity