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A review by nehaanna
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
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? It's complicated
3.0
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment