"Eight campers. Nine beds. She counts and counts again. At last, when she can no longer defer it, she lets one name bob to the surface of her mind: Barbara. The empty bed is Barbara’s. She closes her eyes. She imagines herself returning, for the rest of her life, to this place and this moment ... willing a body to appear where there is none. Willing the girl herself, Barbara, to walk through the door. To say she has been in the washroom, to say she forgot the rule about taking the flashlight ... But Louise knows that Barbara won’t do any of these things. She senses, for reasons she can’t quite articulate, that Barbara is gone" -The God Of The Woods
The God of The Woods (2024) by Liz Moore is very popular right now with readers and critics alike. My review is mixed. The writing is first rate. Liz Moore is very talented and that means alot.
But The God of The Woods is also 490 pages and for the first 300 I found it to be a struggle to get through. I had not expected this since the premise of the book, a young girl goes missing at the same summer camp where her brother Bear went missing 14 years ago, had page turner potential. And The God Of The Woods does become a gripping novel but you have to get through more than half the book before what happened to Bear and his sister Barbara become front and center.
The God of The Woods is set in 1975 in the Adirondacks. But the first half of the novel jumps back repeatedly to the 1950's and early 1960's. We learn about Alice and Peter Van Laar, Barbara and Bear's wealthy parents. The Van Laars' own the summer camp and pretty much the entire town in upstate NY where the novel is set. Alice is a woman who has been almost comatose since Bear's death years ago. Peter is an emotionally abusive husband. They are a disturbing but fascinating couple and so I didn't mind when the novel repeatedly took detours into their past.
But learning the backstories of the camp counselor Louise and Tracy, Barbara's bunk mate was not that interesting for me and the novel spends a good deal of time telling us their stories. The God of The Woods picks up considerably when the police officer Judy Luptack and her team appear. But they don't arrive until part three which is well into the book.
Kirkus gave The God of The Woods a very favorable review but also described the book as "a literary novel wearing mystery's clothes". That puts it very well. Liz Moore addresses important issues in The God of The Woods about the working class, family secrets, the lives of the wealthy and how being born into money changes people and not always for the better. That's all fine but more than once as I struggled through the first half of this novel I kept waiting for the author to get back to the mystery. What happened to Barbara and her brother Bear?
Sounds like my kind of book, but like you, I might be frustrated by the pace. This quote: "A literary novel wearing mystery's clothes". does appeal to me. Maybe I will put it on the list.
ReplyDeleteIts a novel that has gotten many rave reviews from critics and tens of thousands of 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon. I felt it dragged but that's just me. Others feel differently. I like that quote too from Kirkus and I came upon another description from another source "genre honesty" in other words a mystery novel needs to be a mystery and not deviate too much
DeleteI agree with you Kathy. I'm in the minority of people who gave the book like 3 stars and did not love it. I finished it in September last year ... and I almost DNF'd it after 200+ pages. I found the pacing and length of the book agonizing and any suspense muted. I also thought it was a dark story with many creepy characters. The only one I liked was investigator Judy Luptack. It's too bad b/c I really wanted to like it a lot but just didn't. I liked her other book Long Bright River a lot, but this one felt so slow and creepy to me. So I could relate to your comments.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way Susan. I think Kirkus had it right "a literary novel in mystery's clothes" The problem is those are two different types of genres that require different choices to be made and pacing. And in a mystery novel you can't just go off on detours for the entire first half of a 500 page book focusing on characters like Louise and Tracy that I didn't really bond with
DeleteI normally love books with that summer camp setting, but I would never even make it to the end of this one. All those detours and back stories would make me lose patience with the book before I ever got to the good part. Does the author at least wrap up the mystery with Barbara at the end in a satisfying way?
ReplyDeleteThe ending is satisfying for Barbara which is good because she had alot to deal with regarding her two parents who ignored her so busy were they with their own craziness. But it ends well for Barbara but my guess many readers will DNF the book before they get to the end.
DeleteAs Susan says, Judy is the only likable character! But the ending is crazy to me because so impractical, given that Barbara is only (IIRC) 14 years old. By the way, it is amusing to me that our blogs use the same design and we read some of the same books!
ReplyDeleteI agree CLM Judy is the only likeable character. It's not ideal a 14 year old living out there in the woods. But I think TJ in a month will be moving in to watch over Barbara but it is a bit crazy. And yet living with Peter and Alice has been a nightmare. It is amusing we have the same design and read some of the same books and I am glad we do.
DeleteYour description of this book makes it seem very frustrating. If so, I am not sure I want to spend 490 pages of reading on it. I originally did not want to read it, then later I changed my mind. I have planned to get this book eventually and give it a try. So probably I will. I just won't be rushing to read it.
ReplyDeleteI can't recommend it and the writing is not the problem. Liz Moore is a very good writer but the pacing is very slow until you get deep into the novel. And the mystery plays second fiddle.
Delete