The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | Book Review

[@prettyinpink9893]

Great review! I actually think she nailed the different POVs and varying timelines. It made the pacing feel more fast paced than it actually was. Especially at the end where the POVs get shorter. It made it angsty. I liked that part. For me the rich family (the Van Laars) as the quintessential “villains” of this story and weaving in this backstory of how they (perhaps unjustly) took over the land that is now the camp subplot did not quite do it for me. It’s clear she was trying to make some distinction between the working class and the wealthy and I feel like she completely lost the plot there and didn’t fully weave that into the outcome of the narrative. I do think Liz Moore did a really good job of throwing some red herrings in that kept me trying to figure out what was going on and I do think this definitely succeeds as a literary suspense novel. It’s an objectively good book but I think wish the working class vs wealthy family trope was fleshed out a little more.

[@LaurenGross-ow2pq]

Loved this book. Full of characters I liked and disliked intensely. I read it in 2 sittings. Thanks for sharing your review.

[@gregoryallen4126]

I really enjoyed The God of the Woods and look forward to more Liz Moore books! Nice to see you posting again, Rincey. We missed you!

[@SwiftySquad633]

Yay, a review from Rincey! I loved God of the Woods, the summer camp setting was so fun and there was just enough mystery to keep it a page turner.

[@awebofstories]

I read this shortly after it was released and really enjoyed it. It was a very strong summer book for me--lots of summer camp vibes!

[@Georgesmomsu]

I loved this book. I listened to it first and then read the physical book. I used to go to summer camp in upstate NY. This just ticked all the boxes for me.

[@Milan_T.]

This book ticked all of my boxes as well! I was like: mystery (ok), literary fiction (I'm listening), family drama (SOLD!)

[@FreeFormLady]

I loved The Unseen World and I recently purchased Long Bright River. This one sounds really interesting, so I'll add it to my list. Thanks for the review!

[@shell1338]

I have this on my TBR. Can't wait to read it.

[@badfaith4u]

Glad you enjoyed the book and that the publisher sent you a copy. 📚

[@MaryE171]

Very intrigued by this one, I've been hearing a lot of good things!

[@Michelle777-l2w]

I REALLY enjoyed this one also. I know not everyone will like the ending, personally I LOVED it. I know what you mean, my brain enjoys her books too. :)

[@annefloorlanting5147]

I listened to the audiobook and I thought it was an okay book, not good or great. The pacing seemed slow at the start, but luckily picked up towards the end, but the ending kind of fell flat for me, important details considering the disappearances of Bear and Barbara were a bit unbelievable to me.

[@rinceyreads]

I can get that! It definitely is more character driven and less of a mystery so it doesn't tie up very cleanly

[@annefloorlanting5147]

@rinceyreads, I generally don't mind character driven books and often even gravitate towards them, but here I went in expecting a mystery and didn't really get that, so I guess that does play a role in my assessment/review of the book. When it comes to character driven books, I need to really care for, symphatize with or have some sort of strong feelings (can also be negative) for the characters and I also didn't really have that with God of the Woods. The only one that I really liked was juditha (don't know how it is spelled, as I listened to the audiobook) and for some of the others, I knew you were supposed to dislike them, but I didn't really know enough details about them to really hate them, if you get what I mean.

[@soulsista1088]

This book wasn't on my radar but it sounds interesting from your review. I've also been seeing it on a lot of end your year best book lists. It isn't really a book genre I usually read but I think I'll check it out from the library and give it a try.

[@cerebralcalisthenics]

I LOVED this book and am very excited to read Long Bright River!

[@margaby2001]

Is this book repetitive? Also, is the ending credible at least to a level? I want to read it but I’ve never read any of her books. To give an example, I know people love Frida McFadden but I can’t stand any of her books. I’ve tried but her writing style is not for me at all.

[@wynnsimpson]

I couldn’t get into it.

[@jondoe5251]

The more times you say the word "like" the less sharp your review looks like. Lol

[@rinceyreads]

time.com/5592953/use-like-too-much/ www.vox.com/explain-it-to-me/373342/saying-like-usage-overuse-linguistic-advice-sexism Sounds like you need to talk to some linguists and see if your judgment of the filler word like is actually rooted in sexism