God of the Woods [spoilers]

[Anonymous]

I noticed on the October thread that a bunch of people were reading God of the Woods.

I read it and enjoyed it, but felt like what actually happened to Bear + the cover up was a bit far fetched.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Agree. I like a long book but this one felt unnecessarily tortured for both mysteries. And then they were just both solved kind of abruptly, with previous leads/clues abandoned. I was really into it and then put off at the end.

[Anonymous]

Agreed it was too far-fetched. And the "bad" people were too bad - no redeeming qualities at all, very flat characters, IMO.

[Anonymous]

I loved this book, but I agree with your point about Bear.

[Anonymous]

The Bear reveal and ending were letdowns. It's like they wanted to finish and cobbled something together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed it was too far-fetched. And the "bad" people were too bad - no redeeming qualities at all, very flat characters, IMO.

Yes it was almost comical, very silly.

[Anonymous]

I thought the Bear ending was ok and sort of made sense of the characterization of the mother.

But the ending with Barbara was ridiculous. A 13 year old girl is going to go live on a remote island in the woods by herself til she turns 18? I don't think so. Maybe for a couple weeks, not for years at that age, no matter how self sufficient or schooled in outdoor survival. And Judy just swimming there and back to get a glimpse of her was also dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed it was too far-fetched. And the "bad" people were too bad - no redeeming qualities at all, very flat characters, IMO.

I thought some of the characters had dimension, but I agree the very bad ones were one dimensional.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed it, but it's not on my top 10 list for 2024 - I think it's overhyped.

[Anonymous]

This book was boring as crap.

[Anonymous]

How do publishers decide to promote mediocre books so heavily? This book is everywhere right now - they clearly sent a lot of early copies out and then made a BOTM deal. It's front and center at lots of bookstores.

From the NYTimes review:

I wish Moore had painted the reprehensible Van Laars with more nuance; villains are better when we can see ourselves in them, after all. A few red herrings fall away without resolution, and there are some less-than-convincing details. Would an adolescent from Albany, no matter how sophisticated, really be into punk rock in the summer of 1975, a year before the Ramones released their first album and the Sex Pistols put out their first single? Would an old New York family like the Van Laars, with all the ancestral prejudices that implies, really be so entangled, personally and professionally, with the Irish Catholic McLellans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do publishers decide to promote mediocre books so heavily? This book is everywhere right now - they clearly sent a lot of early copies out and then made a BOTM deal. It's front and center at lots of bookstores.

From the NYTimes review:

I wish Moore had painted the reprehensible Van Laars with more nuance; villains are better when we can see ourselves in them, after all. A few red herrings fall away without resolution, and there are some less-than-convincing details. Would an adolescent from Albany, no matter how sophisticated, really be into punk rock in the summer of 1975, a year before the Ramones released their first album and the Sex Pistols put out their first single? Would an old New York family like the Van Laars, with all the ancestral prejudices that implies, really be so entangled, personally and professionally, with the Irish Catholic McLellans?

It’s not a bad book but it’s not a great book. And yet it is everywhere.

I was most annoyed about the red herrings just falling away, as that quote says. And the story just turning on the deep involvement of a Hewitt in each disappearance. I find it so unbelievable that not only would TJ spirit Barbara away to an island in the middle of nowhere, but that her dad would just bury (!!) and cover up the death of a young child, no matter his professional involvement with the family.

[Anonymous]

I agree it was way too far fetched. I enjoyed the beginning, but the ending was too unbelievable.

I'm reading Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter right now and I feel the same about this book.

I need to believe that the story can actually happen in order to enjoy the book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. I like a long book but this one felt unnecessarily tortured for both mysteries. And then they were just both solved kind of abruptly, with previous leads/clues abandoned. I was really into it and then put off at the end.

I just finished it. I agree with you that this book was unjustifiably long. I don’t mind delving into different characters but none of them felt satisfyingly deep or interesting. I don’t think there was a single character I cared about at all. I mostly just wanted to be done with it so I could come read this thread and see what others thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree it was way too far fetched. I enjoyed the beginning, but the ending was too unbelievable.

I'm reading Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter right now and I feel the same about this book.

I need to believe that the story can actually happen in order to enjoy the book.

I also didn’t love that book. I find Karin Slaughter to be mostly disappointing. Sometimes I think maybe I’m the problem but then I’ll read another book and love it and think no, some books just aren’t my thing.