The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

 

Reviewed by Christy

In August 1975, camp counselor Louise discovers one of her 13-year-old campers is missing. And not just any camper – Barbara Van Laar. Barbara is the daughter of the wealthy owners of the summer camp. Working class Louise knows her livelihood and her dreams of bettering her younger brother's future are at stake if Barbara is not located quickly. What follows is a sprawling drama centering the Van Laar family, its many employees, and the surrounding townspeople in their shadow.

          What I enjoyed most about this novel is that there is no one protagonist. Moore spends time with multiple characters (Tracy – Barbara's bunkmate, TJ – the camp director, Judy – a young detective, and many more). It also isn't a linear timeline, jumping from the 1960s to the 1950s to earlier in the summer of 1975. Moore keeps a handy timeline before each chapter with the current time in bold, which I found immensely helpful. I have recently discovered a love for expansive character studies, and Moore really executes this particular style well. I can't say the characters sounded terribly different from one another but that didn't bother me. The storytelling was too engaging for me to mind.

          There are many wealthy, terrible people in this novel who are deeply frustrating to read about but that's what makes the tragic aspects of the story so much more impactful. We know that there are rich people who will always get away with being rude, entitled, and so much worse long after we finish the final page. Moore's prose is simple but moving, and I found myself unable to shake the heaviness I felt while reading even after I put the book down. When I initially started reading, I was not expecting to be affected so much but I'm really glad I read it! I would rather a book make me sad than make me feel nothing at all.

        

     

Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts

 Reviewed by Ambrea

DeClare, Oklahoma, in 1972 is a poor, windswept town where anything noteworthy rarely happens—until the murder of a young mother, Gaylene Harjo, and the disappearance of her son rocks the community to its foundations.  Although investigators searched for the boy, Nicky Jack was nowhere to be found and, as the years passed, his family lost hope he would ever be located.

Thirty years later, Nicky Jack mysteriously returns to DeClare.  He has a new name, a new family, a new identity, but he knows his roots lie in this small, dusty town and he knows the answers to his past are located here.  As he tries to reconnect to his mother’s community and uncover her murderer, he unearths long-buried memories and stirs up dashed hopes, desperate love, and hidden secrets that may just tear DeClare—and Nicky Jack—apart.

Shoot the Moon has an intriguing premise:  a small, American town turned upside down by a grisly murder; a boy returning home to discover the truth of his past; a mystery and a secret buried deep beneath the quiet façade of a seemingly amiable old town.  It has all the elements of a suspenseful, family drama, and I think it succeeds in weaving together all these qualities to create an interesting novel.

It’s a murder-mystery, so parts of Billie Lett’s novel are unpleasant.  Like the abusive, corrupt sheriff, for example, or the mean-spirited and manipulative radio station owner.  They both made my skin crawl (as they probably should, given their repulsive qualities and their participation in the debacle).  There are good characters, of course, like Teeve and her mother, and I even liked the caustic newspaper reporter who has a bone to pick with DeClare; however, I found it’s sometimes easy to let the bad things overrun the story.

Admittedly, I wasn’t completely invested in Shoot the Moon.  I finished the book, because I sought closure, but I wasn’t completely committed to it.  I’m not knocking Letts’ novel.  I mean, I found it thoughtful and interesting.  It’s a comprehensive examination of human nature, a story of justice and redemption that sometimes takes a circuitous route, a family drama that, ultimately, finds a happy resolution.  It’s a decent novel, but I can truthfully say it isn’t a book I will pursue twice.