The God of the Woods

Photo by Max Gotts on Unsplash

It’s the end of August, and classes begin in a week. I’ve already been to several meetings and workshops, and I need to get my syllabi ready. I also have a book review, an article, and an article review to do. But…

I have to admit that what I want to do, really, is keep reading The God of the Woods. The book is set at a summer camp in the Adirondacks, and the time frame shifts between the 1970s, the 1960s, and the 1950s. A wealthy Albany family, the Van Laars (such an old money NY name!), have a summer house in the Adirondacks (ironically named ‘Self-Reliance’). They also own a summer camp which is on the grounds: Camp Emerson. The workers at the camp are not from wealthy families, for the most part, and there is a bit of an upstairs-downstairs dynamic here. But it becomes more complicated as we learn more about the Van Laars, and about the woods.

Peter III and his wife, Alice, who live at Self-Reliance in the summers, lost a son (Bear) in the woods, and fourteen years later their rebellious daughter, Barbara, also goes missing. The search for Barbara is eerily reminiscent of the early search for Bear for the locals; Alice, who has not been a good mother to Barbara, is also haunted by the disappearance of the son she adored.

The books has been compared to The Secret History (which I loved) because of its evocation of place, and I agree with that. And like The Secret History, there are secrets that the characters hide. But God of the Woods is also a meditation on gender, family, parenthood, and grief—and the Adirondacks. We learn that the woods are deceptive—it seems easy to find one’s way but in fact, it’s easier to get lost. The God of the Woods is a great read for the end of August, even if you—like me—should be getting ready to go back to school.