Reviews

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

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underthejunipertree's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

One of the best books I have read this year. I didn't really know what I was getting into apart from the blurb: a guerilla gardening collective named Birnam Wood, led by idealistic Mira Bunting along with her jaded best friend, Shelley Noakes, takes on a shady, financial opportunity offered by billionaire Robert Lemoine to expand their organization's scope and plant a garden along a certain property...

Meanwhile, ex-Birnam Wood member Tony Gallo stumbles across the secret behind Lemoine's motives and rushes to reveal the truth to the world.

While the beginning may pace slow, the sharp dialogue and prose are certainly not tedious; the characters' concerns and clashes in ideologies are inciting and topical, and Catton has such a knack for dialogue, whether internal or external (e.g. heated conversations with personal stakes, the ruminations of characters' inner voices). That said, for those seeking more extrinsic suspense and action, the second half of the book truly delivers in white-knuckled fashion.

And if you know, you know-- Eleanor Catton is brave!

mitziatratum's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

ksreads93's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

hannahclare44's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

pashadavoudian's review against another edition

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emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nats2643's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I felt like this took forever to reach any sort of action and then finished in a rush. Several characters were prone to long political arguments and we heard a lot of inner monologues. These were boring, long, drawn out and I don't think added much to the story.
The characters were all pretty unlikeable too, I wasn't left rooting for anyone.
I didn't like the ending, which left too much open and felt rushed despite the hours and hours it took to finally reach any sort of crisis point.