Reviews tagging 'Death'

Birnamin metsä by Eleanor Catton

47 reviews

cheyison's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Vomit

krmontgomery's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book made me think more than others I’ve read. It started out very slow and picked up pace as it went. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

dvy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

saltycoffee's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

jesstaurant's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

utopiaandmelancholy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Vomit, and Car accident

gmaz's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Overall, I did not like this book. I guess I'm a weirdo, because reading other reviews, people did not like the beginning, saying it started out too slow. I very much enjoyed the beginning, and I did not like part 3. The first part, especially, reminded me of Jonathon Franzen or Don Dellilo, psychological character studies, and I wanted more of that. I went into the book not realizing the "thriller" category it was in.

I could not get over Owen Darvish's death by Shelley. It didn't make any sense to me, except to set up all the thriller aspects in part 3. It seemed gratuitous. Sure, it shows Lemoine is a bad person, but that's not the only way. Why do we have to murder people to have be shown people are bad? Murder seems like such a cheap and lazy solution. I wanted the deep psychological aspects of character development to continue, people playing mind games or social tactics to get ahead. I really wanted to know who was going to win—Lemoine, or Birnam Wood, or the Darvishes? In the end, nobody won. We all lost.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

ellbutler's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence

popsicleplease's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder

jacs63's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I never vibed with Catton's Booker prize winner 'The Luminaries' but I enjoyed 'Birnam Wood'. 
Its not a 5 star read for me, but its up there. 
It's well written and a page turner.
The first 2/3's of the book do drag a bit, as many have complained about, but I guess its how she sets up the plot and describes the characters.
Then all hell breaks loose in the last third, until a bit of a damp squib of an ending. I was feeling like it all just ran out of steam a bit. 
Enjoyable, but was left wanting more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, and Murder