Reviews

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

rubyrosereads_'s review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

madhunts's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

rebeccalollback's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

snappycatty's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

anabelstl's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

roxyk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

canadianbookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2024/09/birnam-wood.html

deemend's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

erinlcrane's review against another edition

4.0

Yikes, what an ending!

I loved the writing style here. Lots of character dissection from the narrator as well as dry, witty humor.

There’s a slow build, but I just eat up petty drama, and that was how this started. The main thing I struggled with was the believability of Robert, but I’m a little scared he’s all too real.

There are some ideological rambles, but I appreciated how Catton made it feel like the characters said these things. It didn’t feel like they suddenly became mouthpieces before returning to normal speech. It worked for me.

This definitely reads as a literary thriller. The writing quality is wonderful - thoughtful and insightful, not just serviceable. Will be trying out Catton’s other books.

horsley123's review against another edition

4.0

This could have been a really good thriller - guerilla gardening outfit set up in a tech billionaire’s wilderness retreat, he discovers them, things start going wrong, suspicions are raised - and then the ending, goodness me that was bleak. On this level I really enjoyed the book. I could grasp the ecological issues being tackled and could identify the goodies and the baddies.

However for some reason the author decided that I needed to be lectured on environmental politics. Suddenly characters would go on and on, for pages, spouting off like earnest sixth formers telling their parents that they know nothing. I get enough of that at home - I am not really sure why it is there, as the plot deals with these issues in a far more entertaining and gripping fashion.