Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

13 reviews

emilyseebold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Grief, Drug use, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Gun violence, and Sexual content

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cursing, Drug use, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Medical content, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Moderate: Cultural appropriation

Minor: Cancer, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

babonkadonkas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? Yes

5.0

OMG

i was kind of annoyed when sir owen was killed bc i feel like i've read a million murder cover ups, but this was SO well done, amazing ending, absolutely gut wrenching, hated all the characters tbh i feel like you meet every one of these ppl on the left lmao. also robert lemoine is elon musk

such an enjoyable read, i need to go read everything else eleanor has written ok bye

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Car accident, Gaslighting, Murder, Vomit, Grief, Gun violence, and Misogyny

qqjj's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Torture, Vomit, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Bullying, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

emelye's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

martinatan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Really really compelling entanglement of modern characters, motivations, and politics. It felt like such a treat to witness this kind of smooth yet complex storytelling. As someone who recently visited NZ, it was really cool to see Southland as this seemingly mundane setting for a sinister and tragic unraveling of lives. I really enjoyed the descriptions of characters’ changing relationships and perceptions of one another as the plot evolved. I can see why this is being called Shakespearean in the use of dramatic irony, which really got me worked up!! Damn good story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, Animal death, Medical content, Car accident, Sexual content, Cursing, Blood, and Stalking

Ecothriller, surveillance, late stage capitalism

nreyno's review against another edition

adventurous informative 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Death, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

themorsecode's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

A pageturner. Liked the multi perspective approach and there was some spiky satire on all sides, ending didn't quite land for me but I was hooked to the last page

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Vomit, Murder, Death, Violence, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Car accident

katariinak's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Grief

deedireads'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

WHEW.

This was on my TBR all year, and I finally squeezed it in as my last book of 2023. What a powerful (but very heavy) note to end on, kind of like 2023 itself. The story is about a group of activists who call themselves Birnam Wood, planting vegetables in random plots of land, and a billionaire whose interests briefly intersect with theirs, to devastating effect. I should have thought a little bit harder about Macbeth as I read this one, and maybe it wouldn’t have walloped me as hard in the gut as it did; truly, I have only myself to blame there, lol. 

I can’t quite say that I ENJOYED it — it’s tense and uncomfortable and heavy — but it’s also unputdownable, almost like a thriller in the second half. Nearly every character is morally gray, which keeps things interesting and gives it depth. There’s no denying that Eleanor Catton is an incredible talent. The Luminaries has been staring at me from my shelf for months, and I think it’s finally time for me to make it a priority!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Grief and Drug use