Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

25 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review

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

---

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

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

---

Content Warnings

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

zestylobster's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

jesus christ 😭😭😭

so much to think about, it's the kind of book that now that i'm finished i just want to go back to the start and begin again

the big front loading of character profiles in the first section of the book reallyyy worked for me - the way the pace of the book slowly increased until it reached the bigbig tension at the end was soo good, altho i can see why the slow start might turn some people off

i looveeee so much the way catton writes, the way she focuses on these little details in routine things to the point where im thinking at many points in the book "wait, i thought i was the only person who noticed those little things! never seen anybody put it into words like that before!!!!" just such lovely, expert writing IMO!

also i think the ending was pretty perfect, no concrete resolution but it gave you justtttt enough to be satisfied. also also, for like the entire third section of the book my heart was beating sooo fast, i was INVESTED

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Gun violence, Vomit, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

martinatan's review

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.

---

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

teaganme's review

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A bit heavy, but mostly in all the right ways. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Car accident, Gaslighting, Drug use, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Death, Classism, and Animal death

mariannelwnicholson's review against another edition

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

4.5

Very good. The ending THREW me but was excellently done. Well worth a read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Gun violence

e11en's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Stalking, and Drug use

madamelacy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I don’t usually read thrillers but bought this on the recommendation of the assistant in Waterstones. It was quite a slow burn, but then the tension really mounts in the last quarter of the book. 
Plenty of strong female characters - I’d said to the lady in Waterstones that I didn’t want the women as victims, which is what puts me off thrillers. 
A good read! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

velvet_young's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Stalking, Murder, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

knkoch's review

adventurous dark tense fast-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

I liked this a lot! It's a great literary thriller, and I ripped through it. The plot, and central conflict, is compelling and definitely not simple. Sure, there's right and wrong, but no easy solutions or clear-cut heroes. I liked the way each character was elusive; I never had a firm grasp, and thus judgement, on any of them. I enjoyed the allusions to Macbeth, especially as this wasn't a direct retelling or reimagining. I suppose this felt more in conversation with that play and its themes of political power, manipulation, gamesmanship, and the way those larger schemes compromise human psychology, personal morality, and integrity. This felt just like Macbeth in the sense of huge power struggles (with enormous consequence) being played out between just a handful of crucial individuals. Yet technology plays such a big part in this too, set in our current industrial-dystopian era, very far from the medieval setting of Macbeth. Macbeth was the first Shakespeare play I read as an adult and felt real things for. I remember the power and heaviness of that story shocked me, demonstrating for the first time why these four hundred year old works are still so widely read and relevant. Birnam Wood makes me think I should reread it again soon. 

---

Content Warnings

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