Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

5 reviews

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.

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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

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

corvidcorvid's review

challenging 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? It's complicated

2.5

Slow to get going, at many times long-winded, sometimes preachy, often condescending of the characters, who were practically caricatures, but insightful. I didn't care for the ending, so I'm just going to imagine it differently. 

The creepiest aspect of the book, imo, was the infiltration of privacy with technology that's nearly impossible for laypeople to recognize. I gasped and physically cringed when

Robert revealed how he knew who Mira was, and when he usurped Mira's phone. Mira, and the rest of Birnam Wood, had NO questions at him having deposited the initial $10k directly into her bank account to demonstrate that he was legit. That was the linchpin for me, where I want to believe I would have nope'd out.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

aileron's review

challenging reflective 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Murder, Animal death, and Drug use

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide, and Gun violence

grubrednuf's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was good, great character introspection and development. Even if one of the characters I find most annoying ends up playing a larger role than first suggested. And the third act does pick up the pace significantly. But also maybe... This is just Macbeth and maybe a little Hamlet. 

Rosie = Rosencrantz
Lady Jill = Lady Macbeth
Etc etc etc

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Drug use, Blood, Bullying, Animal death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Murder, Colonisation, and Sexual content