4.15k reviews for:

Birnam Wood

Eleanor Catton

3.91 AVERAGE

darcyfromsummerhill's review

4.0
challenging dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was super divisive in my book club - people felt very strongly about it! It was a slow start but I quite liked it. It's kind of a sneaky thriller... If you weren't expecting a thriller it keeps a good disguise as modern fiction for a long time.

It surprised me and also left a lot of unanswered questions. Definitely not for everyone. If you can't get into a book if you don't like the characters, this one might not be for you. It's full of unlikeable people. 

stillmsp's review

5.0
challenging informative tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If you enjoyed Monkey Wrench Gang or Pynchon, you might like this future cult classic.
adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kimcim3's review

3.0

3.5

crazylisa's review

4.0
adventurous dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

hypatia13's review

3.5

An interesting story, although pretty much all of the characters are supremely unlikeable. 

lena_kellogg's review

2.0

y’all what the heck was that

3 stars because that shit stressed me out bad moreso bc it’s NOT EVEN FICTIONNNNN like it’s HAPPENINGGG!!!!!! That was INSANE!!!!!!