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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Whew. What to say about Birnam Wood!
I picked this up from my local bookstore as a "blind date with a book," intrigued primarily by a clue indicating that the story eventually becomes a thriller.
I do not typically, if ever, read books that are almost exclusively prose. I like dialogue, it helps me connect with the characters, so as a result I didn't end up connecting to any of them and didn't end up really liking any of them, either. I don't know if I was supposed to like any of them, though. This was a bit exhausting to read, due in no small part to the run-on sentences (often taking up entire pages) and no chapter breaks.
As for the actual plot, it was interesting for sure. I would not agree in calling this a thriller, though. Sure, the third act (mainly the last 80 pages or so) are more or less thrilling but I wouldn't place this book as a whole in that genre. That ended up being quite a letdown. The ending is rapid and mostly unsatisfying.
Overall, this gets a 3.5 because I liked it more than I didn't, but I don't see myself recommending it. I can see myself reading more of Catton's works in the future, but I won't be rushing to do so.
I picked this up from my local bookstore as a "blind date with a book," intrigued primarily by a clue indicating that the story eventually becomes a thriller.
I do not typically, if ever, read books that are almost exclusively prose. I like dialogue, it helps me connect with the characters, so as a result I didn't end up connecting to any of them and didn't end up really liking any of them, either. I don't know if I was supposed to like any of them, though. This was a bit exhausting to read, due in no small part to the run-on sentences (often taking up entire pages) and no chapter breaks.
As for the actual plot, it was interesting for sure. I would not agree in calling this a thriller, though. Sure, the third act (mainly the last 80 pages or so) are more or less thrilling but I wouldn't place this book as a whole in that genre. That ended up being quite a letdown. The ending is rapid and mostly unsatisfying.
Overall, this gets a 3.5 because I liked it more than I didn't, but I don't see myself recommending it. I can see myself reading more of Catton's works in the future, but I won't be rushing to do so.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Oh! Okay. The synopsis both does and doesn't capture what this is about. Just read this. Everyone read it.
challenging
dark
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
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was such an interesting book for the first 3/4 or so. It devolved into a messy thriller in the last part, but before that, the setup raises a zillion interesting points. In this book, a change-the-world collective, several years into its existence, has the opportunity to significantly scale up but with the help of someone whose greenwashed corporate PR doesn't stand up well to scrutiny. The Elon Musk-ish benefactor gets to be one of the multiple perspectives of the tale; the independent journalist trying to understand him is doing so for personal as well as idealistic reasons; the collective using the most PC practices in each meeting end up being unable to agree on the simplest of principals while espousing the same beliefs. It raises so many interesting points, and if you like thrillers, the ending won't completely ruin the experience for you.
this was almost too relevant of a read - new zealand mountains, gardening, thinking about land use, friendship....im like glad that i put this down in early september when i tried to read it because now is absolutely the right moment for this to have returned to me
something that i really liked about this book is how the land -the (fake) korowai mountain pass - acts as the meeting place/inciting incident/tangly knot at the center of the book. SO much ends up happening here - the extraction of rare earth minerals, guerrilla gardening, anarchist cooking setups, rare bird conservation efforts, etc. etc. and while the land never does have a super active, animate role in the story (which is something that i think would've been interesting, giving more agency to the land itself and letting it be more of a character in its own rite), it does feel cool to read such a land-based story. to what degree are each of the actors on the land extracting from it? this is a question that catton leaves up to interpretation, but also i don't think it's the central question of the book. she is more interested in how we construct ourselves upon the land, and the secondary consequences that can have for the spaces we live in.
there were a lot of things in this book that made me feel emboldened to write about similar things. the way she explores close intimate friendship, especially in a context ripened by shared political committment, was SO COOL to read about - don't think i have ever quite seen something so familiar represented in this way. and overall the way she writes about politics and organizing spaces in such a frank way that doesn't feel cringey was awesome and im like yeah ok so now its time for me to do that....it also makes me think a lot about sam cohen's point about fierce femmes and notorious liars, that fiction gives us a space to hash out differing political viewpoints and let them each stand there, instead of exploring politics thru theory which often has to have its mind made up. i am thinking especially of the scenes with tony where he is pontificating for paragraph upon paragraph, then is met with critique by someone else. i loved those moments, which feel like such a big part of my life and my way of thinking of theorizing and catton digs into rlly big questions thru these characters in such a refreshing and awesome way
also go off omniscience
something that i really liked about this book is how the land -the (fake) korowai mountain pass - acts as the meeting place/inciting incident/tangly knot at the center of the book. SO much ends up happening here - the extraction of rare earth minerals, guerrilla gardening, anarchist cooking setups, rare bird conservation efforts, etc. etc. and while the land never does have a super active, animate role in the story (which is something that i think would've been interesting, giving more agency to the land itself and letting it be more of a character in its own rite), it does feel cool to read such a land-based story. to what degree are each of the actors on the land extracting from it? this is a question that catton leaves up to interpretation, but also i don't think it's the central question of the book. she is more interested in how we construct ourselves upon the land, and the secondary consequences that can have for the spaces we live in.
there were a lot of things in this book that made me feel emboldened to write about similar things. the way she explores close intimate friendship, especially in a context ripened by shared political committment, was SO COOL to read about - don't think i have ever quite seen something so familiar represented in this way. and overall the way she writes about politics and organizing spaces in such a frank way that doesn't feel cringey was awesome and im like yeah ok so now its time for me to do that....it also makes me think a lot about sam cohen's point about fierce femmes and notorious liars, that fiction gives us a space to hash out differing political viewpoints and let them each stand there, instead of exploring politics thru theory which often has to have its mind made up. i am thinking especially of the scenes with tony where he is pontificating for paragraph upon paragraph, then is met with critique by someone else. i loved those moments, which feel like such a big part of my life and my way of thinking of theorizing and catton digs into rlly big questions thru these characters in such a refreshing and awesome way
also go off omniscience
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Birnam Wood is very unique. It embraces the idea of telling rather than showing, delving deeply into the motivations and experiences of the characters, frequently switching perspectives as it interrogates the lived experiences of politics. At times, this style can be piercingly insightful, and at other times it can be absolutely agonizing: social satire so minute it becomes proto-schizophrenic leftist infighting. The plot of the novel is tightly organized, and the characters are uniformly interesting, with the main antagonist a definite high point. I thought the ending was a weakness of the novel. Birnam wood is built around careful chains of action and consequence, but the ending is abrupt and shocking in a way that feels out of place for the rest of the book.
More than most books, I think this is a subjective one. It's plot-heavy satire with an experimental and unusual style and a heavy emphasis on politics, and you have to know yourself well enough to know if that appeals.
More than most books, I think this is a subjective one. It's plot-heavy satire with an experimental and unusual style and a heavy emphasis on politics, and you have to know yourself well enough to know if that appeals.
I definitely liked it. But for all the excitement I heard about it before, I guess I was a bit underwhelmed.