Reviews

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

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knkennedy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

jamekeith's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

3.5

This is a strange one! I think I really enjoyed it, but also maybe I didn't. I really enjoyed the different pov's, especially when it would jump to someone who seemed completely insignificant. One person in particular was so confusing! But the implicatuions for what happens to them after the ending of the story, just through giving them a random chapter not even close to the end, I thought was quite cool.

There's never really a mystery here, we are given all of the information. At first I was pretty put off by this, but it manages to draw you in with the mystery of how the characters will figure things out. It's not quite as satisfying for me, especially with

the way it ends. I get that it is a good ending I think. But I wasn't left all that satisfied

. But oh well!

I like kiwi literature!

thefrogsbif's review against another edition

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challenging informative mysterious reflective 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

3.25

mollboon's review against another edition

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4.0

This book starts off rather dense but it pays off. The author has a really unique writing style and perspective that made me intrigued to keep reading even when it was feeling dense. The way she writes her characters is so unique. Really enjoyed it and still shook

andyblv's review against another edition

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5.0

Wildly inventive. Chilling. A study in power and hubris and idealism and environmental protection. Birnam Wood is a gardening collective. It is also a reference to Macbeth that plays out in a very tragic way.

There is great dialogue among the protagonists about saying thank you instead of sorry that was a really helpful thought exercise.

dbwfalk's review against another edition

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3.0

(3.5) A story about an anticapitalist gardening collective and its strange unity with an American weapons manufacturing billionaire. For a book so full of long passages of single characters having inner monologues I found this an extremely captivating read. Looking at all sides of activists and billionaires including their relationships, intentions, and emotions. While i found some of the negativity that is included in the activist characters to be somewhat annoying.”, and some of the characters unrealistic to a level of parody (which to me made it seem Catton likely does not believe all the anticapitalist beliefs these activists had), the actual story was quite thrilling and final pages were shocking. Money always wins.