Reviews

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Only show reviews with written explanations

oohsnickers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The story started off a bit slow for me, partly because the characters--so well-developed from the start--are kind of annoying. But I relished how annoying they were, if that makes sense. No one comes away clean in this. The main villain is maybe a little too mustache-twirling evil? But again, I feel like there's real-world precedent for that. Anyway, this is one of the few books of 2024 so far that I actually truly enjoyed.

rachaelc610's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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

3.5

wrabbit8's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

fhammond_36's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Firstly I must confess that I didn’t finish. I almost got there and then ran out of time/steam/care factor. I so wanted to love this because I loved The Luminaries - where is the gold again? And the bullet? Ooh so intricate - but I just didn’t. I liked bits of it. The New Zealand landscape and the drama. But I got lost in the deep political and philosophical discussions. And I didn’t care about any of the characters at all. Probably supposed to not like them, which would be clever, but I just couldn’t bother to share their drama by the end. I probably had too high an expectation of getting something like the other book and this is so different. Others in book club loved it so I recommend making your own mind up.