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birnam wood new zealand eleanor catton robert lemoine gardening collective booker prize national park well written south island american billionaire mira and shelley guerrilla gardening mira bunting psychological thriller farrar straus straus and giroux waste your time highly recommended guerilla gardening main characters
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C. Perez
4.0 out of 5 stars Heavy reading becomes rewarding towards the end
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2023
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In 2017, New Zealand, an American billionaire agrees to purchase a piece of land adjacent to a national park whose land contains undisclosed riches. He deceives his way into the graces of the middle age couple on the other side of the agreement. All goes well, until the leader of a gardening collective, whose members plant illegally in public lands, is given funding by the American to expand her organization and invited to plant on the land he has allegedly bought. What ensues for all parties involved is a reckoning long time in the making.

A novel in three parts, with an all-knowing narrator, and taking Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth as a central theme, Birnam Wood is an imaginative eco-thriller that is parts a capitalism indictment and environmental manifesto wrapped into one verbose narrative that goes on about moral and philosophical arguments for three quarters of the book, at least; at a 426-page-count, it feels denser than it has any right to be… Fortunately, the last stretch is non-stop action so gripping that raises the overall rating one star higher.

The parallels with Macbeth are inescapable: Robert Lemoine standing for the greedy, power hungry, murderous king who thinks himself untouchable, until Birnam Wood—in this instance the gardening collective, most of whose idealistic members are unknowingly breaking the law—come near Lemoine’s pet project with devastating consequences. It begs the question of who stands for Lady Macbeth, is it Mira, or Shelley? For the former lies her way into an intricate association with the billionaire, misleading her associates in the process, while the latter accepts the consequences of her actions and profits from them.

In essence, Birnam Wood is heavy reading that, luckily, proves rewarding in the end. It’s realistic, topical, and manages to adhere to the true spirit of the source material while breaking new ground in the process.
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elfin
4.0 out of 5 stars exciting ending
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2023
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Having read and loved “The Luminaries,” I really looked forward to reading this book. It isn’t nearly as magical as the other book, and I think she could have used a bit more editing. The last section of the book is riveting, however, and definitely not for the faint of heart! I’m not sure, ultimately, what we’re supposed to think —but I will be thinking about this story for a long time.
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DJ
4.0 out of 5 stars Guerilla gardeners encounter secretive, rich elites – what could possibly go wrong?
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2023
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“But there comes a point where refusing to compromise basically means choosing to be ineffectual, and how is that not a violation of our principles? Isn’t that worse – to throw away everything we’ve done, all our hard work, just for the sake of being able to tell ourselves that we were right? ‘Oh yeah, Birnam Wood, they don’t exist any more, but they sure had good principles!’” (Kindle loc 1824)

Oh the delicious feeling of moral certitude! My cause is noble, my values sound. I’m right and I’m righteous. Then real life happens. I bend or doubt or change. Isolated moments of understandable, inevitable, forgivable imperfection? Or a slippery slope? Healthy compromise, maturing perspective? Or have I sold my soul? At its heart, Birnam Wood follows a handful of characters (heroes, anti-heroes, and villains alike) who face these questions in one form or another.

The story certainly builds to a tense, action-packed peak, but the author takes her time getting us there. The tone, even when stuff starts hitting the fan, is one of concurrent chess matches: pick any two principal characters, and there’s a mind game playing out between them. It’s interesting and delicious; you’ll enjoy the ride. The dramatic ending is plausible and appropriate in context, but I didn’t find it satisfying.

One minor annoyance: the author made the curious decision to divide the book into three enormous chapters. I admit it’s no big deal, but why?
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Leslie Bialler
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars If Jane Austen had read Patricia Highsmith and . . .
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2023
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"Birnam Wood" is New Zealander Eleanor Catton’s third novel, and it’s the least serious. Her first, “The Rehearsal” was a dry solemn study of, among other things, the performance of a High School drama. Then came “The Luminaries,” which was released in 2013, at a time when the absolutely dreadful but much praised “The Goldfinch” was sucking up all the air in literary salons and snagged a Pulitzer Prize somehow, while “Luminaries” was busy winning the Booker Prize.

And now ten years after, we celebrate the arrival of something completely different. This is a genre thriller mixed with social satire (imagine if Jane Austen had still been around when Patricia Highsmith birthed “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and said, “I can do that!”). After a slow start it makes its intentions clear. You will encounter some mockery of socialist twits who run around New Zealand planting guerrilla vegetable gardens while arguing with each other using potted Marxist terminology. They are led by Mira, who is rather more of a capitalist than she’d like to admit, and Shelly, who wants to go but is always being pulled back in.

And then we have a stock figure: the smarmy but charming American billionaire, Lemoine, who has made his money in drones, and his chum a local businessman, Owen Darwish, who has made his money in pest control. He’s been newly knighted. But stock figure the billionaire may be, there is nothing ordinary about the book. It’s beautifully written. Catton never loses control, and her dazzling writing should be intriguing enough to keep readers with ADHD from departing early. You can certainly enjoy it on the beach, if you want. But it’s hardly what I’d call a beach read.

The menace rears its head in the third of the three chapters (they’re so long the author might as well have called them parts, not chapters--if, that is, there WERE anything other than an occasional section break within the chapters). But the novel, told in third-person (with occasional mockery) from multiple points of view, moves along smoothly, and Catton surely does stick the landing. Or drops the mic.
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Top reviews from other countries

Andrew Billen
5.0 out of 5 stars As good as Franzen
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 7, 2023
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This is an extraordinarily well realised, psychologically astute, politically complex thriller. The writing is detailed and the structure clever. It reminded me of the worlds Jonathan Franzen conjures in his novels. Terrific read.
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Alex
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2023
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I loved this book. I’m a huge fan of the author and Birnham Wood didn’t let me down. It’s a great story, great writing, really thought provoking and gave me an intense, gripping and exciting world to disappear into. I thoroughly recommend it.
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Ted Gregory
4.0 out of 5 stars Was totally committed and then...
Reviewed in Canada on April 5, 2023
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Stunning ending in the true thriller style and yet....I closed the book an empty shell of a reader. Prior to that I thought Catton had found her mojo as a writer who gives me what I want. The character arcs were well done and there were lots of chances to both love and hate the multiple characters Catton created. I raced towards what I expected to be my ending and then BAM - it wasn't. That should have been just what everyone wants, right? But it wasn't. I had to ask myself - what's the takeaway? I felt like phoning and saying, "Eleanor, who talked you into doing it that way?"
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Wayne Cork
5.0 out of 5 stars Reflective dive into Worlds biggest questions.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 29, 2023
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This novel takes on some mighty big themes: should billionaires exist? What does property ownership mean? How do we solve climate change? Is the left any better at finding solutions than the right?
It’s heady stuff.
Birnam Wood could have quickly disappeared into a naval gazing exercise, but instead is a highly engaging character study.
The landscape of New Zealand plays a big part and while some of the characters border on caricature it never quite steps over the line into the ridiculous.
The multiple stories move along at pace and eventually all convene in a satisfying final act.
The writing style is sharp and plain, creating a sense of simple urgency that drives the plot forward and keeps the pages turning.
Highly recommended.
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Will
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2023
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The issues addressed in this story are very topical. The author has taken some trouble to use characters and language that will appeal to young adults. Unfortunately the plot is unconvincing and disappointing. It fails to really explore the important topics raised. The text would have been improved by more thorough editing. The opportunity to reach an inspiring conclusion is wasted. I did read the whole text but on reflection feel it was not worth bothering.
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