How do you write about the present well? And in particular, how do you write about topics like social justice, complicity, and ecological catastrophe without falling prey that detached sense of self-awareness and sarcasm that mars a good chunk of contemporary fiction about these topics? I would argue that you start by taking your characters' moral commitments seriously, including when these moral commitments fail or perhaps create the very blind spot that lead us to tragedy.

This convoluted prelude is my attempt to say that Eleanor Catton respects her characters. She doesn't feel above them. And in taking them seriously she has managed to write a fantastic novel that I think proves how important it is for good literature to take the present seriously, and not treat it from a certain distance and skepticism so you can prove yourself above the so-called corrosive power of political correctness to art.

"Birnam Wood" is about a group of guerrilla gardeners whose suddenly find themselves in the good graces of an enigmatic billionaire who wants to save them from insolvency. Will they be willing to sacrifice their own political principles for the sake of taking their little project national? What if that means compromising everything you stand for? There is a sense in which "Birnam Wood" works a bit like a thriller: not everything is really as it seems, a journalist is following the trail of a big scoop that has you rushing to get to the end to see how it all ties together. But to be honest, while the plot itself is riveting, the best parts of this novel are Catton's ruthless insights into her characters' psyche: their greatest ambitions, their pettiest motivations. No one is spared Catton's dissecting pen and some lines cut really deep. It's always a strange feeling to be seen so clearly in fiction.

The best way I can think to describe "Birnam Wood" is as the intellectual and stylistic successor of George Eliot's "Middlemarch." And I know that I will be on the minority with this, given that it is not a short book by any measure, but I wish it were 200 pages longer.

This is a hard book to review. I am a fan of Eleanor Catton but this one didn't work for me. The pace is too slow and the book meanders quite a bit

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book!

This one’s a slow burn. Like, describe the gravel along the road and the grasses that grow alongside it kind of slow burn. But the character insights are thorough and SO powerful! Inner monologues, flashbacks, and self-talk from multiple points of view kept me intrigued throughout the whole (did I mention slow?) burn.

Having loved The Luminaries, I was excited to pick up Eleanor Catton's latest. Unfortunately, this was a real miss in my opinion. The basic premise is quite interesting, but the characters are fundamentally unlikeable and the writing just not up to the level I expected. The opening was a bit of a slog and was rewarded by a midsection that picked up and seemed to be heading for a great climax. The ending was abrupt and quite a disappointment, It was as though the author was unsure how to end and just stopped. (No spoilers for those who make it that far.) Not one I'd recommend.

So me interesting ideas here, but for me, the meandering path just didn’t work. And, the ending was disappointing.

This book was riveting. Inspired plotting, juicy details, and lots of twists and turns, I couldn't out it down. I can see it being adapted as a multi-part series for streaming and hope it is. Will be recommending to anyone & everyone.

#BirnamWood #NetGalley Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

This is a complicated book to review. Had it ended earlier, or differently, I would probably had felt more positive about the novel. It starts out with a couple of close friends who are involved in guerrilla gardening, and one friend wants to leave the group and do something else with her life. But then a young man who had been a member of the group returns after working abroad several years, and attends a group meeting, where things more or less blow up because their leader met a billionaire who claims an interest in bankrolling the group. The young man, Tony, adamantly opposes that the group take his money and goes off on a lengthy tirade. The next day several members of the group move to this billionaire's property to camp out and start their new garden, and Tony, heads to the property, certain something illicit is going on, determined to find out what it is, and finally became a journalist that everyone will respect.

But things don't work out the way anyone expects and I don't want to give spoilers, but the ending was really lousy for me.

I sincerely apologize to NetGalley and the publisher for my inability to finish reading this book. I was excited to obtain the ARC copy to read, having notices that Eleanor Catton was a Booker Prize winner.

Like Shelley, the author writes like an English major. (So am I.) However, the run-on sentences and long, long parenthetical phrases threw me off balance. And I simply could not get interested in the plot. Sorry.

I didn’t enjoy this. The story was so bland and slow moving that I had to fight to keep reading, I requested this on a whim thinking it was a different type of thriller but that was not the case.

This was a hard gauge for me because I didn't love it, but I can see myself handselling it pretty easily. I just kept wanting more from the plot until the end when I felt like I'd wandered into a cult melodrama and wanted slightly less. But I love a cast of difficult characters, and it's always fun to read how Catton's characters worm their ways through ideas and ideologies to get to what they want to think or feel or do. I wonder if a few months from now I'll be more settled in my thoughts, but for the moment I'm afraid I ended up somewhat ambivalent.

I wanted to enjoy this but was overly unimpressed with the relationships, the dynamic, and the plot felt convoluted.

Truly a unique book that includes guerrilla gardening, billionaires, murder, espionage and lots and lots of philosophies. Loved every minute of it!

Birnam Wood is a collective founded by Mira Bunting. The group lives off the land and plants vegetables in unknown and unmarked areas to be cultivated and sold to continue to fund the group. This rag tag group has existed on a shoe string for more than 5 years when Mira runs into a potential sponsor. Being Mira, a person that lives on the edge, she doesn't realize that she has literally stumbled into a life or death situation.

Part treatise, part thriller, Birnam Wood will always keep you guessing and thrill you to the very last page. If you root for the underdog, want an unusual thriller or just love a literary novel that will absolutely captivate you, Birnam Wood is for you! #FarrarStrauss&Giroux