For a book with so much potential for intrigue due to all the deception, it’s incredibly dry.

The characters are self invoked, which isn’t unrealistic, but there isn’t really anyone to cheer for or care about.

It feels like just a lot of internal monologues or conversations that barely move the story along.

I was excited to read Catton's new novel even if the setup -- a psychological thriller about a New Zealand guerrilla gardening group teaming up with an American billionaire to farm a piece of land in a sparsely populated region -- did not exactly pique my interest. But after a slow start, I was all in. As in The Luminaries, mining, greed & good intentions are explored, but with a more contemporary setting. There are different players and ideologies at work that come together and clash over a piece of land. These ideologies and actions are the same ones we see playing out around us, as billionaire have more power than governments, and leftist movements get derailed by in-fighting and mismanagement. Everyone is flawed in some way, and driven by ambition, which felt appropriately Shakespearean for a novel with a MacBeth reference as a title. The ending is Shakespearean, too. I was surprised by how gripping I found it. Less magical and epic than The Luminaries, it was still a pretty darn good read. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC!

This was not what I was expecting. I thought the author was more likely to' deliver something more literary than thriller, more Irish than Antipodean, if that word applies to NZ.
Nevertheless, this is a big, impressive, exciting, unpredictable and tireless work of environmental consideration wrapped inside an easily consumable and unhackneyed assembly of character relationships. Catton appears here more of a traditionalist in terms of storytelling than I had expected. But she does it very well. And it should make a great if depressing film.
This is pacy, up-to-the-minute stuff that will appeal widely. Good for her.

"The Booker Prize–winning author of The Luminaries brings us Birnam Wood, a gripping thriller of high drama and kaleidoscopic insight into what drives us to survive.

Birnam Wood is on the move...

Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group: Birnam Wood. An undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice: on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks and neglected backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity, a sizable farm seemingly abandoned.

But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. Robert Lemoine, an enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker - or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust each other?

A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize–winning author of The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its drama, Austenian in its wit, and, like both influences, fascinated by what makes us who we are. A brilliantly constructed study of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is a mesmerizing, unflinching consideration of the human impulse to ensure our own survival."

After I read The Luminaries I will never not read an Eleanor Catton book.

Let me say right up front that I probably wouldn't have finished Birnam Wood but for this - I loved The Luminaries so much that I read it twice and listened to the audiobook and would be happy to read it again.

Environmental fiction based around an extreme gardening organization, Birnam Wood, a group that grows food on unused land, which occasionally involves trespassing. Mira Bunting is Birnam Wood’s founder. When Mira meets a billionaire who says he is purchasing a tract of land near a recent landslide, it leads to a deal that appears to be mutually beneficial, though at least one member feels it is against their principles. Other major players include Tony, an aspiring journalist who has not been active in Birnam Wood recently, Shelley, the person who holds Birnam Wood together with her accounting and planning skills, and Owen and Jill Darvish, owners of the land being sold to the billionaire.

This book has everything – fabulous believable characters, socially relevant subject matter, a creative and engrossing storyline, and top-rate writing. The environmental theme is particularly well done. The billionaire wants to build a doomsday bunker. He employs the latest technology, including drone surveillance. I would call it a “literary thriller” in that it starts with a detailed introduction of characters, complete with a deep dive into their interior thoughts, and slowly builds to include more action and faster pacing, ultimately reaching a whirlwind climax.

I enjoyed this book almost all the way through; however, much of my appreciation for a book relies on the ending. While I understand the point, I did not care for it. I would love to discuss it with others. I anticipate there will be a wide variety of reactions.

4.5

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton is one of those rare books that is fast-paced and thought provoking, while also having well-developed characters and a unique plot. It raises more questions than it answers, and the reader will be okay with that. This is sure to be one of the most discussed book of the year and is a solid gold book club pick. Highly recommended.

The setting: Mira Bunting founds a guerrilla gardening collective--Birnam Wood. Sustaining it is difficult. She "... stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity, a sizable farm seemingly abandoned. But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. Robert Lemoine, the enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker--or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust each other?"

The blurb describes the book as a "gripping psychological thriller"--I SAY NOT. Yes there are intentions, actions, consequences, maybe a bit Shakespearean [Macbeth quote], but, I didn't really care/enough. And yes, I did want to find out what would happen once I FINALLY got involved. Plodding along--which I did for about two-thirds of the book, until I felt a shift and it picked up. But--that's a long time and this is not a short, easy read. Further, none of the characters are particularly likeable--Mira, Shelley [the other femaie protagonist/also a member of Birnam Wood], Lemoine, or Tony--an egotistical journalist.

New words: tilth, friable [both gardening terms] and cyan.

Full disclaimer: I do not care for long, run-on sentences, and this book is chock full of them! I find them annoying and somewhat difficult, and in this case, it added to the not getting into the book/finding a rhythm.

And--no spoiler from me--I didn't care for the ending.

3.5 [but only because it of the last third of the novel and it's originality], but NOT ROUNDING UP.

A timely and relevant story of progressive guerilla gardeners verus pretty much everyone but in Birnam Wood, specifically American Billionaire, Robert Lemoine. Where I found the premise fascinating, the first two-thirds of the books were written with copious amounts of long run-on sentences (whole pages) that often felt more like a lecture than a Novel.
Birnam Wood gets its name from a relationship with William Shakespeare's Macbeth where both being a forest. Macbeth's downfall was entangled with the forest and this foreshadows what is to come in Birnam Wood.
If you hang in there, it gets really good during the third act. How I want to make a comment on the ending but don't want to ruin for those that stick with it. What is worth noting, however, is no one is as pure as their principles, unless you look at our billionaire-in-residence. He knows exactly who and what he is. I can appreciate the author's fair play in motivation of characters.

Thank you to the publisher for granting my request for an early copy. All opinions are my own

This was tough book to.get through. The intro is 120 pages long and goes on and on and on. I almost did not finish it. The ending is good but getting to it really is a chore.

A group of slightly militant gardeners discovers a plot of land left unattended following a major landslide. The group leader scouts the area and is dismayed and alarmed to discover someone else is already there. They strike a bargain and each begin working toward their own ends. But what are the stranger's ends? Slow-moving, but serviceable.

A quick read with a twist. Entertaining but a little heavy handed on the character development and ending.

The idea of a guerilla gardening group so intrigued me, as did the description of this novel as an eco-thriller. I had tried to read Eleanor Catton’s prize-winning “The Luminaries” years ago but gave up because of meandering prose and exceptionally long winded sentences. I remember reviews that praised that novel and others that declared it “dense.” Again, the first quarter of “Birnam Wood,” although blessed with magical and lyrical descriptions of New Zealand, is just slow…. The plot did get more interesting about 150 pages in, but by then my mind was meandering, remembering why I could not finish “The Luminaries.” I did try the trick of reading the last chapter to see if I really wanted to know how everything led to the end, but, I’m afraid, I was more convinced to end my latest Eleanor Catton adventure there. Sorry, but this again was just not my style. 3 stars. I’ll be interested if future reviewers can convince to re-read this.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Blue ones and blackened eyes, but no green ones.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Ms. Catton has based her descriptions on real national parks in New Zealand — they are inviting and captivating.

I really love Catton's writing and was engaged from the beginning. *SPOILER* Not what I would recommend to anyone in a fragile mental state, though - I felt like so many of the details were set forth for the future investigators who would one day try to piece together what happened at Thorndike.

DNF

My apologies to the publisher, but this book and I are a terrible match, and I just can't force myself to continue reading. My reasons:

1. The writing is overly descriptive. I mean, full pages where a sentence would do. And the excessive details aren't even interesting.

2. Right from the start, we get full information dumps on characters and their backgrounds.

3. The "paragraphs" felt endless, sometimes covering more than two pages on my Kindle. One paragraph!

4. My brain short-circuited. I had to keep re-reading sections because I was thinking about grocery lists, and I hate grocery shopping. So...

I gave up.

But the writing itself has a beautiful literary quality. If you like descriptive writing, you might love this book.

Eleanor Catton’s follow up to 2013’s The Luminaries proves yet again that she is a master of storytelling. In this novel, an environmental activist crew called Birnam Wood are on the precipice of being something bigger. Many members of the group wan the group to go national, others want it to stay secret. In this amazing cast of characters we have members of the party: Mira and Shelly, long time friends and founders of the group who are at odds with each other trying to determine the next step of the group and their place in it; Tony, a former member who has come back to town with the thirst for a big break in journalism. There is the middle man, Robert Lemoine, American billionaire who is deceiving not only Birnam Wood, but also his friends who own the property Lemoine offers to the group. And then there is the power couple of this book, Sir Owen Darvish and Lady Jill Darvish, wealthy party members who own the uninhabited plot of land that becomes Birnam Wood’s next target for cultivation—all without them knowing.
While reading this book, I had the pleasant torture of flying through the intense pages while also trying to savor every line. Each character was so realistic, the complications of their relationships realistic. The stakes of each character are so real. Each character has such a strong sense of self, and a strong desire that conflicted with just about every other character in the novel—and it was interesting seeing how far and what each character would do for that desire. Every minute detail in this book flares off the page. I was both equally interested in the inner workings of the elusive environmental activists Birnam Wood and the interpersonal strifes of each characters relationships. As the activists were cultivating the land of this mysterious property, I not only felt the suspense of what would happen if they were caught—but I was also just as strung out trying to figure out what might come of long-time friends Mira and Shelley.
Eleanor Catton has delivered once again. She’s proving that every genre and every form bends exactly to what she needs. She’s a master of our language.

Several years before the novel opens, Mira Bunting founded a gardening group (Birnam Wood) that has engaged in the extra-legal planting of crops in unused and unnoticed spaces ... empty lots, roadsides, abandoned buildings, unused gardens. The crops harvested are used by the group members, sold, or donated. As one might expect, it has never showed a profit, which especially strains the relationship between Mira and Shelley, a co-founder of the group.

A landslide has cut off the road leading past a sizeable and seemingly abandoned farm, and Mira has decided that this would be the perfect place to finally create a commune that would be financially viable.

The farm, though, has also attracted the attention of an American billionaire who plans to build a survivalist bunker there. When he finds Mira there, he suggests that his plans do not necessarily mean that her plans must end, and he may even be able to help get Birnam Wood on a solid financial path.

The author introduces a host of characters who are caught up in this, each with their own motives (mostly less than truthful) and actions that sweep everyone into a conclusion that few readers will anticipate. Birnam Wood is a meticulously plotted psychological thriller that makes for some great reading.

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall," (Proverbs 16:18)

A real page turner. Kind of an amazing find. Had no idea what I was getting into when I first started it, but glad I read the entire thing.

2/5 this book had a beautiful cover and a unique premise, but it was painful to get through. The author over-described literally every detail so much that I had to take a break every few pages just to clear my head and dump all the unnecessary knowledge out of my mind so I could continue. I'm sure some may enjoy this but it was a loss for me.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

I confess this book caught my eye because of the Shakespeare reference in the title (I am a Shakespearean by trade), and I am always on the lookout for interesting contemporary spins on early modern classics. (The book ultimately isn't all that related to Shakespeare, though I do think the Macbeth reference helps to frame some of the themes). In many ways, this book feels like two books in one: a hyper-realistic novel interested in interior thoughts and intricacies of relationships (75%), and a thriller, complete with megalomaniac millionaire, coverups, and car chases. I’m not entirely convinced they quite mesh together: the rapidly compounding chaos at the end makes us wonder if the beginning couldn’t have been sped up a bit; the detailed interiority of the characters in the beginning makes the end feel a bit instrumental and cheap. But the premise is fantastic, the descriptions of orienteering ring true, and there was just enough suspense tucked through the slow early sections that I did find myself picking the book back up each time I set it aside.