well this was a waste to try and get into . I couldnt get past the first section without having to reread every page at least 5 times. Not for me .

The quality of the writing in this work is really terrific. However i didn't feel the author had a good command of the
story and characters, how the intersect and how they guide the reader through the book.
I do think the author is talented and and very interested in what she does next.

Wow! This book was so interesting. This fast-paced psychological thriller has an intricate, beautifully structured plot has interesting characters and something constantly going on.

I enjoyed the fact that this story really felt like a ride, the beginning of the book and the ending of the book twisting and turning in between.

Colton's prose is expertly written and reminds me a lot of Hanya Yanagihara's; long sentences, detailed and long-winded paragraphs.

Overall, a very enjoyable read!

Taking its title from the prophetic name stemming from Macbeth, the Birnam Wood collective plants gardens in guerrilla fashion on land owned by the New Zealand rich, producing sustainable vegetables. There was much to like between these pages, three likeable individual central figures, one unmitigated villain, and an unlikely hero. Eleanor Catton brings them all together with in a story that fluctuates between excruciating detail and rapid fire action sequences. The bulk of the novel could have used a lot of trimming, much less repetition, but when the action begins, it is hard to look away. Its inconsistencies led to my less than perfect rating.

I liked the way Birnam Wood began. The development of Mira's character, however, seemed inconsistant and her motives were often inscrutable. I enjoyed the group's consideration of Lemoine's offer, naive as it was. But their decision to accept it seemed just plain stupid in light of their original mission. By about ⅔ of the way through Lemoine's mephistophelian behavior of was gradually revealed, at first merely through deception, and eventually as the murders he committed mounted up. Ultimately, it resulted in nothing but brute carnage. If there was any meaning to it or lesson to be learned, I didn't find it. In my view, it the book came to a disappointing and unsatisfying ending.

Another fine entry in the growing body of climate fiction from/set in Australia and New Zealand. In this instance, a guerrilla gardening group's leaders and an associated journalist get in way over their heads, stumbling into plots upon plots and crimes upon crimes. Like its cousins in this genre, the outlook is bleak, but in many ways realistic, given the psychological traumas that climate change causes worldwide. Not for the faint of heart.

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. This story is eerie and atmospheric - it grabbed me by the throat and I just wanted more and more. The characters are all flawed but several are super flawed! The wilds of New Zealand are a major part of the story. I totally recommend this book to readers who enjoy psychological thrillers full of twists and turns.

Initially I didn't think I would continue reading past the first few pages but pushed on after reading some favourable reviews. The tedious, lengthy philosophising by the characters added little to the narrative. With a good bit of editing these ideas could have easily been covered more briefly. Once the book hits its stride, however, the story becomes gripping right up until the end.
The characters and behaviour of the eco-warriors were believable and well written and the ideas in the novel are fresh and original .The concept of activists vs evil capitalists was handled well as were the descriptions of the landscape but I would find this book difficult to recommend with such an unnecessarily abrupt and brutal ending.
Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I so much wanted to like this book. The characters seemed interesting, and the premise of guerrilla gardening was enticing to this backyard biologist and volunteer. Eleanor Catton won the Booker Prize for her book The Luminaries, which also intrigued me and had a distance relationship in its topic of astrology to a recent book I read about Tarot.
I was disappointed at the lengthy opening pages, going on and on about the internal minds of the Birnham Wood gardening cooperative characters until I couldn’t take it anymore. Other reviewers said the same thing about the book not getting going for hundreds of pages. Perhaps this is Catton’s way of preaching her world views and those of the current generation? Or maybe it’s her way of characterizing them and their ennui and chaos by making you feel it in the narrative? Either way, it was not for me. DNF at 6%.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for my electronic ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published March 7, 2023.

Mia leads a group of free thinkers who want to turn any unused vacant ground into a thriving garden. Their vision seems a little wafty at times, but the group means well. She reads about a virtually isolated farm located in New Zealand’s South Island, but when she gets there, she learns that a charismatic young multi-billionaire is in the process of buying it. The two come to a gentleman’s agreement that one will coexist with the other, as long as Mia tends to her fields and nothing else. She brings her entire crew onboard and they set up camp in abandoned barns and sleep in tents. But not everyone in her cooperative is as willing to play pretty, and this small ripple of discord creates major tensions in what was once an idyllic countryside.
This story takes turns and goes places you will never see coming. The iron wills of a few people who don’t agree clash together with mind-numbing results.
Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is March 7, 2023.

This wasn’t the right book for me. It’s an interesting plot about a guerrilla gardening group and their connection with a billionaire, but it was too word-heavy and I felt like I had to slog through it.

It took me a while to get involved but about a third in the pace picked up. The characters surprised me with their choices when the line between good and evil became murky. It covered current topics—political, environmental, activism, the use of drones. I think readers will enjoy the relationships and intrigue.

This fascinating thriller takes its name from a forest featured in Shakespeare’s play McBeth. Like that famous play, this novel is populated with flawed individuals whose ambitions prove hard to balance with their morals. Accidents, deceptions, and cross purposes make for a complex, exciting plot.

In Eleanor Catton’s new novel, Birnam Wood is the name of a small nonprofit organization that seeks to plant crops in unused spaces, sometimes with permission, and sometimes not. There is certainly some lawlessness and trespassing going on, but the group’s members see it as a necessary evil in their mission to help those in need and to work for a more fair society. Before I read this, I was not aware of guerilla gardening.

There are four main characters in this book, plus two important supporting roles. Mira and Shelley are prominent members of Birnam Wood, and their relationship is complicated. They’ve been close for a long time, but at this juncture, Shelley is beginning to feel that it’s time for her to move on, and Mira is aware of this, and dreading it. To this end, Mira is striving towards her goal to prove that Birnam Wood can make a go of it, and eventually start paying the staff. However, for Shelley, this is not the only ambition. Shelley would also like to move out of Mira’s shadow.

A third important character is Tony, an aspiring journalist who is returning to the Birnam Wood fold after being abroad for a few years. Since he’s been away, and not experienced the hard work and frustrations of the past, he is appalled at the group’s newest venture, which he believes goes against all their principles.

This new venture involves a billionaire named Robert Lemoine, a middle-aged man who is buying a large swath of land to build a doomsday bunker–or so he says. Robert is a fascinating character. We don’t know how he got so rich, or exactly how he acquired his particular skill set. He meets Mira by accident, and immediately gives her permission to farm part of the land he is buying. Furthermore, he philanthropically gives her a lot of money, immediately.

The two other characters in this story are Sir Darvish and his wife, Lady (Jill) Darvish. It’s their land that is being sold. They have a good marriage, and Lady Darvish is proud of her beknighted husband, though she’s the smarter, more capable one.

When Mira reports back to the group about Robert’s proposal, everyone is impressed with her find, except Tony. He leaves the group, and it becomes his ambition to find out as much as he can about Robert Lemoine.

Birnam Wood sets up a camping site, and gets to work. Robert charms and wins over these new young friends. Tony googles, makes phone calls, and spies on them. Meanwhile, Sir Darvish becomes curious and pays a visit.

At this point, there are a couple plot twists, and things happen quickly. Both thought-provoking and riveting, this novel would make for an excellent discussion about both morals and the characters involved.

Bravo! I would recommend this to anyone.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this wonderful experience.

This book has a unusual and original story idea. I loved the concept of a guerilla gardening group. It seems like such a paradox. Law shrugging, tree huggers who stick it to the man by using abandoned or unused public spaces to grow vegetables and fruit to share with the masses.

One of the original members and de facto leader, Mira, onto the isolates and abandoned farm of Sir and Lady Darvish. Mira is excited to farm the abandoned property with her group of friends that make up the Birnam Wood group. While scouting the property, she encounters Robert Lemoine. Used to getting what he wants. A tentative agreement is formed between Birnam Wood and Lemoine. And it's fragile at best.

The first 15% of the book was soooo slow. I wasn't sure I would finish it. It did pick up by moving from in-depth character development and descriptions to a little more plot development. Part II was a complete slog. Too descriptive and not a lot happening. Part III picks up and all of the action happens here. Mira, Shelley, Robert, and Tony all become important characters and their personalities are on full display. The ending was good but not worth reading the whole book, in my opinion. Overall, I was really bored and dreaded picking this one up each day. It took me almost 14 days to read this one. Sigh.

The run on sentences were really distracting. I just don't think her writing style is for me. The pace is really uneven and if this wasn't a NetGalley ARC, I probably would not have finished it. 2.5 ⭐ rounded up, because of the ending.

3.9 but rounding up. I loved the Luminaries, Booker Prize winning Eleanor Catton’s earlier book set during the New Zealand gold rush in the 19th century. This one, a psychological thriller, is set in the present on the South Island. The writing was beautiful, and her descriptions of the rugged beauty and stunning scenery of the South Island were so realistic one almost felt as if one was actually there. The plot to me, however, was less illuminating than The Luminaries. Generally it entailed climate fiction focused on two different approaches to survival: a leftist guerrilla gardening collective with lofty but in some cases illegal motives versus the capitalistic, mysterious, and duplicitous entrepreneurial tech billionaire. Actions and consequences were the main themes throughout with a bit of an allusion to Birnam Wood in Shakespeare’s MacBeth. The novel was a little hard to get into but once sucked in, it became hard to put down. Although the characters were mostly well defined, they were almost all generally not likable.

I loved the cadence of the prose. Whip smart and clever. The in depth character perspectives were fascinating and engaging. Definitely a page turner full of intrigue. I wanted the ending to have a more substantial resolve because it felt a bit rushed. But overall a great read and I’ll definitely check out more from this author.

I didn't dislike this but I also didn't like it, if that makes sense. First of all it's slow and feels slightly all over the place but mostly I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters.

I quite liked this, and understand why it wouldn't appeal to some readers. Verbose, wordy, very descriptive of the inner workings of the mind, it can be hard to read and hard to follow. I for one liked the style. That being said, I really enjoyed the first 80% of the story -- the last 20% fell flat for me. The story seemed to pivot from an internally-focused study of thoughts and emotions to a more straight-forward, action-oriented tale.

In any case, I liked the book, and would read more from the author.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I must apologize. I started and restarted this book 3 times and I simply could not get into it, therefore it would not be fair to me to comment on it except to say I am an avid reader, it is rare when I can’t get involved with a known author. Thanks for my advance copy

Thank you for the opportunity to read this, but I read 30% and just couldn’t get into it.. I felt like nothing was happening and it just didn’t keep my interest.