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A review by theteaisaddictive
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Holy shit, that ending. This was going to be a 3 star review, but the sheer balls of ending it that way — when up until the final ten pages, you think that perhaps things will work out differently — bumps this thriller up a whole star.
The characters are, if universally shallow, at least clearly well-drawn — although none so much as Lemoine, who isn’t burdened by having to be a moral agent. It would be glib to call this ‘Leftist Infighting: The Novel’, and yet it’s so easy to see the well-worn treads of online arguments reflected back up at you from the pages of this book — not just in the fight at the cafe in the beginning, but throughout Mira and Shelley’s power struggles, and the quiet tragedy of Tony’s journalistic ambitions.
More than anything else, this makes me want to reread The Luminaries, to get a greater appreciation of Catton’s work with adult eyes.
The characters are, if universally shallow, at least clearly well-drawn — although none so much as Lemoine, who isn’t burdened by having to be a moral agent. It would be glib to call this ‘Leftist Infighting: The Novel’, and yet it’s so easy to see the well-worn treads of online arguments reflected back up at you from the pages of this book — not just in the fight at the cafe in the beginning, but throughout Mira and Shelley’s power struggles, and the quiet tragedy of Tony’s journalistic ambitions.
More than anything else, this makes me want to reread The Luminaries, to get a greater appreciation of Catton’s work with adult eyes.