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Birnam Wood cover art

Birnam Wood

By: Eleanor Catton
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
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Summary

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, 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?

A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its wit, drama and immersion in character. A brilliantly constructed consideration of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is an unflinching examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.

©2023 Granta Books (P)2023 Audible, Ltd.

What listeners say about Birnam Wood

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good plot, abrupt end

Takes a while to get into the thick of it and then it’s over. The characters felt believable and the storyline is interesting, and a little different, but just as it was getting exciting it was finished. Can see this as a film.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I’ve a Feeling Some Images Are Gonna Stay With Me. Aargh!

Not a Who-Dun-It, more of a What’s-Being-Dun? A suspense, with plenty in it to keep me suspended. I was persuaded to read this book when I heard the author interviewed by Nicola Sturgeon at Edinburgh’s bookFest. It’s a gripping, dark drama; unusual setting; broad range of characters drawn differently and knitted … knotted together with intreague, then angst, then terror. I really liked it. I’m giving it 4 stars because (A) I reserve 5 stars for absolute brilliance; (B) I felt dissatisfied at the ending. I think I’d like another 50 pages in which the two or three remaining questions get the answer I want for them.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable book, disappointing ending

The opposite of heartwarming. Enjoyable to listen to. Until the end. But maybe some books are not meant to make you feel good, but make you think about the world. Well read.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Gripping story, complex characters. But the end!

As some others have remarked, a puzzlingly abrupt and unsatisfactory ending. Otherwise, highly enjoyable.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fabulously intricate plotting if at times stretching believability.

The reader is superb as is the quality of the text. Sharp, full of drive and very evocative of character, place and action.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Human, suspenseful story

I can see what it gets all the plaudits. And now another six more words.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

This Is A Slow Burner

I almost gave up on this as it is very slow at the start but I'm glad I stuck with it. Plot wise this was perhaps a tad far fetched but, in these times, who knows

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

eco thriller in nz

loved it, the ending was abrupt, wish it had gone on for just a bit longer.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Slow start … melodramatic end

It’s a really interesting plot line but far too much telling and not enough showing
Characters interesting but wasted because potentially gripping storyline goes over the top

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Stick with it!

Slow and steady start / first half but suddenly out of nowhere becomes incredibly gripping and exciting. Excellent narration and storytelling

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