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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
    2 out of 5 stars
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Waste of talent

Wonderful writer but laboriously slow and sudden ending. Curious use of amazing talent. I’m disappointed

2 people found this helpful

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Great, then suddenly terrible

Most of the book is captivating and a great listen. Then it ends. It isn’t quite ‘and it was all a dream’ but it may as well be, I quite literally found myself Googling whether there was more to the ending and whether Audible had somehow cut off a bit.

1 person found this helpful

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I am *raging* about the ending

Great plot, outstanding dialogue writing - and I yelled out loud in absolute frustration when it ended the way it did.. WHAT EVEN HAPPENED?

1 person found this helpful

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Superb

Best book I’ve listened to in years. The author manages to cover the full gamut of the political implications of the world we live in today without ever lecturing or boring. Genius!

1 person found this helpful

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eco thriller in nz

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

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Still unsure about the ending

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Others have commented on the slow start but I found it quite absorbing. I'm still unsure about the end. Unsatisfactory or genius?

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Hard start but so worth it!

This is a hard start but so worth it!

I really enjoyed hearing the thoughts of the 5 main characters and how they each interpreted the situation and their reactions and plans.

A really fantastic plot and definitely worth a read.

The only reason it is a four star is the start was tedious and I think many people would give up reading.I almost did but having read some reviews I decided to keep going and I'm glad I did. It is a fantastic story.

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Close to being excellent

A good yarn that held my attention.

Some of the characterization was quite one-dimensional and that led to the message of the book feeling overly simplistic and as a result quite pious. As someone with an interest in conservation I was surprised to find myself rolling my eyes at the earnestness of some characters.

With this said, I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story and would probably read again. I just feel that with a little more nuance in the characters this would have been a novel that stayed with me, and I'm not sure it was quite there.

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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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Grand

A good concept but I found the characters inconsistent and plot developments came out of nowhere. Feels like another couple of drafts could have made it great.

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  • Jane F. Clifton
  • 14-04-23

Catton continues streak

Loved The Illuminaries so was thrilled that this did not disappoint. Great story full of ideas and allegorical references. Brilliantly read by Saskia Maarleveld - marvellous to hear the NZ accent at full pelt.
A story for our times.

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  • AdinaR
  • 28-03-23

Excellent Eco Thriller!

It started a bit slow but I understood it was necessary to understand the characters and their motivations. The pace became more and more alert as the novel progressed with a satisfying ending. So different from the Luminaries, still very good.