Birnam Wood
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Birnam Wood
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Narrated by:
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Saskia Maarleveld
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By:
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Eleanor Catton
About this listen
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
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Deirdre E Siegel
- 09-03-2023
Hmmm…
Eleanor Catton really likes words, and utilizes the English alphabet like a whirlpool, turning turning turning.
One billionaire, one rich knight, one wife, two young women and one man are at one point or another are all in the same place, without knowing. Under the southern skies, bodies are piling up , guilt is mounting, mayhem, madness and misery have arrived.
Brilliance… in irksome characters.
Fabulous listen thank you Eleanor Catton, much appreciated. :-)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nicolette
- 01-05-2023
Clever and Gripping
I couldn't put this down. I rarely read thrillers, but Catton really nailed this with so much extra going on. A triumph to be sure!!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 27-06-2023
Great prose but long-winded with an untidy ending
Caton's way with words is great, Characters are interesting and the narration is great. I struggled to complete it though, mainly because the plot was so contrived and boring. The ending was a big let down too
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ninna Millikin
- 28-06-2023
Gripping Eco thriller
This started as a slow burn, but by a quarter of the way through, I was totally hooked. I loved the Luminaries and Catton has delivered again with complexity, humour, political, philosophy, and a theatrical exploration of people strategising like players on a chess board.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anne
- 19-03-2024
Wow. What an ending
It’s a slow burn - Catton is a master of character and context and here she dives deep into an exploration of some of the most interesting and compelling issues of how our society is structured. She is brilliant at reflecting the delusions we create for ourselves to feel better and how these are exploited. Listening may reveal something about yourself too. My heart was racing at the end as all the strands came together. I found myself playing out different endings and how they might have been achieved.
PS I've been thinking of others' descriptions of a character as a 'bond villain'. It's true but I think she's used this character as a vehicle to portray a person who sees every situation and person and landscape as an opportunity for advantage and the means by which such a person becomes master of our society and the damage that causes.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 27-04-2023
Pop Culture Foray
No luminosity for me unfortunately - but I could be a philistine so try it for yourself
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-06-2023
A bit morally simplistic
Enjoyed this, brilliantly narrated. The morals and themes are very childish though- the baddies are bad, the activists naive and vaguely irritating, not much nuance.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kerry Muir
- 11-06-2023
Not what I expected - but wow!
Have been waiting for Eleanor Catton’s next book since reading the final (tiny) chapter of “The Luminaries”. This was SO different I almost every way but I loved it. Hope we don’t have to wait 10 years for her third.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sophie Masson
- 18-06-2023
extraordinarily gripping
What an amazing story! Deeply-observed characters, deeply twisty story that slow-burned its way to a cataclysmically unexpected conclusion...the villain, sure, is rather a Bond villain diabolical sort, but still well-drawn and the other characters are very believably human, the Birnam Wood collective certainly reminded me of some countercultural groups I have come across, with muddled but genuine motives...irrirating in the extreme at times, with the diatribes on capitalism and consumerism and generational blaming, but still touching in some ways. And the descriptions of NZ South Island settings are very atmospheric. A real tour de force!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-07-2023
Not a fan
I found it very slow to start and a bit boring. Then it all got a bit implausible. Not my favourite book.
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