Birnam Wood

The novel is about a gorilla group of gardeners who search out empty pieces of land and use it to plant public gardens. The crop they collect is later sold and the money used to fund the gardening group. The group receives $10,000 from an American billionaire who convinces the group that he is genuinely interested in their cause and welcomes them to garden on his land that he just purchased. Nothing is farther from the truth. He is in fact destroying the land, being only interested in mining the valuable mineras buried beneath the surface. The mining group is used as a front to make him appear pro-environment. As the community discovers his real agenda a series of unfortunate things happen to the witnesses. The novel is a difficult read with very long sentences. I had to re-rrad multiple passages to get the point. The characters are true to life with God guys and bad guys (the billionaire). What makes the novel interesting is that no one is 100% good or bad. Like real life they are all corruptible. The theme of the novel is "Money Corrupts, when money is involved the rules are different". It tells the reader of the human condition. I gave this rating because of the writing style and its very long sentences, ( up to 100 words per sentence).

What a wild romp this was! When I read the description I was instantly intrigued and I wanted to know more about the guerilla gardening collective Birnam Wood and their burgeoning relationship to the elusive billionaire Robert Lemoine. The story is told from multiple perspectives as opposed to structured chapters, which I didn't mind because it added depth and complexity but I'm sure it could throw some readers off. There are heavy amounts of political satire and sharp, dry humor sprinkled throughout, with topics like capitalism, performance activism, environmentalism, power dynamics and surveillance at the forefront. Each character felt very fleshed out and vibrant, and I kind of like that you are questioning everyone's motives until the very end. For me this was very much a page turner, especially as the 3rd part of the story kicks in. I have to say I did NOT anticipate that ending with all the storylines intensifying and intersecting in the tragic and brutal ways it did!! I also agree with some reviews that say that the ending felt a bit too abrupt, to be honest I wanted more considering the author's last novel was so much longer. I think that's all I'll say on this one because I feel it's best approached knowing very little!

Right now, having just finished this book, I can’t even begin to decide what I think of it. Intriguing premise, dealing with a number of important 21st century issues, totally relevant … but sometimes it felt like listening to the most self-righteous leftist in your dorm. The resolution to all the narrative threads is bleak, bleak, bleak. I get it, but I’m not sure I like it…

DNF!

Genuinely suspenseful until the very end!