Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton's prize-winning and best-selling novel “The Luminaries” has a special place in my heart – not only because it's a tremendous story which is brilliantly written – but because it partly inspired me to start this blog in the first place. When I finished reading that intricate and impressive book I felt so compelled to discuss it with other people I went online. It's the first book I posted about here and the conversations which followed encouraged me to continue engaging with the virtual book community. So naturally I'm thrilled that now (nearly 10 years after that novel first came out) she's finally published a new novel “Birnam Wood”. The title is taken from a line in the play 'Macbeth' when the weird sisters predict that “Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him.” It's certainly not necessary to know the implications and meaning of this to appreciate Catton's new novel. The story plays upon themes of ambition and power, but I don’t think the Shakespearian influence is explicit until very late in the book.

At the centre of the book is a New Zealand guerrilla gardening group or farming collective who use the name Birnam Wood. They utilize unused land to cultivate crops to be distributed to those in need. This is both a political act and environmental/humanitarian initiative whose methods aren't often strictly legal. So when the group's founder Mira researches a large tract of land bordering a national forest which has been seemingly abandoned following a natural disaster she sees an opportunity for a large-scale planting project. However, an American billionaire and pioneer in drone technology named Robert Lemoine is under negotiations with the land owners to purchase this tract of land – purportedly to build a doomsday bunker. When Lemoine proposes to the collective that he can charitably fund their activities some members of the group feel that they are making a deal with the devil. What follows is an ecological thriller, in-depth psychological study and social commentary about modern day politics/technology.

Many readers may grapple with getting into this book because Catton front loads the story with a lot of character detail. Long sections describe the primary characters' backgrounds, ideologies, mentalities and conflicts. This means that most of the initial scenes of the novel occur internally as a psycho-drama concerning members of Birnam Wood (especially central members Mira and Shelley), renegade journalist Tony, scheming Lemoine and newly anointed Lord and Lady Darvish who own the property. Reading such a rich portrait of these individuals and their relationship to each other is interesting but there is little action involved until some of the later parts of the novel. It's like spending a long time sitting in a revving car before it launches forward at great speed. But when it does get going the story is absolutely gripping – especially in the final 150 pages. The trouble is that there are 275 pages before getting to that point. I think some readers' patience will have worn thin by then. Again, that's not to say these early sections aren't interesting but they are slow moving. However, I found the thrilling ending and the larger meaning of the book that I was left with extremely compelling. So overall I think it's a worthwhile reading experience and I was glad I went on this journey.

I'm not sure why Catton chose to structure the novel in this way. Typically the information which she relates in great big chunks would be integrated more into scenes where the characters interact and more dramatic action occurs. Yet in this story most of their psychological makeup is related while they scan the internet or their phones or surveillance footage. Characters spend a lot of time justifying their points of view to themselves or projecting into the future how they want events to play out. When verbal exchanges occur such as in a group meeting (hui) or telephone conversation or a dinner party it's more like the characters are delivering monologues without really listening to others. This occurs in a Jane Austen style which makes sense given that Catton recently wrote a screenplay for a new film version of “Emma”.

I think perhaps Catton might be commenting on the way our online lives are so internally focused. When we think we're communicating on the internet we're actually talking more to ourselves or within a narrow group of likeminded people whose opinions are all in agreement. Catton has also commented that when planning the novel each character could be seen as Macbeth as it revolves between their perspectives. This is an intriguing idea to consider in regards to each character's ambition and their relationships to each other and power. However, if these were the things that the author was trying to convey it unfortunately sacrifices the theatrical impetus of a large section of the story. As a result I felt more intellectually involved with this novel rather than emotionally invested. Nevertheless, it's an interesting modern day tale that engages with many environmental and political issues. If Catton weren't an author I had read before I probably wouldn't have finished reading this novel, but this is a book that possesses a subtle power which means that it's worth sticking with till the end.

My Top 10 Books of 2013

Richard Ford - Canada

Tony Hogan Bought Me An IceCream Float Before He Stole My Ma – Kerry Hudson

Flight Behaviour - Barbara Kingsolver

Union Atlantic – Adam Haslett

Black Bread White Beer – Niven Govinden

The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt

Artful – Ali Smith

Harvest – Jim Crace

The Luminaries – Eleanor Catton

The Wasp Factory – Ian Banks

My top books of the year are mostly new releases with big Booker winner “The Luminaries” taking a prominent place. It’s such a complex, rewarding and intelligent novel it did really deserve to win the Booker. Speaking of award winners the book that I think should have won this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction was Kingsolver’s “Flight Behaviour.” It’s a really heartfelt story of a woman making difficult choices in her private life as well as a moving meditation on environmental issues. I know many people are tired of reading the nearly-universal and never-ending praise for Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch” but it really is one of my top reads and totally mesmerized me. Another acclaimed writer whose book I absolutely loved was Richard Ford’s novel “Canada” which peters out somewhat towards the end, but has the most heart-breaking opening section. A book that totally swept me away was Ali Smith’s novel-ish book “Artful” which redefines the limits of what can be done in fiction while making every page feel immediately important and relevant to my life. "Harvest" attacked my subconscious and made its way into my dreams to leave me haunted and wondering. I’ve read Adam Haslett’s powerful stories before so was very excited to finally get to his novel “Union Atlantic” which is a really fascinating story about a few very different central characters and also a novel that critiques the causalities and pitfalls of capitalism gone mad. Two British books that captivated me are “Black Bread White Beer” and “Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma.” They explore areas of society and issues not often covered in contemporary fiction. Sadly, the author Iain Banks died this year which prompted me to reread “The Wasp Factor.” It’s so unbelievably original and has so many interesting things to say about masculinity and human nature. Now I must get to his other books.

It’s been interesting how starting this blog has prompted me to read more although I always have been an avid reader. I’m not sure anyone actually reads my posts (if you do thank you), but I’ve been enjoying the way writing about books helps me organize my thoughts and put them down someplace so I won’t forget them. Hopefully I’ll continue on all throughout next year. I know there are so many great books I didn't get to read this year. As always, I'm trying to catch up.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

I approached this novel with some trepidation – not because of the 800+ page length necessarily (with the right book I love to get stuck in for a good long time in order to really live with the characters) – but because of the structure. Catton frames the book’s sections with the stellar and planetary positions of the time. I had a fear that this book would be based a lot on astrological signs, personalities based on planetary positions and the sort of new-age sign reading that I don’t know anything about or have any interest in. It seems to me anyone who makes judgements on people based on star signs are working with generalities which bear no relation to the unique qualities of the individual. If one were a geek on this subject matter I’m sure this book could be fruitfully read with astrology in mind as the characters are closely aligned with certain planets and discover how their paths cross based on celestial alignments. However, this isn’t necessary because more than anything it’s an engaging, intelligent, complex, great big thrilling yarn of a read. As I got really into the thickness of the book’s plot and its fascinating array of characters I was enthralled by its story of a New Zealand gold-mining town in the mid-1800s. Deceit, greed, ambition, sailing adventures, hidden fortunes, familial strife, swapped identities, reinvention of the self, wacky séances, dirty deals, murder, prostitutes, opium. This book has all that and more.

What’s most impressive is that Catton is able to write such a many-paged incredibly intricately plotted narrative with such a huge cast of characters while balancing them all at the same time and keeping the reader alert to who is who and what is happening when. That takes serious talent. Each character is richly described so as to make them distinctive and she leaves markers along the way to remind you who that character is and their place in the plot even if they drop from the narrative for a while. The author creates a fascinating array of well-realized distinct characters. However, the only character which I think she fails somewhat is Te Rau Tauwhare, a Maori guide and gem-stone hunter. When he comes on the scene I feel like some of her research shows itself a little too plainly as she describes his connection with his native New Zealand culture and she lapses somewhat into stereotype. However, the rest of the (predominantly male) cast are shown to have varied interesting personalities – especially Quee Long with his painful past and his determination to get revenge.

This is a fiercely intelligent book as well as being a really engaging read. Along the way the author sometimes drops in really intelligent concepts about human nature and the complex working of psychology. For instance at one point she ruminates that “although a man is judged by his actions, by what he has said and done, a man judges himself by what he is willing to do, by what he might have said, or might have done – a judgement that is necessarily hampered, not only by the scope and limits of his imagination, but by the ever-changing measure of his doubt and self-esteem.” The author is, of course, speaking of men and women but I think she writes “a man” because this novel is written in the style of a novel in its time period using lots of parochial turns of phrase. This quote suggests to me a really complex interplay between how we are seen externally from how we view ourselves from the inside and why we are always so continuously and unfairly harsh on ourselves.

Another fascinating quote I tripped on and read over and over was this thought about the power of desire in motivating our actions. “Reason is no match for desire: when desire is purely and powerfully felt, it becomes a kind of reason of its own.” Surely this explains why so many of our actions make no logical sense when viewed externally. But when they are driven by the burning desires we harbour within they take on their own unavoidable power.

The story is richly rewarding as the mystery of what happened to a dead hermit, a drugged prostitute, a missing affluent miner, a mysterious widow and a suspicious scarred captain is gradually revealed – mostly through the stories of a group of individuals gathered together for a secret meeting in a pub at the start of the book. I’m sure I missed out on some of the connections, but most of the novel’s intriguing questions are answered by the end in a series of succinct well-paced chapters. I can just imagine taking this book with me to my dream cabin in Maine to reread when I’m much older and getting even more out of the story. It is a door-stop of book so I was glad I read the kindle version as my wrists would probably be sore from the strain of holding it up for so long if I didn’t. Whether it will win the Booker prize this year I don’t know. I’m reading my way through the shortlist right now. But this book does stand as a monumental achievement in writing – especially as it’s only the author’s second published novel.