Birnam Wood

It's a plotty thriller where a guerrilla eco-collective named Birnam Wood comes into contact with a moustache-twirling American billionaire with plans inside of plans. This in itself is interesting if not improbable. Our current spate of billionaires hardly seem capable of Lex Luthor levels of nefarious intent as they'd rather fly into space, dive into the depths, or square off in a cage match (or dick measuring contest for that matter)

I digress.

I found I could care less about the twists and turns the story took, even as the stakes kept getting raised. Even Catton feels disinterested in resolving anything and just ends the book. The collision of eco-idealism into rapacious greed is certainly interesting, but I'd rather read Catton exploring the inner lives of working stiffs surmounting their mundane day to day challenges.

Mira and Shelley are wrestling with what they are to each other as the co-founders of Birnam Wood. Shelley is tired of always feeling the bridesmaid, the ride-along, and is poking at the idea of leaving the collective and wrestling with how to break the news. Mira feels the tension and is trying to untangle her own motivations. I know it sounds navel gazing and tedious but I found it beautifully articulated. The scene where the Darvish's have company is a master class in all the unsaid things people navigate during a growing tedious, but familiar dinner with old friends. And I loved the juxtaposition of Tony Gallo's fiery, mansplaining, anti-capitalist screed levelled against Birnam Wood, contrasted against his almost giddy imaginings of uncovering a massive conspiracy.

These are just incredible character studies and Catton only falters with the billionaire Lemoine who is all action with little interiority. He is a shark, ever moving, ever planning — free from the plague of self-doubt or the need to examine his own motivations. He just there to move the plot along. As the story progresses, everyone is increasingly enmeshed in that swirl of action and there's less and less self-examination. The book is poorer for that lack.

Give me more of Catton perfectly encapsulating a nuanced and fully realized character with just the stray thoughts in their head. Hypnotizing.