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Eleanor Catton

Autor(a) de The Luminaries

15+ Works 6,740 Membros 343 Críticas 10 Favorited

About the Author

Eleanor Catton was born in Canada on September 24, 1985. She moved to New Zealand with her family when she was six years old. She studied English at the University of Canterbury and received a master's in creative writing at The Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington. Her mostrar mais debut novel, The Rehearsal, was published in 2008. Her second novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Man Booker Prize. In 2015 she ws made an Honorary Literary Fellows in the New Zealand Society of Authors' annual Waitangi Day Honours. In 2016, she was named as one of six, Arts New Zealand's Laureate Award winners. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos

Obras por Eleanor Catton

The Luminaries (2013) 5,045 exemplares
Birnam Wood (2023) 853 exemplares
The Rehearsal (2008) 711 exemplares
Emma [2020 film] (2020) — Screenwriter — 119 exemplares
A fényességek (2016) 2 exemplares
Two Tides - story 1 exemplar
Doubtful Sound 1 exemplar
彩排 (2015) 1 exemplar
Birnamin metsä 1 exemplar
Birnamin mets©Þ 1 exemplar
La Prova 1 exemplar

Associated Works

The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (2009) — Contribuidor — 6 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

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Críticas

I just want to add something to the discourse that I haven't seen anyone else mention - the politics of Birnam Wood's governance structure is excruciatingly accurate in its depiction of the New Zealand left-wing political scene. The veggie curries, the people, the "Are we Māori enough to use a Māori name?" conversation (which I loved, because wow that's not a kōrero New Zealand is not ready to have), it's almost too real.

It's a great depiction of this specific moment in time, and I'm really curious to know if other Kiwis (let's face it, I mean the Wellingtonians who got this out of the library on their way to Harbourside market) feel the same.… (mais)
 
Assinalado
whitsunweddings | 45 outras críticas | Mar 8, 2024 |
I thought it was a bit long and the abundant use of the F word turned me off. But, the story was interesting and a look at what is happening to the environment in the name of profit. Starts with a landslide closing the Korowai Pass on New Zealand, isolating Thorndike and a farm owned by the Darvishes. A guerilla gardening collective has moved into the farm without permission. An American billionaire, Lemoine, purchased the land anonymously from the Dervishes, catches Mira and her group, telling her he plans to build a bunker there.
Mira and her friend, Shelley are at odds over how to run Birnam Wood, and when Mira's old flame, Tony, a journalist returns, tempers flare, leading to an explosive ending.
… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
rmarcin | 45 outras críticas | Feb 26, 2024 |
A group of idealistic young NZ gardeners goes to a deserted farm to plant their guerilla crops at the invitation of a rich American who tells them he is purchasing the farm as a place to live out the Apocolypse, if and when it happens. In reality, he is trying to mask that he is mining the nearby national park for rare earth minerals, that he can sell for a fortune. When the farm's owner comes by to check on things, he is mistakenly killed. The billionaire's attempts to cover up the death and his clandestine mining operation cause him to act more and more rashly.… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
mojomomma | 45 outras críticas | Feb 20, 2024 |
Great title! And just in case anyone had trouble placing where that came from, this book, before page one, quotes the line, cites who said it, and gives us Macbeth's reaction to it. While that does not explain what happens later in the play, it sets us up to wonder where this might be going. There are many ways to interpret this name, Birnam Wood.

- An enigma.
- A way of deluding oneself.
- Not listening even when warned.
- Rejection, can't happen.
- A military strategy.
- A subterfuge.
- Wolf in sheep's clothing.
- The impossible happening.
- Hiding one's intention under the guise of natural wonder.
- Not seeing the forest for the trees.
- The past comes round again.
- Nothing to see here.

Where is Catton going to take this? We quickly learn that in this book, Birnam Wood is an activist collective seeking political and social change through guerilla gardening. Their cure for global warming is returning to nature. Not clear yet why the name fits what they are up. Stay tuned, more to come. Using a style reminiscent of Jane Austen, Catton introduces us to the mindset and moral compass of the main characters. The leader of Birnam Wood is the strong-willed Mira who is the ideological center of Birnam Wood. But every idealist needs someone to ground them. In this case, it's Shelley. She's the operational center of the group, keeping things on schedule and coordinated. She's also Mira's roommate. But Shelley is having second thoughts about where she's going. It's time to step away from the group, but Shelley can't bring herself to let Mira know she's ready to move on. We appear to have met the good guys. Time to introduce the other guys.

Owen Darvish is more ambiguous. He's created a successful pest control firm in a country with a need to control pests. This is all based in New Zealand, which is about to reward him with a Knighthood for his work in conservation. Conservation? Even he wonders where that came from? Is pest control conservation? He's shooting rabbits for a living. His wife of many years, Jill, seems more aware of what's going on than he is. And then there's Robert Lemoine. We immediately see the bad guy, even if he's cool. He's a billionaire, builder of drones, brilliant, high tech, first-rate liar and knows how to sniff out when anyone's lying to him. When needed, he's more than ready to get inside your personal electronic stuff, gets phone tower data, tracks everyone, electronically, thermally, visually, etc. Portrays his interest in New Zealand as the place for his bunker once the world is unlivable. Actually, he's mining rare earth minerals where he shouldn't, in a national park, but it takes a while for us to see under the cover story.

To get this going, we learn that Lemoine has discovered Mira trespassing on the Darvish farm, she tries to lie to him, he lets her know he knows she's lying, telling her her real name, which freaks her out and she bolts. He's actually attracted to her feistiness and attempts to win her over by proposing he finance her group and have them do their gardening thing on the farm he's about to buy from Darvish. She knows she should not take his offer, but it's just too tempting. He puts his money where his mouth is, and it's up Mira to sell this insane idea to the group.

And now we meet the last major character, the fly in the ointment, Tony Gallo. He was one of the founders of Birnam Wood, but he's been gone for a few years. To Mira, he's the one who got away, but he has his own issues. The group is getting together for the big meeting where Mira will make her pitch. But he's immediately in an argument with one of the old timers, grace is not one of his long suits. More importantly, he's rejecting Mira's idea. Can't she see this is getting in bed with the devil? He wants none of it and wants everyone to reject this craziness. He is off to uncover what's going on. His secret weapon is his brain. He understands drones and knows how to hide from them.

Those are the characters. I'm not going to give away how everything goes down. You'll have to read it for yourself to find out. All I'll say is no one gets out of this unscathed, and that's an understatement.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Ed_Schneider | 45 outras críticas | Feb 11, 2024 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
15
Also by
1
Membros
6,740
Popularidade
#3,633
Avaliação
½ 3.8
Críticas
343
ISBN
135
Línguas
15
Marcado como favorito
10

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