Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, 2023
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023.
Summary
Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood follows a New Zealand climate activist collective’s path to making itself known and sees it interact with a billionaire who has a secret agenda. Mira Bunting, after being denied access to a plot of land on which she hopes to guerilla garden (the group cultivates plots of land around Christchurch with the hopes of self-sufficiency) with Birnam Wood members, makes a deal with an American billionaire and tech guru named Robert Lemoine who has purchased some of the land she is interested in. Little does she know, Lemoine – who claims that he wants the land to build an apocalypse bunker – is playing both her and the landowner, Sir Owen Darvish. Lemoine is running a secret mining operation in the national park that neighbors Darvish’s farm, and he decides to use Birnam Wood as a means of distracting from the environmental devastation that his mining operation is causing. Lemoine’s mining operation caused the landslide that has closed roads around the Darvish farm, which is why the land was appealing to Mira for Birnam Wood’s work. Lemoine is mining for rare-earth minerals which would liberate the Western world in terms of energy access and wishes to become rich as a result of his being the only one with access to them. Mira presents her concept of a deal with Lemoine to the members of Birnam Wood, and is met with support from everyone except for her former flame, Tony Gallo. Tony gets angry at Mira for being willing to work with Lemoine – a manifestation of capitalism – because he thinks that this betrays the leftist ideals of Birnam Wood.
Nonetheless, Mira and some members of Birnam Wood, including Mira’s best friend Shelley Noakes, move down to the Darvish farm and set up camp and plant gardens to better the environment. Unbeknownst to Mira, after she first meets Lemoine, he sets up a tracker on her phone and begins to monitor her every message and every move. While none of the characters know this, Tony Gallo is suspicious enough of Lemoine’s intentions when Mira shares her plans with him that he secretly follows Birnam Wood to the Darvish farm. While he is snooping around, Tony stumbles upon a protected research area. He calls the owner of the land, Darvish, to ask about it, but of course Darvish has no idea what Lemoine is doing with respect to Lemoine’s mining operation (though he is aware that Lemoine wishes to build a bunker on his land). Tony then realizes that there are drones following him around, which furthers his ire against Lemoine but also prompts him to dig deeper, as he is hoping for a big-break journalism piece. Rattled by Tony’s call, Sir Owen Darvish travels to his property only to be accidentally killed by Shelley, who is driving a car while high on LSD provided to her (and other members of Birnam Wood) by Lemoine during an onboarding process. Lemoine covers up Darvish’s death in a twofold fashion. He sends Shelley and Mira away from the farm and the collective to a safehouse he just-so happens to have ready, and he doctors messages and receipts from the late Sir Owen in order to prevent Lady Jill Darvish, Sir Owen’s wife, from figuring out that he was murdered.
Meanwhile, Tony has continued to snoop around the research area where he truly uncovers Lemoine’s mining operation and takes pictures. He is discovered by Lemoine’s hired military officers, and he injures himself while escaping. Tony makes it back to the farm and finds Mira, to whom he tells everything he has discovered about Lemoine, from the secret mining operation to Lemoine’s big-brother-esque technological stalking. Mira, though reproachful of Tony, chooses to believe him and agrees to help Tony take down Lemoine. Lemoine discovers the wounded Tony and Mira, and he takes them both to the farmhouse as he tries to scheme his way out of being exposed. Lemoine figures that the best way to get out of the situation of potentially having his mining operation exposed is to kill all the members of Birnam Wood, whose presence he was hoping would mask his anti-environmental actions, and blame their deaths on Tony, the crazed journalist with a vendetta against the group. After the cover-up, Lady Jill Darvish remains suspicious of the circumstances of her husband’s death, and she travels to her family’s farm. While Tony and Mira are in the farmhouse, Lemoine enacts his plan and acts as though he is providing medical attention. However, he poisons all the members of Birnam Wood. Lady Jill Darvish then arrives and discovers all the dead bodies, including Mira’s, and the ailing Tony, who has been dragged outside by Lemoine and is screaming for help. Lady Jill Darvish shoots Robert Lemoine but is then shot by his driver, the only person besides Tony who remains alive at the farm. Tony, facing an imminent death due to his wounds from his attempts to escape Lemoine’s military guards, uses his last semblances of strength to drag himself to Lemoine’s mining operation, which he sets on fire in the hopes that somebody will see the smoke and discover the carnage at the Darvish farm.
Characters
Mira Bunting:
Mira Bunting is the founder of the climate activist group titled “Birnam Wood”. While at first glance she seems confident and driven, Mira is actually deeply insecure and is searching for a place to be in the world, appearing to be trapped in an extended adolescence. She presents as principled and set in her convictions, but at the end of the day, Mira’s desperation to succeed outweighs her sense of morality. Mira finds the Darvish property, is interested in it for Birnam Wood’s work, and generates the collective’s relationship with Robert Lemoine.
Shelley Noakes:
Shelley Noakes is Mira’s best friend. She feels as though she is constantly playing second fiddle to outspoken and secure Mira, but in reality and even with her self-doubt and desire to quit the collective, Shelley is the stable and principled force behind Birnam Wood. Shelley, in a drug haze, ends up hitting Sir Owen Darvish with a car and then finds herself indebted to Lemoine for covering up the murder.
Tony Gallo:
Tony Gallo, co-founder of Birnam Wood, is a wannabe journalist trying to catch a big break. He seeks to tear down capitalism by exposing Robert Lemoine, but instead he stumbles upon a story much greater than he could have ever expected. Tony speaks and acts from a point of privilege in society, but unlike so many others, he is at least willing to be both introspective and blunt as he critiques those around him.
Robert Lemoine:
Robert Lemoine is an American billionaire doomsteader, who goes to Thorndike with two goals in mind. He wishes to build an apocalypse bunker and hopes to mine a New Zealand national park for rare-earth minerals. Lemoine is in charge of a US-based company called Autonomo, which manufactures and manages high-tech drones. Lemoine is a tech mogul and has access to the type of technology that enables him to spy on people, manipulate and falsify email communication records, and track people’s phones.
Owen Darvish:
Sir Owen Darvish is a well-to-do man who built a nice life for himself within the capitalist structure that dominates New Zealand. Darvish built himself up on a pest-control enterprise and is not known for his environmentalism. He is knighted, however, for efforts to protect the orange-fronted parakeet, a fact which Lemoine later seeks to use to his own personal advantage.
Jill Darvish:
Lady Jill Darvish is a woman who knows her husband well and prides herself on her ability to predict her husband’s thoughts and actions before he knows them himself. Lady Jill, however, is much more than just her husband’s wife; she is adept and ends up taking matters into her own hands when she suspects that Lemoine is lying to her regarding the circumstances surrounding Sir Owen’s death.
Settings
Korowai National Park, New Zealand
Korowai National Park emerges as a pivotal setting, juxtaposing the rugged natural beauty of its surroundings with the covert activities of its inhabitants. Nestled amidst the picturesque landscapes of Christchurch, the Korowai Pass serves as both a gateway to adventure and a hidden refuge for those seeking sanctuary from the constraints of society’s norms. Mira Bunting and Shelley Noakes find themselves drawn to the pass’s allure as they navigate their subversive horticultural endeavors. It is against the backdrop of the Korowai Pass that Mira glimpses a tantalizing opportunity amidst the tragedy of a landslide blocking the road. She spots an abandoned farm in the nearby rural town of Thorndike. However, their plans are interrupted by the unexpected presence of Robert Lemoine, a tech billionaire entangled in a web of deceit and environmental exploitation. The farm itself, once forgotten amidst the rolling hills, becomes a focal point of intrigue as Mira negotiates with Lemoine, unaware of the dark secret he harbors: Korowai National Park is where has set up his secret mining operation. As the garden takes root on this reclaimed land, the conflict between nature’s resilience and human greed unfolds, mirroring the dichotomy of Korowai Pass itself. Through its winding trails and hidden alcoves, Korowai Pass becomes a symbol of both hope and peril, where the delicate balance between preservation and exploitation hangs in the balance.
Thorndike, New Zealand: The Darvish Farm
The Darvish farm is a forgotten patch of land on the outskirts of Thorndike, a rural town near Christchurch. Once bustling with life, it now stands silent and deserted, a relic of the past. Owned by Owen Darvish, a well-meaning entrepreneur who owns a pest control business but has built up an environmental image, the farm holds potential for new beginnings for Birnam Wood. However, its peaceful facade is disrupted when Mira Bunting of Birnam Wood, seeking to transform it into a garden oasis, encounters Robert Lemoine. Despite its tranquil appearance, the farm becomes a battleground of conflicting interests. Mira negotiates with Lemoine to secure permission for their gardening project, unaware of his hidden motives. The farm, with its overgrown fields and weathered buildings, becomes a symbol of hope and opportunity tinged with uncertainty. As Mira and the rest of the collective’s members work to breathe life back into the land, they must navigate the complexities of trust and deception, all while striving to protect the farm’s newfound potential from those who seek to exploit it for their own gain.
Analysis
Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood is a climate fiction novel that exposes the hypocrisy that permeates human society, especially surrounding environmentalism. As Rebekah Rochester writes, “Birnam Wood has a lot to say about politics and activism and capitalism and the climate crisis and surveillance and corruption – or rather, its characters do. The narrative voice remains coolly detached, at times gently poking fun or illuminating a key detail” (Best-Believe). Birnam Wood’s characters and their various interactions expose the challenges with left-wing environmentalist politics, however ideal the world that they desire might seem, while simultaneously excoriating the right for its denial of inequity.
Birnam Wood presents a world that pits the left-wing social justice warriors, whom we want to see succeed, against the establishment that works against them in every way. Robert Lemoine, an American tech guru benefiting off of the capitalist system uses his money to exert power over everyone around him. He uses the environment – and Birnam Wood – as cover to exploit the natural resources of the land, and he furthers his deception by claiming that he wishes to build an apocalypse bunker. Sir Owen Darvish explains that Lemoine is seeking to build a shelter that “can withstand anything, absolutely anything” and tells his dinner guests that the practice is called “doomsteading…bunking down for the end of the world” (Catton 134). Lemoine’s apocalypse bunker is a guise for his true intentions; he ultimately wants to exploit the land in Korowai National Park and mine it for his own benefit. Lemoine has no regard for anyone except for himself, and he expresses that his sole desire is to get richer (Catton 80). Tony Gallo, aspiring journalist, seeks to indict Lemoine and expose the uber-rich who benefit from a capitalist system. The narration explains Tony’s perspective on people like Robert Lemoine and expresses that Tony wishes to “expose, remorselessly, those hypocrites and cynics who publicly denied the catastrophe of climate change while secretly short-selling that very same position and hedging all their bets; the millionaires and billionaires who preached self-reliance…and who bemoaned red tape while building contractual fortresses to shield their capital” and contribute in all the worst ways to the woes of the world and then retreat “into a private sphere of luxury so well insulated from the lives of ordinary people” (Catton 141). Tony is incensed by people like Lemoine, a “super-rich survivalist” buying land in his homeland of New Zealand (Catton 142). When this indictment is presented, however, Tony doesn’t even know what Lemoine’s true intentions are and is unaware of the mining operation in the national park. Tony, a representative of the male white liberal elite voices benefitting from the system but dominating environmentalism, seeks to tear down the hypocritical establishment of capitalism and those who benefit from it by exposing Robert Lemoine.
Robert Lemoine, in turn, uses everyone and everything around him to his own benefit and seeks to become, “by several orders of magnitude, the richest person who [had] ever lived” (Catton 80). He exploits the land, the women with whom he interacts, and the technology to which he has access. Lemoine uses Birnam Wood as a cover for his exploitation of Korowai National Park, which he is mining for rare earth minerals. He doesn’t care about the environment at all, and he manipulates Mira into being an actor in his scheme. Lemoine, in addition to manipulating Mira, also manipulates Shelley and Lady Jill. Lemoine knows that he is powerful, as a result of the technology and money he can access, and he uses this to coerce Shelley into going along with his grand cover-up of Owen Darvish’s death and to attempt to gaslight Lady Jill into believing that her husband’s death was an accident. Lemoine provides drugs to the Birnam Wood collective in an attempt to gain their trust while simultaneously spying on them and documenting their every move (Catton 252-255). Lemoine’s efforts to gain the trust of those around him is, at least to some degree, entirely superficial given that his technological prowess enables him to do as he pleases with or without people’s approval. In trying to cover up Owen Darvish’s death, Lemoine decides that “the truth [is] going to have to change” (Catton 289). He gaslights Shelley – “None of this is real. It’s a simulation” (Catton 291) –, moves Sir Owen’s body, doctors text messages, edits receipts, and entirely alters the truth of the auspices under which Sir Owen Darvish is killed (Catton 297-298). This pattern of behavior demonstrates that Lemoine cares not at all for equity or integrity and is willing to do whatever it takes to advance his own agenda. Lemoine’s drone technology and his vast system of monitors, which are corollary to his wealth, enable him to manipulate everyone around him and perpetuate inequitable systems and engage in morally reprehensible behavior.
Ultimately, the characters in Birnam Wood prove to be representative of the challenges that plague environmentalism today. The underlying politics, that are especially polarized in the 21st century, of environmental activism are thrust into the spotlight through Tony Gallo and Robert Lemoine, and though Shelley and Mira are both set up as protagonists – and are the characters readers are meant to identify with and root for – their wishes and actions are drowned out by the men who dominate (literally) the surrounding landscape. Further, there are no Indigenous voices present in the story, and the Native people of New Zealand are marginalized as a result of the capitalist system that defines land ownership and licit activity throughout the story.
Macbeth Connection
Catton, following the dedication of her book, includes the following quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never be vanquished until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, 4.1.94-97). In naming Mira’s collective “Birnam Wood” and by including the lines, Catton clearly intended to evoke Shakespeare’s third apparition’s warning to titular Macbeth. The lines spoken by the apparition express that Macbeth cannot be hurt until the woods come to him. Macbeth assumes that he is safe because woods are immobile (trees do not walk), but he does not account for what actually happens: Malcolm and Macduff’s army chops down the woods for their own use and in attacking Macbeth’s army, the opposing army brings the woods to Macbeth, who can indeed be harmed. Macbeth is brought down by his own ambition (though he is egged on repeatedly by Lady Macbeth) and pursues power until his world comes crashing down around him. With the allusion to Macbeth, Catton raises questions surrounding ambition. The collective Birnam Wood is highly ambitious, but when they try to scale their movement up to pursue this ambition, and they accept Lemoine’s money, they make a fatal error and tragedy unfolds. Who is Macbeth in Catton’s novel? Is it Lemoine, who is untouchable until he meets his end following involvement with Birnam Wood? Is Mira Macbeth, given that she meets her end finding herself in too deep playing double agent? Is Shelley, an unlikely hero who finds herself at the helm of a group she wasn’t sure she even wanted to remain in, meant to represent Macbeth? Does Tony represent Macbeth, as he meets his end quite literally due to the woods? Much like a Shakespearean tragedy, Catton’s Birnam Wood ends with absolutely everyone dead. A further point of consideration, with respect to who – if anyone – is meant to represent Macbeth is one raised by blogger Claire McAlpine. She writes that “Birnam Wood is populated with characters that loosely connect to Shakespeare’s play” (McAlpine); Mira, Shelley, and Lady Jill can be correlated with Shakespeare’s three apparitions, who are not as they seem to be on the outside, men with power (Sir Owen Darvish and Robert Lemoine), and the MacDuff-esque character seen in Tony who is “recently returned from his travels…armed with his pen to combat tyranny and fight against evil, something of a loner, acting independently of the group” (McAlpine). While this might undermine the question of who truly is Macbeth, the parallels are interesting nonetheless and raise further questions into the naming of the novel and Mira’s collective.
Themes
The Morals of Environmentalism: Who Defines Ethics?
One of the central conflicts involves the members of Birnam Wood who aim to preserve and enhance natural resources versus Lemoine who seeks to exploit them under the guise of environmentalism. The collective Birnam Wood does not subscribe to or follow the prescriptive socially acceptable forms of environmentalism that dominate the narrative that defines environmentalism. The practice of guerilla gardening – the planting of gardens on land that is not owned by the planters with the goal of self-sufficiency in mind – is objectively an illicit activity, yet it is a way to make change and catch people’s attention, which is Mira’s ultimate goal. Mira seeks to repurpose and utilize land that is not being productively used, but this raises some ethical questions, as her acts – and the acts of her collective – are technically illegal. However, these environmental practices are unethical as they are characterized by lacking transparency and honesty about intentions and methods. These unethical practices involve deceit, hidden agendas and misleading claims about environmental benefits, in Lemoine’s case, as he is masking this for profit-driven motives. The notion of deceit defines Birnam Wood, as very little that Mira does is truly transparent. Her collective engages in activities which they know are illegal (trespassing, for starters) and purport to be more self-sufficient than they really are. Tony Gallo hates that Mira is willing to accept Robert Lemoine’s money, as the acceptance betrays Birnam Wood’s ideals, but Mira “was greatly enjoying having money to burn” (Catton 190). Mira uses Lemoine’s money in order to make the camp that Birnam Wood sets up at the Darvish farm more comfortable. This alone demonstrates that Mira is not truly engaged in a back-to-the-land practice, as she is willing to sacrifice her principles for comfort and engage in “the biggest single expenditure in the history of Birnam Wood” (Catton 189). However, the Birnam Wood collective seeks to give back to the land. The ultimate picture painted in Birnam Wood is one of good versus evil; Birnam Wood and its hopeful ventures vs Robert Lemoine and the system that both enables him and that he manipulates.
Economic and Social Impacts Exploited by Technology
Robert Lemoine’s immense capital provides him with an opportunity to generate positive environmental change. Instead, he chooses to use his power, wealth, and access to technology for evil and not only exploits the land he could be helping to preserve but also entirely cuts Indigenous people out of any potential narrative surrounding their rightful land. Lemoine comes in as a foreigner, exploits the land over which he has “ownership”, and demonstrates that technological advances in the hands of ill-intentioned individuals increase the capacity for evil and destruction of ecosystems. Tony stumbles upon the extent of Lemoine’s mining operation, first only having seen one drone, but then “he blinked and saw another…he blinked again and realized, all at once, that the basin was absolutely swarming with them” (Catton 238). Lemoine’s use of technology is not only an extreme infringement upon one’s rights to personal privacy – “Tony had no doubt whatsoever that the machine had seen him” (Catton 239) – but also is extraordinarily disruptive to the National Park land which he is exploiting. Additionally, the technology used is also a medium of surveillance and control. The use of drones, for instance, represents the ways in which technology can be used to monitor and exert control over individuals and landscapes, just as Lemoine portrayed. This also raises questions about privacy, freedom, and the extent to which technology should be allowed to penetrate these spaces. Technology can be used for good, and it has an enormous capacity to facilitate positive change and lead to proactive means of environmental conservation and preservation, but Robert Lemoine does not seek to protect the environment at all. Catton outright states that Lemoine’s actions not only caused a landslide, but also that he is aware that “leaching rare-earth elements in situ by pumping lixiviant through boreholes drilled directly into the ground risked causing fissures in the bedrock that might precipitate a slip” (Catton 80). Lemoine, however, cares neither for the land that he is destroying nor for the people who live near and off of it. Technology can lead to new forms of social stratification, where access to technology itself becomes a marker of social status. Within the novel, Lemoine is the one who has access to this advanced technology and the knowledge to use it effectively, influencing the power dynamic over the members of Birnam Wood and has absolutely no regard for the people living near Korowai National Park, who are put at risk by the presence of his mining operation. This duality of both protection and a threat of destruction for the natural environment prompts a broader reflection of whether technology should be viewed as a tool for achieving harmony with nature or a force that disrupts and dominates it.
Bibliography
Catton, Eleanor. Birnam Wood First American edition., Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023.
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Preston, Alex. “Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton Review – the Root of All Evil.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 Feb. 2023, www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb /26/birnam -wood-by-eleanor-catton-review-the-root-of-all-evil-luminaries-booker-prize.
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