Almost every review to date mentions the brutal argument that closes the first section of Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood. In a novel filled with incident – disasters, chases, one very bad acid trip, general maleficence – it is telling that this scene lingers.
The members of the titular Christchurch guerrilla gardening collective have gathered for a hui (meeting) to discuss a proposed partnership with surveillance technology mogul Robert Lemoine, one of the American billionaire survivalists buying up land in New Zealand. This is bitterly opposed by a former member, Tony, who sees it as accepting “blood money”. But Mira, their nominal leader, argues that the partnership may be their only hope for survival:
