Choices that End Poorly

Birnam Wood 

by Eleanor Catton

“...the real choices that you make in your life, the really difficult, defining choices are never between what's right and what's easy. They're between what's wrong and what's hard.”   ― Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood







Birnam Wood is a group of guerilla gardeners that Mira Bunting founded five years ago. Set in New Zealand, this activist collective, an unregistered, uncontrolled, occasionally criminal, occasionally charitable group of friends, plants crops wherever no one will see them: on the sides of roads, in abandoned parks, and in backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer—a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. A natural disaster has created an opportunity; a sizable farm is seemingly abandoned.

But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. When he sees Mira on the property, mysterious American billionaire Robert Lemoine tells her that he has taken it to build his end-of-the-world bunker. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But are they able to put their trust in him? Can they trust one another as their beliefs and ideals are put to the test?

A psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood, left me wondering if it was worth the time I took to read it. I was not surprised by the ending in general and found some of its main characters preditable. Neither the protagonist nor her antagonist were particularly believable. I barely found the story engaging enough to finish the novel. I cannot recommend this novel to any intelligent reader.

Enter, Falstaff

Shakespeare’s  Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2

by William Shakespeare

“I can call the spirits from the vasty deep.

Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;

But will they come, when you do call for them?”

― William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 1

Shakespeare's greatest plays, according to none other than Orson Welles, were these ones. Furthermore, Welles believed that Chimes at Midnight, the film adaptation of these plays, was his best work—even better than Citizen Kane.

Shakespeare's best works are those two plays, which can be seen as telling a single story. The plays that Falstaff appeared in are the plays that most people are more familiar with, which is why most people do not recognize them as such. (Apart from "Merry Wives," which is not quite as wonderful.)


Most people will ask, "Is not that the big fat guy who Shakespeare wrote about?" when you mention the name "Falstaff."

These plays only touch on a portion of Henry IV's turbulent reign, during which he usurped Richard II's throne. The real focus is on the coming-of-age of his eldest son, Prince Hal, the Prince of Wales, who was destined to someday become Henry V. The twist of the play is that — much to his Dad’s disappointment — young Hal prefers to hang out with Sir John Falstaff, a fat, drunk wastrel and a liar, but Falstaff is just so damn entertaining. So, Prince Hal hangs out with Falstaff rather than come to Court and study how to rule. Hal, later Henry V, becomes a great king, against all odds.