Birnam Wood
New Zealand. Shakespeare. Social satire. A title derived from the Scottish play. What could go wrong?
Birnam Wood
It’s an involved tale with doomsday, ecological overtones, but also the existential threats of mankind, person kind, itself, wrapped into the story’s line.
Two elements immediately caught my eye, the title, a reference to Shakespeare’s Scottish Tale, and the author, her previous work steeped in astrological lore.
While lighter, in my mind, than previous works, there’s still a heaviness, and profundity in prose that accompanies the style. Not without merit, but it took a month to read the book, with other diversions present.
Looking for parallel structure didn’t really pan out for me, although, to some, there is the earmarks of the play in place, the fall of a king, and false assumption to a new order. Missed the witches, but that might’ve been my “not so close” reading of the story.
Birnam Wood
#shakespeare
