Birnam Wood

by Eleanor Catton

I think of it a bit like how fifty years ago the cigarettes were on the shelves and the condoms were behind the counter, and now it’s the other way around. It’ll be that way with psychedelics and alcohol, I’m sure. It’ll flip.’

and so, just to be safe, she went back inside and put on The Courage of Others by Midlake, a wistful, warm, and entirely inoffensive album that couldn’t possibly put anybody in the mood for quarrelsome interviews