Review - The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

[maverickf1]

The Luminaries is the 2013 winner of The Man Booker Prize. I thought this novel was fantastic. A great idea for a novel, well written, and enough ambiguity in the plot line to incite discussion.

The story is set in New Zealand, in the 1860's when NZ was bursting with immigrants prospecting for gold, hoping to make their fortunes. It is with one such immigrant, Walter Moody, that the story begins. On his first night in the town of Hokitika he stumbles upon a group of 12 men, all discussing the seemingly innocuous events of a dead hermit, and the failed suicide of a prostitute. Despite the seemingly small ranging effects of these events, the trouble they cause soon turns into an 800 page long series of events, so complex that it demands a great deal of attention by the reader. Catton explores the relationships between the 12 men who range from a shipping agent, to a minister, and the effects that the death of the hermit and the failed suicide of the whore have on them all.
Throughout the novel there is a theme of astrology, destiny and coincidences which drive the storyline along at a pace that is slow for most of the novel, but builds to the climax of the last few chapters. The book was very long and complex, jumping back and forth in time. To me the complexity of the storyline is nothing short of genius, and Eleanor Catton must have spent many hours deliberating and perfecting the timeline. Having to keep track of 13 main characters, plus other sub characters, their personalities, place within the story, and relationship to others was, at times, very demanding on the reader, never mind being the person in charge of the characters!. These complexities really added to the excitement and rush at the pinnacle of the story, which I felt was in the last 50 pages. The chapters and sections were shorter, dialogue was reduced to a minimum, giving the effect of everything moving at a quick pace, coming to a climax. By the last page I can only describe my feelings as initially confused and annoyed, but upon contemplation of the book, largely satisfied and amazed. It will leave your head spinning trying to figure out the details and the timeline, but it is definitely worth it. This is definitely an ending that has to be contemplated due to the richness of detail and the deliberately missing information.
I would definitely recommend this novel, but would suggest that if you are planning on reading it, keep a pen and paper handy to note down characters and their place in the story, and relations to others and prepare yourself for a complex read if you want to have the fullest experience of the novel.

The following may contain spoilers, and is more in the way of discussion for those who have read the book.
The most prominent reason that I find this a great book is the ambiguity of the storyline. By the end there are still numerous large plotlines that have not been explicitly explained, and are, instead, left up to the readers to figure out or argue over. To me this is a very difficult art to master, giving enough that the reader is not left feeling annoyed by the lack of information, but not enough to completely seal the ending. Questions that remain unanswered are things like how and when did Crosbie die? How did Carver die? How did the gold get from the ground into Crosbie’s house? Why did Devlin completely change his mind in court about covering up for Anna when she forged Emery’s signature? What actually occurred between Carver and Anna in relation to the miscarriage? These open ended questions are, in my mind, meant to mimic the effects that planetary movements have on us all. To add to this theory I also believe the large amount of coincidences that at times drive the storyline, are also meant to be a part of this effect. Finally the Astral Twins – Anna and Emery, are a clear indication of the relevance of astrology in the book.
On the subject of the astral twins and the ambiguity throughout the book, there are numerous subtleties that run throughout, that on first reading may not be apparent. I would definitely like to hear others theory on their relationship, mine is as follows. Anna takes the laudanum overdose, which effects Emery, leading him to fall into the shipping container, unconscious (in the last chapter Anna and Emery both stumble and fall at the same time). Unnoticed he is nailed in and taken on board the Godspeed. Later Anna shoots herself, but the bullet is transferred to Emery, who is seen spurting blood in a “ghostly” manner by Moody. The ship wrecks and Emery washes ashore, but is sustained by Anna who becomes thin and weak despite eating normally because she was sustaining him, Emery taking her opium habit from her (he becomes addicted at the time that she quits – she states that she took a lot of opium yet felt no effects of it when Gascoigne is interrogating her in her hotel room) and the way that she is able to sign his name even though she is illiterate. I believe that there are many more subtleties throughout the book that I probably missed out on.


All that being said, there are numerous aspects of the book that did diminish my enjoyment of it. I feel it would have benefited from an explanation of the astral projections that were included, even if just a very small explanation that would help clarify their use in the context of the story. I think that a lot of the subtleties of the novel were lost on me and anyone who does not have knowledge of astrology.
I felt that Eleanor did a good job of making the characters distinguishable from each other, but it would have definitely helped if the character overview at the beginning of the novel had been more in depth. I referenced it a number of times at the beginning of the novel to try and jog my memory about which character was which, but this was frequently no help as the description was less than 10 words for each character, if that.

[gali]

Duplication - there is already a topic open for this book