Reviews

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Only show reviews with written explanations

frostap's review

5.0

This took me almost all of July and August, not because it wasn't great (it was) but because I kept putting it down and would then have to review what had happened so far when I got back to it. I liked the style and the story. I'm hesitant to commit 800+ pages to anything, but The Luminaries was worth it.

meghancolbert's review

Go to review page

The plot was intriguing, albeit very slow. My main issue with this book is the author’s decision to censor the word “damn” but not the racial and misogynistic slurs. I got tired of reading the word wh*** over and over again instead of the woman’s actual name. Don’t come at me with “well that’s just how it was back then” because not every historical detail needs to be included in a book that was published in 2013. The male characters are multi-dimensional and nuanced, whereas the female characters are only portrayed in the most derogatory and unflattering manner. I expect better from 21st century authors.

Content Warnings

writenisha's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

novabird's review

Go to review page

3.0

With an accomplished feint of her left hand, Catton with a deft, and technical showmanship flourish opens the first mystery of The Luminaries, on p. 6 with, “The truth was not six hours ago…, Moody had witnessed an event so extraordinary and affecting that it called all other realities into doubt.” This sets up the reader to willingly suspend their disbelief. Then with sublime misdirection, and a wave of her right hand Catton develops this on p. 16 with, “the bloody cravat, the clutching silver hand, the name gasped out of the darkness, again and again, Magdalena, Magdalena, Magdalena.” This narrative device functions as a deliberate diversion, that boldly distracts away from this named woman to whom Catton refers to much later, and functions as a questionably applied derivative of a religious woman. An over-confident, Catton, uses her sleights of hand to hook the reader, with the first appearance of a mystery, but ultimately does not firmly resolve this for the reader.

Catton confounds her audience by having twelve characters that also are affected by synchronicity and luck that co-mingle and produce too many coincidences to be considered chance happenings. Further complications obscure the primary mystery.

The Luminaries, is less a mystery and much more a historical account of gold-digging and the attendant realm of seemingly magical fortunes unfold. Yet examining fortune itself is like a mystery onto itself, for each person can be their own detective if they so choose.

Luck was with me in that I noted the woman’s name of Magdalena for future reference. Most of the book revolves around the waxing and waning tides of fortune, and its consequences and the idea that one is either lucky in love or lucky in money. The emphasis in, The Luminaries, is on the lucky in money and the exploitation that accompanies it.

Spoiler

Given the fact that Lydia Wells in an apparent moment of authenticity reveals that Anna and Emery share the same exact birth date and birthplace to Anna reinforces the idea that we are to conceive of the ending as the beginning of a fortuitous star-crossed meeting between the two would-be lovers. This negates the mystery genre and becomes something other

.

The Luminaries, was more like a magic show than a mystery, as it held with very few conventions of the mystery genre. http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/vandine.htm http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/comprehension/genrechart.pdf http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/hound/tg_mystery.html

Catton’s Victorian narrative tone and style was very well done, except for the occasional miusage.

The Luminaries, is an accomplished technical feat, and provides a too subtle message;

Spoiler

‘we are all co-conspirators of abetting our luck in love or in money.’

And yet, probably for the reason that there was too much going on competing for the reader’s attention; such as the revealing of the puzzling coincidences and the framing not only within a historical context but also narrating it as such, the visibility of this important message was lost. For Catton’s ambitious endeavor on such a large scale, I would give this a 4.75, but because it fails to deliver the subtle message of the heart with sufficient weight, I give this a 3.75.