January 2015 - The Luminaries

As in 2015 we are down to one book a month due to changes in the Library system, and we usually have a long one over Christmas, we had this book for two months to read.

The Luminaries  -- Eleanor Catton

This book caused a full discussion, all members of the group who were present voiced their views and the other members who were absent e-mailed their thoughts in. There were still unanswered questions and we believe that none of us had the total plot under control; all had different questions and theories.

It was hard to define what the book was about as it touched on many subjects, it was decided that it was a mystery story about the gold rush in a mining town in New Zealand. The ponderous writing with its lengthy descriptive style seemed as if written in the early 1900's and it felt that the end of each chapter had the dramatic effect as if it was serialised, but it was written recently. The book was cleverly constructed introducing the many characters who contributed to the plot, but it was felt that the ending was very weak, the last few chapters were so short, some of only half a page, many in the group didn't like this. It was if Eleanor Catton was trying to tie up all the loose ends and rushed in case she forgot something, she did re-cap through out the book to bring all the facts together as it was a complicated plot, therefore if you ‘lost the thread' you could pick it up again, some of our group found this annoying and unnecessary. Many said they would re-read the book as they felt a second time around might bring more insight into the book. The Luminaries did win a Booker prize.

29/1/15

I think the luminaries were the gentlemen who were in this room at the hotel to discuss a mutual problem when Moore interrupts them and becomes part of the story.