Book Recommendation: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Posted On February 25, 2023

Hi Readers! I have unlocked a whole new level of accomplishment. I had this book The Luminaries on my bookshelf since eight years. It was the oldest book on my physical TBR. The wisest fellow to have endured so much of me picking any book but it. And then one glorious day, I saw a readalong hosted by Bernie Lombardi for the same book on Instagram. I saw this as a serendipitous glory and decided to go for it. I just needed the push, so I stuck with the reading schedule of the readalong to help me initially. And then, finally after 19 days, I completed the book!! And, what a journey it was! It is going to be a long review so I decided to skip the Goodreads blurb, but you can check it out here!

~~THE WRITING~~

The Luminaries was published in 2013 but the story is set in 1866. Not even once did it feel like it was written just 10 years prior. The writing teleports you to that particular era in New Zealand. You can imagine the diggers coming to the shores and working their luck to find some gold. You can imagine the men in their suits and hats and women in their corseted dresses falling early prey to the patriarchy. Only because it’s such ambitious yet engaging style of writing, you can stay with the story for the long 832 pages.  As much as there is so much adventure, hearsay, swindles and glory in the story, the journey of reading it all is truly of insurmountable joy.

Another insight into the talent is how the book is written. In Part One, there are multiple point of views all told in a haphazard manner, which is confusing. So, it is kind of has a natural selection process and sieves out the non-committed readers. Part Two and Part Three is where it all happens in the Present. Part Four is again fantastic because it consists two parallels; one in the present in the form of a courtroom drama and the other is from 1865. Part Five onwards there are glimpses into 1865 catching up to where the story began, making it full circle.

~~THE CHARACTERS~~

If there can be one reason why a reader might quit this book in the first 200 pages, it could be because of the immense number of characters in the book. But, having so many characters is deeply rooted into the astrological connection which is so pivotal to the universe of the book. I think as long as you are able to categorize them on your own level, into primary and secondary, you will not have much of a confusion. The primary characters in my head were Anna Wetherell, Lydia Wells, Francis Carver, Aubert Gascoigne, Ah Sook and Walter Moody. The secondary characters were all the rest.

~~THE ASTROLOGY~~

I had an inkling of why there were twelve men gathered at the Crown. I naturally thought because it somehow aligns with the twelve astrological signs. And guess what? That’s exactly correct! It turns out each person resonates one sign. And, when I watched the TV adaptation, I understood them on another level. So, here are our twelve main characters as per the signs:

Te Rau Tauwhare – Aries – Blood

Charlie Frost – Taurus – Money

Benjamin Loewenthal – Gemini – Knowledge

Edgar Clinch – Cancer – Where we come from

Richard Mannering – Leo – Where we go

Quee Long (Ah Quee) – Virgo – Work

Harald Nilssen – Libra – Marriage

Joseph Pritchard – Scorpio – Death

Thomas Balfour – Sagittarius – Discovery

Aubert Gascoigne – Capricorn – Who we serve

Sook Yongsheng (Ah Sook) – Aquarius – Who we meet

Cowell Devlin – Pisces – What we sacrifice

And what’s more is that all the other characters are supposed to be ‘heavenly bodies’ who move through the signs. And, each heavenly body rules a sign. Based on this logic, we have them as:

Walter Moody – Mercury – What we stand for (rules Virgo aka Ah Quee)

Lydia – Venus – What we want (rules Libra, aka Nilssen)

Carver – Mars – What we have done (rules Aries, aka Te Rau)

Alistair Lauderback – Jupiter – What we stand for (rules Sagittarius aka Balfour)

George Shepard – Saturn – What we stand against (rules Capricorn aka Gascoigne)

And then we have the astral twins.

Anna Wetherell & Emery Staines – Sun – how we see out & Moon – how we see inside (both of them are both the Sun and the Moon. Moon rules Cancer aka Edgar Clinch and Sun rules Leo aka Richard Mannering.)

In addition to this, every chapter is half of the previous chapter. So the length of Part 2 is half of Part 1 and so forth till Part 12. I understood all of this only after I finished the book and went down the rabbit hole. Having no knowledge about astrology, I had no idea to know about this as I read the book. But, how fascinating is this? Just because of this angle, the rating of the book increased by half a star for me!

~~ENDING EXPLAINED AND A FEW OTHER THINGS TOO (INCLUDES SPOILERS)~~

When you pick a book over 800 pages, you hope it will be contemporary or literary or historical fiction. When I found out that it was mystery, it was a little off-putting. It did take some time to get used to it and then I finally started enjoying it. And, I had the same questions you might have if you have just read the book. Did Crosbie die on his own or did someone poison him? Who killed Francis Carver? How was Anna not shot in the chest when she pulled the trigger herself?

Well, I wasn’t very sure about Crosbie’s death, but I suppose Lydia was behind it. As for Carver’s death, it is very transparently Te Rau who killed him, because he was the only one of the twelve missing. The most fun parts were about Anna and Emery, the astral twins. There was the teensiest bit of magical realism to it in the sense that one would do something and the other would feel it. For example, Anna smoked and drank but was never high, instead Emery got high. Anna ate but still looked like she was starving because the food actually went to Emery who was locked in a crate and needed it more. Likewise, the gun that Anna fired to her own chest didn’t take, because it was Emery who got shot. Amazing, huh? At least I thought it was! So that’s The Luminaries ending explained to you.

I would have liked it better if the book was a bit shorter, say 500 pages. But, I still enjoyed being with these flawed characters and being in this sensational story. I have rated The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton at 4.5/5 stars!

Until next time,