The Luminaries

Eleanor Catton’s Man Booker Prize winning novel, The Luminaries, is an intricately woven tapestry of first-person narratives, all bound together by treachery, murder, theft, and opium. Despite being set in New Zealand, circa 1866, the novel eludes genre classification. Far from being a simple period piece, readers of this novel will find everything from romance to suspense as its vast and varied characters unfold their separate, but interconnected tales.

            The story begins when Walter Moody, a high-minded entrepreneur, disembarks at the gold mine settlement of Hokitika. In a stupor, having suffered a harrowing, and mysterious experience aboard a shipping vessel, Walter trudges into town seeking solace and shelter, both physical and emotional. Distracted by his attempts to repress the horrifying incident (at this point, not imparted to the reader), he pays little attention to the motley crew, seemingly randomly assembled in his hotel’s smoking room on that fateful night.  It is not long however, before the agitated attentions of one of these gentlemen, rouse Walter from his stupor. He carefully studies those around him, and determines that this collection of men is far from as unpremeditated as it had first seemed.  After some questioning and a curious revelation on the part of Walter Moody, he is taken into their confidence. The reader is then, by turn, introduced to this assortment of men who have dispositions varying from shipping magnate to Maori tribesman.  

As the novel unfolds, Moody himself becomes part of a tale that involves no fewer than two hidden treasures, one blackguard, two ladies of the night, an apparent suicide, and a suspected murder. Once each of the assemblage take him into their confidence, and reveal their own deceptions and missteps, Moody, along with the reader, attempts to unravel the mysteries abounding in this burgeoning mining town. For example, how did a fortune in gold happen to turn up in the shanty home of a newly deceased hermit? How does the discovery of a prostitute, half-dead from what appears to be an attempt on her own life, relate to the concurrent disappearance of a charismatic and successful gold miner?  And most importantly, how does the novel’s undisputed villain, Francis Carver, figure into all of this?

This novel proved to me to be a very engaging read.  My only complaint was that author had a tendency to describe most of the male characters (generally as self-absorbed, prideful, and insular) in a very similar manner.  Excepting the two female courtesans, and the gaol keeper’s wife, the book has an all male cast (quite a large one to boot!), so this tendency became quite noticeable early in the novel. So, if you like a nice, hefty book (The Luminaries weighs in at 834 pages) with an intricate plot, give it a read!