Identify Books Toward The Luminaries
| Original Title: | The Luminaries |
| ISBN: | 0316074314 (ISBN13: 9780316074315) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | New Zealand |
| Literary Awards: | Booker Prize (2013), Dylan Thomas Prize Nominee (2014), Governor General's |
| Literary Awards: | / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général for Fiction (2013), Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for International Book (2014), Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Longlist (2014) Walter Scott Prize Nominee (2014), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2013), Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for Fiction (NZ Post Awards) (2014), RSL Encore Award Nominee (2013), International Dublin Literary Award Nominee (2015) |
Eleanor Catton
Hardcover | Pages: 848 pages Rating: 3.72 | 59557 Users | 7748 Reviews
List Of Books The Luminaries
| Title | : | The Luminaries |
| Author | : | Eleanor Catton |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First U.S. Edition: October 2013 |
| Pages | : | Pages: 848 pages |
| Published | : | October 15th 2013 by Little, Brown and Company (first published August 24th 2013) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Mystery |
Description As Books The Luminaries
It is 1866, and young Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men who have met in secret to discuss a series of unexplained events: A wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely ornate as the night sky. Richly evoking a mid-nineteenth-century world of shipping, banking, and gold rush boom and bust, The Luminaries is a brilliantly constructed, fiendishly clever ghost story and a gripping page-turner.Rating Of Books The Luminaries
Ratings: 3.72 From 59557 Users | 7748 ReviewsCritique Of Books The Luminaries
The curious case of the 3-star review I reviewed The Luminaries for We Love This Book [a web magazine that is now defunct]; here Ill simply attempt to explain why I gave such an accomplished book only 3 stars. Its just the sort of book I should have given 5 stars: my MA is in Victorian Lit., Charles Dickens is a favorite author, and I adore historical fiction, particularly Victorian pastiche: Possession, The Crimson Petal and the White and English Passengers.And yet The Luminaries didnt grabI LOVED this- best book I've read in a long time. It gripped me from the beginning. Its a very clever, very well plotted intrigue of a book. Layer upon layer is added to the intrigue and all is not revealed until the final pages. Highly recommended.May 2018Still loved this on rereading. The audio was excellent. God knows how the narrator managed to do so many varied accents so well. It is the time of the gold rush in New Zealand, the 1860s, where a rich and full cast are brought together in what
Punching below its weightMaybe the fashion for the kind of book that would land you in the Accident and Emergency Department of your local hospital if you dropped it on your foot has to do with a reaction against our concentration-challenged age of swift soundbites, manic multi-tasking and permanent drip feed of tweets and messages that collude to reduce our ability to focus long and lovingly on one task to the level of a mosquito on speed. David Mitchell recently embraced modern technology by
This is my speech for the launch of Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries at Unity Books in Wellington, 3 August 2013. 'Fergus' is Fergus Barrowman, my husband, and Ellie's New Zealand Publisher. I was honoured that Ellie asked me to launch her novel.http://bit.ly/16T1j5h
The proper way to understand any social system was to view it from above. Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries There is certainly a lot to like about Eleanor's novel. Its structure is fascinatingly clever and reminds me a lot of the way Nabokov divided Ada, or Ardor. Part 1: 360 pgs, Part 2: 160 pgs, Part 3: 104 pgs, Part 4: 96 pgs, Part 5: 40 pages, Part 6: 26 pages, Part 7: 13 pages, Part 8: 10 pgs, Part 9: 6 pgs, Part 10: 6 pgs, Part 11: 4 pages, Part 12: 4 pages. Or looked at slightly
The Luminaries: What Hath Eleanor Catton Wrought? Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,To the last syllable of recorded time;And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.-Macbeth, Act Five, Scene Five, William Shakespeare
I'm abandoning this book, with regret for having read it against my better judgement, without more thorough research. And yes, I'm two-starring and reviewing an unfinished book. If that offends you to your very core, then stop reading now. You've been warned!1. There's a trend among reviews of three stars or less on this book to say things like: Ill simply attempt to explain why I gave such an accomplished book only 3 stars. Its just the sort of book I should have given 5 stars.... I am ashamed.
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