All About Books discussion

I have finished. You can read my very short review here - it doesn't contain any spoilers.

I've only read the first chapter so far and agree it's very long-winded. At this early stage I feel surprised to have read that Moody is only in his twenties (27? I can't be bothered to look it up!) as to me he reads as a much older man.

I'm maybe 2/3 through and I have an idea about some of the mysteries and will be interested to see if it is correct. A great project for a patient, detail-oriented person (which is not me!) would be to draw up a timeline showing where all the characters are on the days in question, who they talked to and what they saw. Kind of like the journeys of Stephen & Bloom in Ulysses but way more characters and hours!

Heather wrote: "Oh, that's such a shame. I hope you get a new copy soon"

Picked up hard copy book yesterday from library branch. Got right back into the story, but I find the reading somewhat of a chore. It's a really long book for such an emotionally distant story. Sigh.

Is that a hint, Robin? :-D I'll keep it in mind when I get around to reading this. LOL!

Well, now I'm about 3/4 through and my "brilliant" idea turned out not to be right after all. At this point, it's still hard to imagine how the various plots can all get resolved.

I'm reading on my Kindle Fire and the 'xray' function is really useful for this book - a sort of concordance / referencing system, which makes it easy to refresh each character in my mind. But I still think there are too many characters.
I'm 38% through and the pace has picked up. I'm enjoying the mystery enough to read on but not really involved with the characters particularly - finding it hard to see why this won the Booker.

I contiune to struggle....

After reading these posts I'm on the fence about whether I want to read this . Glad I got it as a kindle deal .

I'm also debating whether to go back to it - I just started another book instead as none of these reviews are motivating me to read the book.

Right now I'm planning to continue reading through the end of the January chapter. This is about 200 pages more than I normally give a book to grab my interest. I understand it is cleaverly written, but does that equal award? I don't even need to like the characters to enjoy the book (think Gone Girl) but I do need a good story.

I did feel that it got more interesting as I went along, if that helps any of you on the fence.

I sometimes think book critics are like movie critics, they've seen so much that they get excited about something different,even though the average reader/viewer may not care for it. Maybe that's why this got such great reviews.

I gave a talk recently about how reading fiction increases our empathy and understanding of people different from us (there are a number of recent experiments about that.) But in this book the characters are too abstract and sometimes just too unbelievable for me to really feel for them. The women are especially hard to fathom, but maybe that's because they are only seen from the outside, unlike the men who get to show their own point of view.

This book is "Dickensian" in the sense that there is a defined set of characters who at first seem unrelated, and they all interact in various ways. Many turn out to have past or secret associations with each other.

@Leslie , I saw that you have it 2 stars so I'm
still not motivated to read this right now .

@Robin , I'm curious to know how you finally rated it .

Hovering at 3 stars at the moment, a brilliant job but not emotionally engaging.

Didn't make it to 3 stars for me, and it's unusual for me to give less than 3 stars.

Brilliant - but cold. Gee, I hope heaven isn't like this!

I think that I'll hold off on this one based on the comments here . Thanks .

"Brilliant - but cold." - that is a perfect description!

I agree, I finished and while she deserves 5 stars for effort, the effect is "Meh". - I ended up rating at 3. I realized there were still several questions I had at the end about the various mysteries, but didn't care enough to go back and figure them out.

I don't necessarily mind when dramatic & unlikely events occur, but I do mind when a character seems totally unlike anyone in real life. I felt this about Anna and also about Emery (when we finally find out more about him).

I think it's always best to read a book in the language it was originally written when you can... but I wish I had bought this one in the Italian translation : having to constantly check up words makes a read much drier and from your comments it seems that the book itself is already cold enough. I don't want to buy 2 copies if it's not a great book though. Where do you get audio books - audible?

audible is a source, but the libraries, in America, let you download audiobooks via the Overdrive app and a library card. Benefit is it's free, especially if it isn't a book you want to buy.

I have a bit of a silly question: d-ned ( found for instance in the sentence " That would be a d—ned shame ") stands for damned, right?
Why is it censored? is it a bad word?

Giorgia - I would think so - and yes - at least for anyone of that time with strong Christian beliefs. Even my mother would never use such a word, and substituted "dashed".

In some classic novels I've noticed the upper classes saying "demn'd" and am never sure whether this is affectation, or a way of saying something more acceptable - or possibly both!

Giorgia wrote: "Why is it censored? is it a bad word?"

It was typical in books originally written in this time period (and earlier) to avoid specifying bad words "d--n" or "#*!". So I agree with Jean that it was considered a bad word -- not sure that it is so now.

I thought it was a bit affected to write it that way in this but assumed Catton was trying to mimic the Victorian style to enhance the mood.

thank you, Jean and Leslie :)

aPriL eVoLvEs (ex-Groot) was reminded of Twin Peaks. I'm reminded of Deadwood. Still working on the looonnnggg first chapter.

I found the first section hard-going. A lot of characters are introduced and it’s hard to keep track of them. My more serious complaint with this section, however, is the style and tone. The story is told by an omniscient narrator, with no attempt to give the voices of the characters, and this keeps them at a distance from us emotionally. The author acknowledges this at the beginning of ‘Jupiter in Sagittarius’, saying that Balfour’s speech was too digressive to give his account in his words and that she will, ‘impose a regimental order upon the impatient chronicle of the shipping agent’s roving mind.’ I think this is lazy writing – by letting the characters tell their own stories we would have understood their feelings and motivations. (It wouldn’t necessarily need to be first-person, it could be third-person with a restricted view-point.) Compare this with a genuine Victorian author, Wilkie Collins, who tells The Moonstone from different characters and thus engages his audience.
I think the author realises that the first section is too complex as it stands because at the end of the first section we are given a recap of the plot in chronological order. This definitely helps, but I can’t help thinking that it’s a clumsy device.
I was drawn into the story more in the later sections and really liked those sections where I became emotionally involved with a couple of characters. Ah Sook’s story was one of these (sorry can’t find the relevant chapters now) and the letters from Crosbie Wells were another.
I’m not at all sure about the ‘astral twins’ element in this book. I like sci-fi, fantasy and magical realism, but the mystical link between Anna and Emery Staines (he suffering the wound when she is shot, her losing weight while he is the one starving etc.) just doesn’t work for me. I think if you are going to have magical / supernatural elements in a story, they either have to be an intrinsic part of that world or they need to be noticed and wondered at by the characters. It just seemed bizarre that some characters, who pretended that Emery Staines was behind the curtain when the gun went off and managed not to react to being shot, didn’t comment, in private, at this strange, supernatural link between Anna and Staines.
As for all the astrological headings – I couldn’t be bothered with these at all. Seems to me you’d have to be deeply into star signs to see any relevance to the story.

Interesting points, Joy. I definitely agree with you about the astrological signs.

I also agree with you about the supernatural elements. I really like fantasy/magic in my books but as the focus. I don't remember being annoyed by this though (I read the book a year ago). I think I was enjoying it too much to be annoyed by some of the less realistic bits.

I think there were some many plot intricacies that I have forgotten some of the bits people are mentioning in this thread! I really enjoyed reading the book that I think I must have read some parts a bit quickly. It's definitely not time for a re-read yet though...

I don't understand the astrological elements at all... What would they stand to represent?

It's taking me a long time to read this book but I really enjoy the story.

Giorgia wrote: "I don't understand the astrological elements at all... What would they stand to represent?

It's taking me a long time to read this book but I really enjoy the story."

Apparently each character is designed to fit a specific star sign.
Eleanor Catton wrote about how she came up with the story for The Luminaries.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014...

I am so stuck in the first section, and so annoyed by the narrator's tone and digresssions that I honestly do not know when I'll get through it

Elisa, personally I found it got much better after the first section but others have said the opposite

Joy wrote: "I found the first section hard-going. A lot of characters are introduced and it’s hard to keep track of them. My more serious complaint with this section, however, is the style and tone. The story ..."

You mentioned all my thoughts but better. Nice analysis!

It does speed up after the first section but most of the characters are so flat. And does the "astral twin" mean those 2 people are only one? they each seemed to me to be somehow empty as characters, maybe the 2 together have enough personality for one person. I thought for a while that there was no Emery, that Anna disguised herself as a man. After all, they kept saying how young & boyish he was. I think that would have been a more interesting book.

Leslie wrote: "Joy wrote: "I found the first section hard-going. A lot of characters are introduced and it’s hard to keep track of them. My more serious complaint with this section, however, is the style and tone..."

I agree. Good job, Joy. Thanks for your comments. You voiced a lot of my thoughts concisely.

Just finished part one. The story is incredibly intricate but I enjoy it. I admire Catton on elaborating such a web of stories, on how very interesting it was to come to know the details little by little, every time finding out new fragments and putting the story together. I felt like I was with Moody at the Crown hotel listening to Balfour and the others. And there's still so much to find out! I can't wait.

Finished! That felt quite arduous by the end. There were lots of things I liked, but I felt the story was hampered by the style of writing in ever decreasing chapters. I also didn't see the astrology relevance and didn't feel it added anything to the story. I did really enjoy the audible narration though.

I just ignored all that astrology stuff. I figured if it became relevant, I could go back and look at it later.

Pink - did you think listening to this book helped? I'm still trying to get into it...

I think it really helped me, I doubt I'd have enjoyed it so much otherwise. It particularly helped with the vast array of characters, having a distinct voice for each meant I didn't confuse them. I thought the audible narrator was fantastic, although Alannah mentioned elsewhere that she didn't enjoy his narration very much, so I guess it's down to personal preference.

Thanks Pink - I love audio books (usually) but was afraid this one might not work. I have a long drive ahead of me and may download the book for the trip.

I don't understand the purpose of the episodes in part 9, they don't add anything to the story. and at this point I'd rather the author explained how the crown hotel gang decided to act at emery ' s process.

oh boy, this is one disappointing end.

all in all I liked the book quite a lot. also... I had never read anything set in Australia or new Zealand before, so there's that.

Giorgia wrote: "oh boy, this is one disappointing end.

all in all I liked the book quite a lot. also... I had never read anything set in Australia or new Zealand before, so there's that."

Agree! After almost 800 pages one expects a more rewarding finale... Not necessarily a happy ending, or a clear ending, but at least one with more words.

I struggled with the first part at the Crown, then I got really into it and tackled it as a Wilkie Collins mystery. And then indeed disappointment at the brevity of the last part: as Giorgia said, no pre-trial strategy explanation, trial a bit rushed, and totally messed up end. I mean, I undertand the whole astrological structure and the need to keep chapters of a certian lenght, but come on, this is torture for the reader!

All in all I liked it, bu I feel that with a more svelte intro and loger finale this book could have really been a masterpiece.

I agree about the disappointing ending. To me this book missed the mark, and I wind up penalizing it some for that, I think, because the writer is obviously very talented and could have made this a masterpiece.