The Luminaries - February CC Book Club Selection

[NJTheatreMOM]

<p>Thanks, ignatius. That makes sense.</p>

[CBBBlinker]

<p>Hi everyone! We just returned from our trip last night, so I finally have my computer again. I don’t have time now to catch up on all the posts I’ve missed, but I wanted to pop in long enough to say I did finish the book, and I really enjoyed it. I’m sure there’s an incredible amount of symbolism I missed, but I just loved the intricate, tangled storyline. Will try to catch up soon.</p>

[Mary13]

<p>

@NJTheatreMOM

p. 778 ACCIDENTAL DIGNITY. Emery learns Anna’s name, realizes Crosbie mentioned it.</p>

<p>p. 795 INHERENT DIGNITY, Staines asks Anna about her connection to Crosbie and Carver.

</p>

<p>Anna = Dignity</p>

<p>From page 153:</p>

<p>

…and then there was the category to which Anna belonged, the unknowable types, by turns limpid and flashing, whose carriage bespoke an exquisite misery, a wretchedness so perfect and so absolute that it manifested as dignity, as calm.

</p>

<p>So “Accidental Dignity” refers to Anna running into Emery by chance. At the same time, the title, along with the formal introduction of the future lovers, calls to mind the opening lines of Romeo and Juliet: “Two households, both alike in dignity/In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…”</p>

<p>“Inherent Dignity” refers to Anna maintaining composure in the presence of Emery, calmly giving him the message for Crosbie about the baby, even though he is undoubtedly the last person with whom she would have wanted to share that information.</p>

<p>(And of course, I should add, like ignatius, “just a guess, though.”)</p>

[Mary13]

<p>^ Welcome back, CBBBLinker! Looking forward to your comments!</p>

[NJTheatreMOM]

<p>Thanks, Mary! That makes sense too. And welcome back CBBBlinker. :)</p>

[Mary13]

<p>

@NJTheatreMOM

p. 809 ANOTHER KIND OF DAWN. Anna is aware of Quee feeling her gown.

</p>

<p>Perhaps this is a simple play-on-words: Because of Catton’s symbolic use of the heavens, we expect “Dawn” to refer to the vast sky, but in fact, the title is referring to “another kind of ‘dawn’”: it dawns on Ah Quee that there is treasure in Anna’s gown, and it dawns on Anna, as she comes out of sleep, that Ah Quee is methodically running his hands over her dress.</p>

[Mary13]

<p>

@NJTheatreMOM

p. 825 MOON IN TAURUS (ORION’S REACH). Taurus is Frost, but he is not mentioned in this section.

</p>

<p>Taurus = Charlie Frost = Paradise Lost</p>

<p>Paradise Lost is the book of Frost’s childhood, which he spent “reading and re-reading his father’s thumbed copy of Paradise Lost” (p. 172). There is no way Catton would drop that classic into the story randomly; she must want the reader to pick up on it some way.</p>

<p>So here’s my take: The brief chapter “Moon in Taurus” is all about Paradise Lost. Anna mourns the loss of never finding “paradise” with Emery, which she has deemed impossible, as his prospects are “bright and numerous as hers are dark and few.” More importantly, it is the chapter in which she reflects on “The Fall” – her fall in fortune (“Anna’s debt to Mannering had doubled in the past month”), the fact that “her own value, inevitably, would come to fall” and, especially, her situation as a fallen women. A woman fallen has no future; a man risen has no past, she quotes to herself (p. 826).</p>

<p>John Milton’s Paradise Lost is all about The Fall and its consequences. There’s a line about Eve, eating the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, that reminds me of Anna and her opium: </p>

<p>Greedily she engorged without restraint,
And knew not eating death</p>

<p>It’s been a long time since I read Paradise Lost, but I remember Eve as being a survivor–a fallen woman who did wrong, suffered, but was not destroyed. Taking a look at SparkNotes to jog my memory, I read this summary, and there are similarities to Anna and Emery:</p>

<p>

Eve’s strengths are her capacity for love, emotion, and forebearance. She persuades Adam to stay with her after the fall, and Adam in turn dissuades her from committing suicide, as they begin to work together as a powerful unit. Eve complements Adam’s strengths and corrects his weaknesses. Thus, Milton does not denigrate all women through his depiction of Eve. Rather he explores the role of women in his society and the positive and important role he felt they could offer in the divine union of marriage. <a href=“http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/paradiselost/canalysis.html[/quote]”>http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/paradiselost/canalysis.html

</a></p>

[Mary13]

<p>NJTM, as you can see, I’m enjoying your list. It’s a great brain exercise. Thanks for helping me stave off dementia. :)</p>

<p>

@NJTheatreMOM

p. 627 FIRST POINT OF ARIES, Tauwhare is Aries, but this section is about Emery and Anna meeting on the ship.

</p>

<p>I don’t think this section has anything to do with Tauwhare because the First Point of Aries isn’t even in Aries; it’s in Pisces. Not that it has anything to do with Cowell Devlin (Pisces) either–I think it’s that the phenomenon of First Point of Aries is a poetic way of describing the first time the soulmates’ paths cross. </p>

<p>The First Point of Aries is “one of the two points on the Celestial Sphere where the Ecliptic and the Celestial Equator cross one another…When the Sun reaches the First Point of Aries, as it does once each year, an equinox occurs.” <a href=“eSky: First Point of Aries”>eSky: the electronic sky;

<p>Anna and Emery are complementary halves, like the equinox, “day and night of equal length.” Also like the equinox, their meeting marks the beginning of change for them, a new “season,” so to speak.</p>

[NJTheatreMOM]

<p>Wow, you’re brilliant, ignatius! I’m so glad I posted that list. I felt that there were interesting connections buried in those titles, but I didn’t know how to find them.</p>

<p>Okay so here’s something else I’m wondering about, for you clever Sherlocks;</p>

<p>

P. 813
In which Ah Quee fills his firebox with charcoal…and Anna, as she sleeps, mutters syllables of distress, and moves her hand to her cheek, as if intending to staunch a wound.

</p>

<p>Why does Anna move her hand to her cheeK??</p>

[Mary13]

<p>

@NJTheatreMOM

Why does Anna move her hand to her cheeK??

</p>

<p>I believe Anna is having a nightmare about Crosbie’s scarring of Carver (an attack she witnesses in horror and can’t stop thinking about). There is a sentence a few pages after the passage you quote that reinforces this. It’s the opening to the chapter “Detriment,” which states that Anna “remembers the assault that occurred in the boudoir of the House of Many Wishes in Dunedin upon the night of the 12th of May with a stricken, nauseated clarity, and who is made wretched, daily, by the memory of that assault” (p. 817). </p>

[Tiredofsnow]

<p>Y’all are so smart. I appreciate reading your posts so much, because it is adding clarity to my perceptions about the book. I will go into my book group meeting well prepared to dazzle with my brilliant insights. Seriously, this has helped me a lot because I finished the book feeling very ambivalent about it. While I appreciate the intricate structure of the book, I’m not sure it added anything to MY reading experience. It is clever, that’s for sure. Will theses really be written on this book? Do future writers need a gimmick to get a book sold, or is the story enough?</p>

<p>We had to postpone our meeting by three weeks so everyone has a chance to finish it (hopefully). And I am going to see Catton speak at the Perth Writer’s Festival on Feb. 22 - so I will let y’all know if she has anything interesting to say that hasn’t been covered. </p>

[ignatius]

<p>I’m jealous, Tiredofsnow. I’d love to hear Catton speak.</p>

<p>NJTM: I’d like to thank you for the call of “brilliant” but it belongs to Mary who has worked so hard to figure out the chapter titles.</p>

<p>I “ditto” Mary: Anna dreams of Crosbie’s attack on Carver when she touches her cheek.</p>

<p>Per the link on “First Point of Aries”:

Astronomers use the astrological symbol for ‘Aries’, depicting the head and horns of a Ram, to indicate the point where the Ecliptic crosses the Celestial Meridian, known as the First Point of Aries.

As Mary indicates, the title refers not to Tauwhare but rather the first meeting of Anna and Emery. This (from the same link) goes along with it:

Because the First Point of Aries is the zero-point for calculating coordinates on the Celestial Sphere, its own coordinates are always fixed, regardless of its motion. They are, of course, zero hours Right Ascension and zero degrees Declination.

Think of Anna and Emery as always having fixed coordinates, regardless of motion. Emery will “ascend” while Anna “declines” - at least, for a while.</p>

[Mary13]

<p>

@Tiredofsnow

this has helped me a lot because I finished the book feeling very ambivalent about it.

</p>

<p>So did I, but it has definitely grown on me since this discussion started. I ended the book a little weary and moderately bewildered, but since then, the puzzle has become a lot of fun to take apart and put back together again.</p>

<p>Re figuring out puzzles…I should have mentioned when I offered my theory on Accidental Dignity and Inherent Dignity that those chapter titles are also a play-on-words because a “dignity” is an astrological term for “when a planet gains strength for any reason other than its zodiacal position.” <a href=“Accidental dignity - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_dignity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I am learning a lot about astrology, but I am not becoming a fan. Honestly, most of the sites sound like complete gibberish to me. </p>

<p>

@ignatius

Still makes Carver responsible for his death though.

</p>

<p>Just want to add a postscript re Crosbie’s death and Carver’s method of securing it. I think it’s foreshadowed on p. 514 at the séance:</p>

<p>

“It’s not a séance unless it’s talking with the dead.”</p>

<p>“No–when you talk to Carver, it’s you who ends up dead!”

</p>

<p>Also, another follow-up to an earlier post (I wish we still had post numbers!):</p>

<p>

@ignatius

I think everyone at the trial lies … either directly or by omission … one of the things I enjoyed. Many veered to the “nothing but the truth” version.

</p>

<p>Lydia does this when she sees Emery at trial. She is startled to discover that Emery Staines is “Edward Sullivan,” the young man whose natal chart she read. They acknowledge one another silently (Emery blushes) and when asked by Broham, “Are you acquainted with the defendant, Mr. Emery Staines?”, Lydia answers, “I’m afraid I’ve never had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a Mr. Emery Staines” (p. 672).</p>

<p>Nothing but the truth. (But not the whole truth.)</p>

[mathmom]

<p>You guys are the bestest! I just couldn’t make myself figure out what all those astrological titles were about - or who was represented by which signs.</p>

[Caraid]

<p>Yes, thanks for the astrology summary. I was no where close to getting any of it.</p>

[ignatius]

<p>So … easy cheat sheet:</p>

<p>Stellar</p>

<p>Tauwhare - Aries</p>

<p>Frost - Taurus</p>

<p>Lowenthal - Gemini</p>

<p>Clinch - Cancer</p>

<p>Mannering - Leo</p>

<p>Ah Quee - Virgo</p>

<p>Nilssen - Libra</p>

<p>Pritchard - Scorpio</p>

<p>Balfour - Sagittarius</p>

<p>Gascoigne - Capricorn</p>

<p>Ah Sook - Aquarius</p>

<p>Devlin - Pisces</p>

<p>Planetary</p>

<p>Moody - Mercury</p>

<p>Lydia - Venus</p>

<p>Carver - Mars</p>

<p>Shepard - Saturn</p>

<p>Anna - Moon/Sun</p>

<p>Emery - Sun/Moon</p>

<p>(*I think Lauderback must be Jupiter. Anyone?)</p>

<p>Terra Firma:</p>

<p>Crosbie - Earth</p>

<p>Example - first chapter: Mercury (Moody) in Sagittarius (Balfour) - Balfour engages Moody in the bar at the hotel. </p>

<p>As NJTM points out and Mary confirms, it (occasionally) gets more complicated … but that’s okay. And please correct me if I got any wrong … no point having a cheat sheet with the wrong answers.</p>

[Mary13]

<p>Thank you, ignatius!</p>

<p>Your list inspired me to do some more digging on another one of the titles on NJTM’s list:</p>

<p>

@NJTheatreMOM

p. 770 MARS IN CANCER. Cancer is Clinch, but there is nothing about Clinch in this chapter.

</p>

<p>Clinch isn’t in the picture here because “Mars in Cancer” is about Mars (Francis Carver), not about Cancer. I learned the following:</p>

<p>“In traditional astrology, Mars is considered to be in his “Fall” or “Depression” in Cancer. This means that, of all the Signs of the Zodiac, Mars functions most poorly in Cancer.” <a href=“http://austincoppock.com/2009/08/mars-cancer/”>http://austincoppock.com/2009/08/mars-cancer/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>According to the website’s description (entitled “I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up”), Mars is normally pictured on the battlefield, ruthless and effective; however, “In Cancer, Mars is staying at his mom’s house. And living with Mommy does not a proud warrior make.”</p>

<p>This makes perfect sense in the context of the plot because “Mars in Cancer” describes Carver at his lowest point, “so incapacitated by the multiple injuries that he had incurred on the night of the 12th of May that he had failed to make Godspeed’s scheduled departure for Melbourne the following afternoon” (p. 767). Instead, “He passed the next four weeks in convalescence, watched over by an anxious Mrs. Wells” (Mommy). ;)</p>

[NJTheatreMOM]

<p>Agree that Lauderback is Jupiter.</p>

[Mary13]

<p>Here is a nice companion piece to ignatius’ list. It’s a basic intro to astrology and includes the symbols and meanings for the zodiac and the planets, along with a description of the 12 houses. The simplicity of this site makes it pretty easy to link traits to the characters in the novel (unlike some of the more detailed, mumbo-jumbo astrology web sites out there that I couldn’t make head or tail of): <a href=“http://monicawallach.com/Astrology%20Lessons.htm”>http://monicawallach.com/Astrology%20Lessons.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Mary13]

<p>As we wind down discussion, the only other thing I have to ask is: Do you think this story could have been told as satisfyingly in less than 834 pages? If so, can you pinpoint any particular sections that would have benefited from editing?</p>

<p>I had a love-hate relationship with one particular aspect of Catton’s writing style: Did you notice how often she re-capped the chain of events via either conversation or some character’s interior monologue? I appreciated it when I was having trouble figuring out what had transpired; but when I was tracking the story well, those mini-summaries sometimes felt repetitive and/or tedious.</p>

<p>“Tedious” was a common complaint in the one-star reviews on Amazon – a general consensus that Catton could have been more concise without sacrificing any important elements of the work.</p>

<p>Along those lines, my favorite one-star review was a brief summary titled “Excellent Doorstop”: </p>

<p>

Here’s my takeaway - gold mining is terrible work, opium seems pleasant, a dress weighing over 5 pounds should be looked into and it rains a lot in New Zealand.

</p>

<p>Can’t argue with that.</p>

<p>Feel free to offer suggestions for our next book at any time!</p>