The Luminaries - February CC Book Club Selection

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
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<p>Love the map, ignatius!</p>

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<p>Yes, I kept thinking about everyone walking around basically drenched (and no doubt dirty) all the time. That feeling took me into the bodies of the characters who so often seemed to be living largely in their midns. </p>

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<p>mathmom, I think you’ll enjoy ignatius’ link. Many thanks to Beckie and Jeremy! :)</p>

<p>They chose some great quotes to accompany their photos: “
here, so close to the stockyards, the bloody smell of slaughter intermingled with the sour, briny smell of the sea, putting one in mind, perpetually, of an untended icebox in which an uncured joint has spoiled” (p. 21). Evocative, to say the least.</p>

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<p>@ignatius, what a great find! </p>

<p>I figured the elaborate descriptions of each character’s character, were part of the novel’s use of Victorian conventions. I found them completely unhelpful though in helping me differentiate them or in actually explaining anyone’s motives. I actually remember noticing how they seemed to make everyone seem more alike rather than less alike. It was a very odd counter-intuitive effect. I don’t think it was bad writing exactly, since I think the author did it deliberately. I agree that Mary13’s example of Lydia feeling badly about Lauderback gives much more insight though. </p>

<p>Earlier we talked about the real author vs the implied author. I feel like the flashback part of the book belongs to the real author. Does the style change there? Anyone who did a closer reading than I did care to opine?</p>

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<p>mathmom, you read my mind. I had jotted down in my notes that the long character descriptions tended to blend together, making it more difficult to distinguish who’s who, rather than easier.</p>

<p>I had better luck with the way that Catton assigned a “tic” to most of the 12. Dick Mannering: fat. Cowell Devlin: unfortunate teeth. Harald Nilssen: snappy dresser. And so on.</p>

<p>As for Victorian conventions, while it’s true that Victorian authors were prone to lengthy descriptions–Dickens goes on in endless detail about political upheaval in A Tale of Two Cities, for example–I don’t think either Charles Dickens or Elizabeth Gaskell (two of my favorites) were quite so long-winded in describing their characters. Rather, for both those authors, characters are more often distinguished by dialect, speech patterns and vocabulary. It’s easy to identify a quote by Joe Gargery as opposed to Mr. Jaggers (Dickens’ Great Expectations), or to identify a quote by Nicholas Higgins as opposed to Henry Lennox (Gaskell’s North and South). The characters in these novels speak so differently from each other, it’s really kind of amazing. </p>

<p>I missed that in the characters in The Luminaries. Everyone sounds pretty much the same to me–men and women speaking in complete and clear sentences, with a similar command of the language (with the obvious exception, of course, of Ah Sook and Ah Quee). </p>

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<p>Very interesting website, ignatius. I particularly liked the photos of the miner’s shack, the potu pounamus, and Hokitiki Gorge, In general, though, it seems that little remains in Hokitika that really recalls the Gold Rush era at all
at least from an architectural standpoint.</p>

<p>The miner’s hut photo shows the “slab” (thick wooden plank) construction that was mentioned a number of times in the novel The Colour.</p>

<p>It hasn’t been all that long since The Luminaries won the Booker Prize. And now a mini-series is planned! I’ll bet eventually somebody in Hokitika will offer something that caters to interested tourists. Things take time
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<p>I think the reason Catton included those character descriptions was so that she could enumerate the ways in which the characters represented their astrological sign
or in the case of some of the characters, their planet or other celestial body. E.g. Carver was Mars, Shepard was Saturn, Lydia was Venus, Moody was Mercury. etc.</p>

<p>I will admit that those detailed character descriptions were only minimally interesting. The actual conversations among characters were much more “illuminating” to me.</p>

<p>Some bits of character-related content that I enjoyed:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Balfour pointing out interesting ferns to Lauderbach when they were out together, to keep him from perhaps mentioning the missing crate.</p></li>
<li><p>Clinch pining after Anna.</p></li>
<li><p>Crosbie’s letters to Lauderback, and Adrian Moody’s letter to Walter. Those were great!</p></li>
<li><p>Carver and Nilssen talking about marine insurance. That scene made Carver come alive to me more than some of the other scenes with him did.</p></li>
<li><p>The way Sook tried to understand what was happening, with only partial success.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>While I’m rambling, I wanted to say something about Lydia speaking in Chinese at the seance. Carver spoke perfect Chinese, and he was Lydia’s lover. Do you think it’s possible that he mumbled Quee’s courtroom oath in his sleep on a number of occasions, causing it to lodge in her unconscious?</p>

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<p>Of course! I didn’t think of that – probably because I’ve studiously avoided reflecting on the astrological parts of the novel.</p>

<p>I liked your examples of character interaction. I had a weird appreciation for Justice Kemp (weird in that his role is so small). He had to deal with quite a few characters—most of whom were “characters” :)–and he managed to do so with aplomb. </p>

<p>Re Lydia’s Cantonese, I thought maybe Carver had coached her before the sĂ©ance, since they were in cahoots on virtually all things. </p>

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<p>Almost cross-posted with NJTM ^^^ I think Lydia visits Carver immediately after “hiring” Quee and learns the Chinese words she uses. She warns Carver and he changes hotels - goes underground, so to speak.</p>

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<p>Okay 
 I had no trouble with the characters but I pegged them by their astrological sign and related house. The characteristics fit. For example: Dick Mannering - Leo - House of Pleasure (obviously); Cowell Devlin - Pisces - House of Self-Undoing (Prison). When I hit Lowenthal (Gemini), I could quickly think Third House (House of Communications) - oh, right, newspaper. It worked for me. </p>

<p>I relied on Wikipedia - go to section The Twelve Houses:</p>

<p><a href=“House (astrology) - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_(astrology)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I find it interesting how differently we approached it. I’m sure it says something about me but if the author gives me an astrological chart and related houses, I give it a shot. I thought it was fun. And maybe it made it easier to keep track of the characters. I did mix us Moody and Staines for the longest time 
 guess I couldn’t find their house easily. </p>

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<p>I feel the same way, ignatius. It’s there, so looking into it a bit can only enrich one’s understanding of the book. I am still trying to figure out some of the section titles. I’ll post about that separately soon.</p>

<p>Re Carver’s coaching Lydia. Ah, of course! Duh
sometimes I am so naive, or dense, or something. :)</p>

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<p>I wanted to give the astrology a shot, but I am also lazy. And I’ve never known what all those houses were about - it was more astrology than I wanted to know! Hums, “When the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter is aligned with Mars
”</p>

<p>I do think that the voices of the characters could have been more differentiated. They all sounded equally educated most of the time.</p>

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<p>ignatius, I salute you. If I recall, you took the lead in helping us decipher the “divine geometry” of The Stockholm Octavo as well. To me, the charts (in both books) are about as comprehensible as blueprints. And my eyes tended to glaze over when I read passages like this in The Luminaries:</p>

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<p>Thank you for the Twelve Houses link. That’s helpful. Do we ever learn the shared birth date of Emery and Anna?</p>

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<p>I didn’t like Stockholm Octavo very much, so I didn’t want to bother to try to decipher the
patterns/predictions in the cards. In my opiinion, The Luminaries is a vastly better book – one that invites and rewards close scrutiny. </p>

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<p>I don’t believe so. The discussion of their birthday is on pp. 717 - 719, in the section “Sun & Moon in Conjunction (New Moon).”</p>

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<p>Sorry, I can’t seem to shut up today. I found a fascinating piece about The Luminaries that has a lot of interesting observations. An excerpt related to astrology is copied below:</p>

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<p><a href=“The Luminaries | Eleanor Catton | Review |”>http://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/as-above-so-below/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>So 
 ill luck 
 Carver and Lydia. </p>

<p>Crosbie digs up Emery’s treasure. Why? (I have to assume that Crosbie has done so because I doubt that Carver has time. Certainly I can’t see Crosbie sharing the information.) </p>

<p>Carver arrives with the laudanum and kills Crosbie, perhaps by dosing the whiskey. He discovers the gold and burns Emery’s note dividing it with Anna. Carver recognizes what the gold means for “Crosbie’s widow.”</p>

<p>Carver rushes to Hokitika and sails that night to Dunedin, presumably to let Lydia know that Crosbie has gold. As his widow, the gold now belongs to Lydia.</p>

<p>Lydia immediately leaves for Hokitika; Carver follows within a couple days. (I imagine Lydia leaves on the next ship, while Carver takes longer to turn around. He still leaves under storm predictions.)</p>

<p>Now for the ill luck 
 Carver probably does not expect the body to be found so quickly or the property to be purchased so quickly or the gold to be discovered (or the burned note to be in the chaplain’s hands). It seems more likely that Crosbie’s death would have gone unremarked 
 perhaps the body discovered by his lovely widow when she arrived. Ha!</p>

<p>Now Carver and Lydia have to wait to get their hands on the gold, and we know how that turns out.</p>

<p>Lauderback may have arrived too late to meet his brother but, in effect, arrives in time to set justice in motion. </p>

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<p>^ NJTheatreMOM, that’s an interesting and thorough review! And Lipsha, if you’re lurking, take note (from the review above):</p>

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<p>Re Anna and Emery’s birthdate, I thought it might be December 31st because “The Sabian Symbol for your birthday is an albatross feeding from the hand of a sailor. This symbol mainly relates to the importance of trust. Although there may be challenges in opening up to another, there are many rewards that can come from overcoming your fears.” <a href=“December 31 Horoscope and Zodiac | Famous Birthdays”>http://www.famousbirthdays.com/horoscope/december31.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>However, it probably doesn’t count if I’m getting my information from a site called Famous Birthdays.<br>
That’s kind of like using Entertainment Weekly as an academic resource. :"> </p>

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<p>I totally agree about them all sounding pretty much alike, except the Chinese of course. And I had been so totally spoiled by the richness and wit of the dialogue in DEADWOOD.</p>

<p>Perhaps it was lazy not to look into the astrological charts–I didn’t–but mostly I just think they’re 
 I"m looking for the right word
 ridiculous ways to assess anyone’s character. I’m a Libra, and I guess I do tend to use a balancing scale hand gesture, but to see people as determined by their signs seems so reductive. This is a critique of Catton, not anyone who had fun looking them up and engaging with the novel in that way. But this kind of characterization is why I earlier described her as “cold.” People are more complicated than signs, and I was hard pressed to see these characters as complicated. I guess that kind of character IS Dickensian, but he has so much more wit. </p>

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<p>I disagree that the twelve stellar characters are detectives in any way. I see Moody as the detective (though he doesn’t do much detecting, he’s more the orchestrator, getting the trial to reach the tidy conclusion he wants). I see the twelve as witnesses - and of course each in their own way, catalysts for the main event.</p>

<p>I’m feeling particularly stupid right now, but can we go over all the gold?</p>

<p>Did Crosbie dig up Emery’s gold?
I thought the gold that ended up with Crosbie came from Ah Sook’s getting it out of Anna’s gowns
And the gown’s were Lydia’s and that was so they wouldn’t have to pay tax on the gold I assume
Oh yeah, but Lydia’s gold was Crosbie’s gold

So Emery got a nugget from Crosbie, while Anna got dust from Crosbie via Lydia? More symmetry?
But then wasn’t there some business about planting gold at Aurora so it wouldn’t look like a duffer claim?</p>

<p>Ugh, I don’t want to spend the time to reread, but I feel like I need a plot synopsis!</p>

<p>I liked this from an interview with Catton:

from <a href=“http://lumiere.net.nz/index.php/a-correspondence-with-eleanor-catton/”>http://lumiere.net.nz/index.php/a-correspondence-with-eleanor-catton/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I’ll take a shot at the gold. Somebody please correct me if I’ve got it wrong.</p>

<p>Crosbie hit it big prospecting near Dunstan. Lydia and Carver stole Crosbie’s gold. Lydia sewed it into the seams of dresses that were sent to Australia for alterations so that the gold could be banked without being declared.</p>

<p>One of the crates went astray and Anna bought the dresses that were in it as salvage, not knowing they had gold in them. Quee removed all of the gold from all of Anna’s dresses except the orange dress, which Anna never wore when she visited him.</p>

<p>Before the Aurora belonged to Staines and Carver, it had belonged to Mannering. Quee worked the claim as an indentured worker. The Aurora was indeed a duffer. Mannering had salted it and Quee discovered this. Quee was upset because he was digging up the same gold over and over, and not getting his share of any profits. </p>

<p>Now that Mannering no longer owned Aurora, Quee expected to get a share of the money earned by the sale of the gold he had retorted and stamped “Aurora” (though it was from the dresses), once Emery had banked it. But Emery stole the gold so that his partner, Carver (whom he now disliked), could not get his hands on it. </p>

<p>Emery buried the gold, and after he learned of the “attack” on Anna by Carver, he went to Crosbie and told him his baby was gone and that he wanted Anna to have half the gold. He made up a deed (but fell asleep before signing it) and told Crosbie in general terms where the gold was buried. Presumably Crosbie dug up the gold and hid it in his cottage.</p>

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<p>^ Excellent! And because I have a serious case of snowbound cabin fever, I’ll present the gold’s journey in a numbered, chronological list with a few other minor details (What can I say? It’s either study The Luminaries or turn into Jack Nicholson in The Shining):</p>

<p>The gold never belonged to Emery, although he ends up with the lion’s share of it in the end. (“That boy radiates luck–the Midas touch, he has.” [p. 123]).</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Crosbie strikes gold in Dunstan. He describes his good fortune in his March 1864 letter to Alistair Lauderback. The gold is stored in Lydia’s safe.</p></li>
<li><p>Lydia and Carver steal the gold.</p></li>
<li><p>Lydia and Carver hide the gold in the hems and corsets of Lydia’s dresses, pack the dresses in a trunk and put the trunk in the hold of the Godspeed, the ship that Carver blackmails Lauderback into turning over to him. </p></li>
<li><p>Crosbie learns from a friend in shipping that there is a trunk on the Godspeed with his name on it (because Carver used the name Wells when filling out the bill of lading). </p></li>
<li><p>Crosbie asks his friend to pull the trunk from the Godspeed and send it to him in Hokitika on another ship. That ship, the Titania, sinks.</p></li>
<li><p>The Titania’s cargo is salvaged, but the bill of lading for the trunk is water logged and illegible. With no known owner, the dresses are sold to Anna by salvage vendors.</p></li>
<li><p>Ah Quee finds the gold in Anna’s dresses, removes it and retorts it into gold bars stamped Aurora, Emery’s claim. The gold in the orange dress, however, is not found by Ah Quee and eventually ends up in a flour sack under Gascoigne’s bed.</p></li>
<li><p>Emery decides not to officially record the retorted gold because he does not want Francis Carver to have any of it. Instead, Emery buries the gold on Maori land.</p></li>
<li><p>After Anna loses the baby, Emery goes to Crosbie’s cabin, relays the news, and tells Crosbie that he wants to give Anna half his buried Aurora gold. Crosbie writes up the document, but Emery falls asleep before signing it.</p></li>
<li><p>Crosbie, with Tauwhare’s help, digs up the gold and brings it back to his cabin.</p></li>
<li><p>Carver comes to the cabin and poisons Crosbie.</p></li>
<li><p>Lauderback arrives at the cabin and informs the authorities of Crosbie’s death.</p></li>
<li><p>Edgar Clinch purchases Crosbie’s property. Harald Nilssen comes to the cabin to settle the estate and discovers the gold hidden in flour canister, powder box, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Lydia arrives to dispute the sale of the estate and the gold is temporarily seized by the bank.</p></li>
<li><p>The court finds Carver guilty and returns the bonanza to Emery, less legal fees, Nilssen’s “donation” to the gaol house, a bonus to Quee, and various small damages claims against Emery by diggers.</p></li>
<li><p>Emery gives Anna the gold from the orange gown to live on while he is in gaol.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>The End.</p>