Can someone please explain The Luminaries to me?

[widdle]

I'm about quarter of the way through and I. Just. Don't. Get. It! On the surface it should be an enjoyable read - a murder, a whore attempting suicide and 12 strange men in a room who tell the story but I'm just finding it so hard going.

I'm already confused with all of the characters - apart from Balfour they seem completely devoid of personality.

Would it help if I knew anything about astrology? I have a feeling that each of the 12 men represent a different zodiac sign but I'm just not seeing it.

Is it me? I feel like this book is a case of The Emperor Has No Clothes! It gets so much praise but not sure why.

If you have read it can you tell me if it gets better?

The Emperor has clothes.

The story unfolds as you read on and the details of the 1st night are explained at the very end, but you should still have a fair idea as to what is going on after having read a quarter of the book.

Thanks Cote - I know what is going on - I just don't get why it's so special. It's not that I don't understand the story - I don't understand the book IYSWIM. Why is it getting so much praise??

Imho it is the scope and detail, ambitious story involving many characters and events, that works both as a whole and in detail. That it's incredibly well-written, like a livelier Ian McEwan who actually has a story to tell

I was to learn the author was only 28 when she wrote this book.

I think it's quite Dickensian.

A long, involved story that unfolds very slowly rather than being a page turner. In fact I could almost imagine it being serialised.

I know a fair bit about astrology and don't think that has much bearing on the plot.

The personalities of the men in the room develop further as you get more into the book, although some stand out more than others. IIRC the first section is the longest, then you have several sections following the actions of the other men in the room independently which gives you a better idea of their characters.

I think it's very cleverly written and does have a plot. But I'm not a big fan of Victorian style novels, and it was a little too meandering for me.

I think a lot of the critical acclaim is due to its technical and structural complexities, such as the way the story unfolds almost backwards and the fact that each section is apparently exactly half the length of the one before (or something like that). I'm not entirely sure what that adds but it seems to have got the Booker judges all excited. I did think it was beautifully written and the characters were very well drawn. I think she was trying to emulate George Eliot in the characterisation and Wilkie Collins in the plotting, so I suppose your enjoyment of it depends on whether you like that Victorian style of novel.

Forgot to say, there is a kind of recap by the Walter Moody character at the end of the first, longest section. That helped me get my head round everything that had gone on!

I am also really struggling with it - I do see what's going on but I haven't got to the point where I actually care.

I agree that the characters develop. At first I couldn't keep them apart and at the end I had a clear image in my head of every single one of them.
Loved the book.

OP, I felt the same way. 12 characters and they were largely indistinguishable. TheOtherSideOfSilence is right about the recap - it comes about half way through and that does help a bit. I admit though that at the end I still felt pretty confused. I finally understood what had happened but I wasn't sure why I was supposed to care, iyswim.

I'm sure the astrology stuff was very clever too but it flew right over my head.

I felt the same too, op. Read the whole book and felt disappointed. Usually with these sorts of books you get 2/3rds in and there's a sense of the overall story arc coming together, of it making sense, of there being some kind of deeper meaning to the whole thing - didn't get any of that!
I wouldn't say it's a hard read, more of a slow read.

It's clever in that information is gleaned as characters appear and disappear. True, you need to be reminded who is who so found the list of characters and their occupations at beginning of book helpful for reference. What appears to be a simple plot develops into a full blown story. Astrology isn't necessary to understand what it's going on. I think the author correlated the movement of the heavens with the focus on the different characters. Stick with it and you will be further enlightened and probably well satisfied with the ending. Can't say I cared about characters but plot was good. I read all the Booker short list and A Tale For The Time Being was my favourite with characters I really felt an emotional connection with. Couldn't stop thinking about it when finished. Felt nothing like that with Luminaries.

Just finished this book this morning and came on here hoping for enlightenment!

I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved the way it was written. But I kept forgetting what day it was and how the characters had got to the place they were at. Eg, near the end, a chapter starts with Carver and Te Wau and I couldn't for the life of me remember how or why or when they got there. No amount of flicking back through the pages helped either! Where does it tell you who killed Crosbie? And did it explain where Emory was when he was missing? And I need a spreadsheet on the £4,000 fortune! Or was there two?

I will be reading it again but will just as much be in the dark as the first time

OK finished!! (Finally) Still don't get it [happy]

By the end I was just glad that the chapters got shorter.

Happydays Will look up A Tale For The Time Being - that might be more my style.