Book
Review
Author:
Eleanor Catton
Publisher:
Granta, London, 2013
Pages:
832 Price in India: Rs799
There
are some books which extract a sigh of relief from us as we turn their last
page. The winner of the 2013 Booker Prize
belongs to that category. You feel
relieved that it has come to an end at last.
You feel like a child who has successfully put together all the pieces
of a complex jigsaw puzzle after a gruelling struggle.
14
Jan 1866. Crosbie Wells is found dead in
his cottage. Anna Wetherell is found almost
dead elsewhere. Emery Staines has
vanished. Francis Carver has sailed away
in a barque that he bought from Alistair Lauderback presenting himself as
Crosbie Wells. An amount of 4000 pounds
(a huge sum in those days) is missing. Alistair
Lauderback has a connection with the real Crosbie Wells which the former does
not want to acknowledge.
832
pages are devoted to unravel the above mysteries which are all related to one
another. Hokitika had many gold mines
and a lot of people went over there in order to build up their fortunes. Eleanor Catton brings together in her
voluminous novel about a score of such fortune seekers in Hokitika whose destinies
become entangled in a web of fraudulent activities perpetrated by a handful of
unscrupulous individuals within the motley group.
“There’s
no charity in a gold town. If it looks
like charity, look again,” is Crosbie’s advice to Anna Wetherell who has landed
newly in Hokitika and has been chaperoned by Lydia Wells. Lydia is too
kind to Anna. “There is no such thing as
too much kindness,” Lydia would soon warn Anna.
Warnings notwithstanding, 21 year-old, beautiful Anna, “a breath of
fresh air... Unspoiled” (in Crosbie’s perspicacious evaluation), becomes a
whore in Hokitika.
There
is no place for any romantic idealists and seekers in a gold town. Anna is not the only such person who becomes
a victim of the gold town’s value system.
Emery Staines is a young man with boyish charms, physically as well as
psychologically. He is “a curious
mixture of longing and enthusiasm... delighted by things of an improbable or
impractical nature, which he sought out with the open-hearted gladness of a
child at play.” He will learn the
utterly practical side of life in the hard way.
The
villains don’t escape, however. Not
entirely at least. Some of them get the
retribution they deserve. Is there any fair
system of justice in the world? “A woman fallen has no future; a man risen
has no past.” That’s what Anna seems
to learn at one stage, though later Emery Staines will open “a new chamber of
(her) heart.” There indeed is a place
for romantic idealism and love even in a gold town. Like in any other place, however, the
idealism will have to undergo the seasoning processes in some excruciating
crucibles.
The Luminaries
is not an easy novel to read. The very
thickness of the book can be a Himalayan challenge. The plot is engrossing, but the development
is drawn out so long as to try the reader’s patience. Catton also fails in unfolding the inner
personalities of her characters by means of what they say and do; she takes
recourse to detailed descriptions of her characters in her own words.
Those
who love difficult reading and want to spend time during the summer vacation
(as I’m doing) can go for this novel. It
is a good challenge to take up. The last
parts of the novel may put you off further with their cinematographic technique
of providing still shots in order to complete the missing parts of the gargantuan
jigsaw puzzle. But you can put down the
book with the satisfaction that the puzzle was worth solving and has been
solved perfectly.
It is so big that I have been putting off starting this one! :)
ReplyDeleteThe book remained on my table for more than half a year before I opened it! The sheer size was intimidating simply because I thought reading 20 or 30 pages a day which I could afford on any normal day would make it impossible to remember the connections. So I kept it for the holiday.
DeleteI agree, the sheer volume of the book has put me off, but I'm highly intrigued by the plot. Perhaps I shall pick it up one of these days.
ReplyDeleteIf you love both mystery and literature, go ahead. The literature belongs to the new generation, of course.
DeleteWell I am not daunted by the thickness but your line that '' Catton also fails in unfolding the inner personalities of her characters by means of what they say and do; she takes recourse to detailed descriptions of her characters in her own words." has put me off.Though you have told that the puzzle is worth solving still I am not inclined to invest time in characters drawn as cardboard caricatures ! So , Thanks Sir .With 2 hyperactive kids and an(always) over-working life partner I am enough pressed for time.Thanks again :)
ReplyDeleteYour hyperactive kids will provide you enough entertainment, Kokila.
DeleteYeah, intelligent readers would love to see characters in action rather than hear the narrator/author tell us what they are.
Nice review....and really 800+ pages is quite a time consuming read...but I think the book is worth devoting that time ... :-)
ReplyDeleteWhy not, Maniparna? It's good enough is what I can say though I had expected a little more because of the Booker tag and even the first pages of the novel. But it's not disappointing at all. A bit tedious in places.
DeleteI can't make myself read a 300+ page book these days. No time. But I used to be a lover of such books before. Just to feel that immense relief which you described in the opening lines..
ReplyDeleteNice review.
Tulips and Me
It's the same problem with me too, Preethi. In the normal course of life I can't read even a 300 page novel these days. I'm sorry that teaching has become such a profession today that reading has been replaced with clerical works.
DeleteNice review !Well written
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ananya.
Delete