The Luminaries is... delectable! Fumbling for the right word, I find myself thinking of what Lydia Wells would say, one of the characters so memorably brought to life in this staggering novel.

You may not like this book. If you don't have a yen for 800 page doorstoppers, elaborate 19th century structures and language styles, and dense thickets of plot, look elsewhere. (I'm not usually a fan of the latter, but if it comes packaged in the former, that rather changes my opinion.) If, however, you enjoy the heady combination of heightened language, courtroom (and behind-the-courtroom) drama, and historical fiction with a wry 21st century undercoat, this is for you. The Luminaries is also the beneficiary of a (pardon the pun) stellar audiobook narrated by Mark Meadows, who handles each of Catton's twenty-plus characters with panache. I rarely recommend the audio over the literary experience, but I think in this case, with the heavy emphasis on dialogue and narrative tone-of-voice, Meadows' performance amplifies and augments everything great in Catton's writing.

Exquisite. ( )

What a complex book! Hokitika in south New Zealand is a hotbed of a gold rush in 1866, drawing all the characters you can imagine, including, notably a Māori native, Chinese immigrants, a prostitute (& her pimp), hoteliers, bankers, a prison keeper, etc. along with the folks looking for gold and those looking to defraud them. A myriad of coincidences occur and every person knows just a little bit that all together tells the story. This book slowly puts the pieces together to reveal the origins of missing gold, a missing man, and all the underlying mysteries. Opioid addiction plays an important part of the story as well. Quite an excellent book. Almost 30 hours of an audiobook and I just raced through it. The narrator is spectacular. ( )

3.5 ( )

a very well written book. The story takes place in 1866 in New Zealand and is kinda a "who done it". She develops the characters so well and I felt like I knew what people were thinking. Great read!!! One of my favorite books! ( )

This book was very interesting and I liked how it was structured. I had to read about the structure of the book and the significance of the astrological information to understand it after the fact. I think this aspect would have been more obvious if I were reading instead of listening. The story was complex and engrossing. It's one of those books that makes you marvel at the complexity of the plot and wonder how in the world someone constructs a story so intricate and detailed. I was worried about listening to this book because of the number of characters but the author did a very good job of making the characters distinct and memorable. This was helped significantly by the wonderful narrator who gave each character a distinct voice, literally. I particularly liked the characters Anna, Emery, Francis Carver, and Lydia. ( )