"The Luminaries" with reading schedule, 2015 Chunky Read

[Meg]

Well as I am reading the author seems to develop the women's characters and not the men as much. Do you agree and why do you think so?

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Hmm, interesting observation Meg. Could it be just that there are so many more male characters than female ones? So the women get more character development, where the men are more just part of a group? Or do you think it is intentional on the part of the author?

[Irene]

I did not feel as if the women were more developed than the men. I am trying to recall all I read and see if I can find more attention given to the female's background or behaviors, but I can't recall that.

[Meg]

I remember you making a comment about how you were interested in Anna's story a while back Irene

[Irene]

Yes, I am interested in her story. I think she is going to be pivital to this mystery. Here she is walking around with all this gold sown into her dresses. Plus, she is surviving as a single woman on her own in a very male society. She is a survivor.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

I really like Anna, though it may be because she is the main woman in the story! But she does seem like a strong, independent, survivor.

[Meg]

I think she knows all about the money in her clothes. I think it is part of a bigger picture

[Meg]

Anyone else having trouble with this week's reading? It is hard for me to stay focused this week. I am not really sure as to why?

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

It seems like we are having a lot of re-hashing and review, and wrapping up the current mystery, but throwing in new mysteries. I am still confused. :-)

[Irene]

I read through all of part 1 at the same time last week. I had no trouble reading it and appreciated the periodic review of facts. It helped me to keep things straight. But, I put it down so that I did not get too far ahead. I am worried about trying to recall enough when I pick it up again after having read several other books. I think this is a book I should read without shifting to other titles. It is just a bit too complicated.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

I agree Irene. I am reading this book concurrently with several others, and I think the complicated story is what is making me have a hard time remembering all the details, since I am only reading this is short spurts, then reading something else.

I am getting the basic gist of the story though I think, but all the hidden details and astrological correlations I am probably not getting at all.

[Irene]

Even if I were reading it uninterrupted, I would not get the astrological bit. I know virtually nothing about astrology and have no desire to learn anything about it. It does not seem important, just a artsy way to organize the book.

[Colleen]

I did finish the book and I think can appreciate reading it all at once to keep it straight. I don't get the astrological signs either but may have influenced outcome, however she doesn't outline it, so must not be overly important, unless someone finds out otherwise. It was good, overall I get what happens - wow - but I think I still had some questions, so will look forward to your comments to see if it prompts anything. I'll check on your schedule to see what able to discuss.

Besides Captain Carver, I really didn't like Lydia. They are two of a kind.

[Maureen]

To those that are reading on a tablet, I wanted to post these helpful features that I posted in the other thread for All the Light We Cannot See, especially for this book, which requires a lot of flipping to refresh your memory on who each character is. I thought it might be helpful to others.

To those that are reading on a kindle or kindle for iPad or other tablet - make sure you learn the tools provided to make it easier to flip around, create and find bookmarks, and looks up characters/places/things. I use Kindle for iPad, and I think the tools may be similar for other tablets.

There is a feature called X-ray, that allows you to tap the icon on the top of the screen, and it will show a window of people, terms, places, etc., both on the current page and in the rest of the book. You can use that if you've forgotten who a character is. You can filter it to see only people, or only terms, or both, and you can sort it by relevance, alphabetical, or order of appearance.

There is also a feature for bookmarks. You toggle the bookmark on and off by tapping the icon at the top of the page. You can then bring up a window of all your bookmarks, notes and highlights that you have made in the book by using the notes icon. You can filter this list by starred items, bookmarks, notes, or highlights by color.

Also, when you set a bookmark, it shows as a circle on the progress line at the bottom. You can guesstimate where your bookmark is by it's location on that bar, and tap it to go to that spot.

On my iPad the icons are listed on the top right. There are 3 (4 if you have the narration/audible download.) From right to left they are: 1) Bookmark icon, which is a toggle off and on (looks like a ribbon bookmark with a 'v' cut into the bottom; 2) X-ray icon (looks like a page with an 'x' over it;) 3) Notes icon (looks like a page with lines on it,) used to retrieve notes and highlights that you have made; 4) Headphones icon for the audible narration.

[Meg]

Thank you for this information Maureen

[Meg]

Did you all get to the part that eplains why Anna's dresses were so heavy and why she didn't know it was gold weight?

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

I don't understand how she suddenly figured out her dress had gold in it while she was recovering in jail though. Why notice then if all her dresses were filled with gold (or with lead after the guy took the gold and replaced it)?

[Irene]

Yes, did not make sense to me either.

I have read past the end of this week's assignment and want to just keep going. Not sure I am going to have the self discipline to pace myself.

So, Is Anna willingly participating with Lydia's scam, skeeming along with her? Or is she being manipulated by Lydia?

[Meg]

I think she is being manipulated by more than just Lydia.

[Irene]

Who else do you suspect?

Who do people trust at this point?

Was horrified that anyone would break the agreement of silence made among the twelve. But, it does advance the plot.

Does anyone have a character they favor? Gascoigne has won my affections. He seems honest without being self-righteous.

The brutality suffered by the Chinese men is sickening.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

I don't know who to trust, but I do think that Anna is being manipulated by more than Lydia. She also seems to have really changed after her overdose. Why? I wouldn't think it would be that easy to stop using opium cold turkey.

[Irene]

Why is she losing so much weight?

[Meg]

OK we are getting close to the end. I am still feeling that the author gives you much more detail on the female characters anyone have any thought on this?

[Irene]

It did not feel that way to me. But, because there are only 2 female characters, they are easier for me to keep clearly in my mind.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

I have to agree with Irene. I don't feel that the female characters are necessarily getting more detail, they are just so much easier to keep straight and remember because they are so few in number. :-)

This thing is turning into a soap opera! LOL

[Meg]

I am disappointed with the book. It is certainly not one that leads to much discussion.

[Irene]

I enjoyed it, but it is not one that prompts discussion. I was not thrilled with the endng. Here we have this mystery with clues slowly being parcelled out. Then, rather than having one or more of those original men gather them up and piece them together, like a Agatha Christi novel, we are just told how it all happened with all the missing parts filled in. And the heavy use of astrological signs never made sense.

[Colleen]

I was sad when Ah Sook died, was murdered.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

I was sad with Sook being killed too, Colleen. And it was such a non-event in the book! Just a mention in the next section basically that he had been shot and killed.

I agree with Irene too, that I was not thrilled with the ending. While it did give us lots of answers to previous unanswered questions, it really wasn't any conclusion, just as Irene says, missing parts filled in.

Apparently this book was an award winner though. Any ideas why?

[Irene]

I thought the treatment of Ah Sook's death was appropriate for the way the Chinese were viewed in that time and place. Their lives were of no consequence.

I think it deserved an award (of course, I do not know the quality of the competition that year). I thought that the prose was excellent. It gets compared to "The Woman in White" for the writing style.

[Meg]

I agree with all of you I thought the style was excellent, I am not into mysteries so that in itself was a roadblock for me. I didn't like not knowing the characters well, that was driving me crazy. So many were in there that they just became nameless, I don't understand that part.

[Irene]

Thanks for a fun read. What is our next chunky?

[Meg]

Time to nominate please do so, look for new post
Thank you for being part of this read!

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Meg wrote: "I didn't like not knowing the characters well, that was driving me crazy. So many were in there that they just became nameless, I don't understand that part. "

I agree Meg. I don't understand what the purpose of so many of the characters was. Too many names that really had nothing much to do with the plot.

[Meg]

This would be a good book to talk to the author!

[Maureen]

So sorry guys, but I never got the chance to finish this. Instead I've had a whirlwind 2 months of unexpected downsizing and moving into a new house, and had to totally drop all of my reading and leave it by the wayside for a while. I am only now just getting back to some leisure time, but even that will be cut in half for probably the next year as I settle in and paint, shop, and decorate. Oh well. At least it is fun problems to have.
This book did not hold my interest much, so I will probably not finish it, since to do so would necessitate re-reading it. :(

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

No worries, Maureen! Not everyone enjoys every book, and if this one did not hold your interest, move on without reservations! There are too many good books out.