The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

At the height of the New Zealand Gold Rush a Scottish traveller, Walter Moody, journeys across the globe to make his fortune on the gold fields of the West Coast. Upon landing in Hokitika, he stumbles across a clandestine meeting in a tavern, where 12 local men have gathered to discuss recent unsolved crimes in the area. Moody hears the individual tales of each man, which interlace to form a tangled lattice of three seemingly unconnected events: the discovery of a dead man and his fortune, the disappearance of a young entrepreneur, and the failed suicide of the town’s lady of the night.

At first glance, The Luminaries promises to be a good old fashioned mystery, but fans of this genre may be left wanting. Expansively written, evoking memories of classic literature, the book deals with the wider themes of betterment, love and secrets. With astrological concepts woven throughout (the term ‘celestials’ refers to the Chinese miners after ‘The Celestial Empire’, a Western euphemism for China at the time), the author paints a vivid picture of life on the goldfields and all its struggles.

The New Zealand scenery is evoked with exquisite realism and the fully rounded, often unpleasant, characters from far and wide are given rich back stories which gives the story credibility and draws the reader in further. As long and wending as this book is, the plot doesn’t reveal itself until the very end, making the 800-page tome a little unwieldy in parts.

Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Man Booker Prize with The Luminaries, only the second New Zealander ever to do so. Superlatives abound as the book is also the longest, and Catton the youngest, ever winner of the prestigious prize.

Described as “a dazzling work, luminous, vast” by the chair of judges, The Luminaries is a true tour-de-force of New Zealand literature which stays with you long after finishing, leaving you confused but content.

Catalogue link: The Luminaries

Posted by RJB

Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

Water. Fire. Love. Man's inhumanity to man. History. Love of animals. This beautifully written novel by New Yorker Alice Hoffman weaves all of these elements into a fascinating tale set in New York in 1911.

We learn of early photographic practices, Coney Island and its fun-fair development, The Triangle Fire, early Union/Worker's Rights movements and the Hudson River and its banks at that time.

At no time does it falter, it swims seamlessly on with an extraordinary tale, told predominantly by a young woman who, from a very young age, is trained to be an act in her father's exhibition of freaks of nature. He adds her to his cast which includes Siamese twins, a tattooed lady and a hirsute man.

I wholeheartedly agree with Jodi Picoutt's comment "Many novels these days are called "stunning'', but this one truly is: part love story, part mystery, part history, and all beauty.''

Posted by CC.

Catalogue link: Museum of Extraordinary Things

Self Portrait by Marti Friedlander

A delightful and interesting book told in the first person. I read it as though sitting next to Marti, listening to her. Hugo Manson is a Senior New Zealand Oral Historian and if, as I imagine he has, he has lead Marti to talk about certain things - beginnings, being Jewish, immigrating to New Zealand, other couples and people of the time including artists, politicians, writers and events e.g. The Springbok Tour of NZ 1981 - you can't see his hand, or words, in it.

The stories read as if you were chatting one afternoon over a cup of tea, not at all meant in any sense other than easily heard and absorbed. I loved this book and the insights it gave me into our history of that time. Marti's photographs have already done that; I believe we are very fortunate to have her record of these last 50 or so years of New Zealand life. And now with this book, her gift to New Zealand, her adopted country, is magnified.

Her 2001 major retrospective exhibition at The Auckland Art Gallery brought her photographic work to a wider audience and this book brings her to a new, potentially greater audience again. Along with life, times and people, she speaks of her photographic process, telling of taking individual photos. She also speaks of her main reason for the memoir which is to answer the public's curiosity about her and, to answer: "Yes, she is still taking photos".

Posted by CC.

Catalogue link: Self Portait

The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop

The Other Side of the World is the second novel of this Australian author I had not encountered before. Her first, The Singing, was Highly Commended for the Kathleen Mitchell Award and for which she was named by the Sydney Morning Herald as one of Australia’s Best Young Novelists. Bishop holds a PhD from Cambridge University, lives in Sydney and lectures in creative writing at the University of New South Wales. 

This story deals compellingly with displacement and the life of the emigrant. It follows a couple with two small children as they decide to move from England to Perth, West Australia for a better climate and better lives for themselves and their children. Henry, the father was brought up to be very British in India and upon arrival loves the heat. His wife, Charlotte experiences it differently.

They soon discover the glossy brochure upon which they’d based their hopes for the future had not told the whole story. Their attempts at a garden fail, cockroaches and biting insects make their unwelcome presence known and lurking not at all under the surface is the racism they had not expected to encounter. As the university position Henry was accepted for grows less and less fulfilling for Henry, Charlotte finds other ways to escape her unwanted life on the other side of the world.  

A brave, tender, not at all predictable book that stayed with me for days afterwards. 
Also released under the title Dream England.

Posted by CC.

Catalogue link: The Other Side of the World

Books and Writers Weekend

The 17th annual Going West Books and Writers weekend with be held 14-16 September, 2012, in various venues in West Auckland. 

Contemporary NZ writers and thinkers get together over two days of discussions, debate and entertainment.

www.goingwest.co.nz

This is part of the Going West Books & Writers Festival 2012 which includes free events and workshops, as well as ticketed events, over a month from late August.