Reading the Chunksters discussion

This thread is for discussion of the last part of the book, as well as for full discussion of the book, including spoilers.

How did you like the entire novel? Are you glad that you've read it? What did you think of its structure? Its quite intricate, if you think about it:
Part 1: 360 pgs, Part 2: 160 pgs, Part 3: 104 pgs, Part 4: 96 pgs, Part 5: 40 pages, Part 6: 26 pages, Part 7: 13 pages, Part 8: 10 pgs, Part 9: 6 pgs, Part 10: 6 pgs, Part 11: 4 pages, Part 12: 4 pages. Or looked at slightly differently:

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(I copied it from a comment from the GR reviews section)

Does astrology, in your opinion, play a very important part in the story or would it be better without it/ you didn't pay much atention to it?

I did enjoy the book. When it became apparent that the story was cycling back to explain what went on leading up to the beginning of the book, her discussion of the cycling of the celestial spheres made more sense. I only used the chapter titles to identify who were the main characters of that chapter. The more intricate diagrams and implications were beyond my limited knowledge of the subject. For the true aficionado, I imagine there are additional layers of meaning.

Somewhere I read that a Booker judge/reviewer finished the book and immediately went back to the beginning. I went to the section where it began to cycle back, because I had no idea who killed Carver in a closed gaol van. But it would seem to be Te Rau, in revenge for killing Crosbie Wells. Is that right? Also, who was the spirit in Moody's luggage compartment? Crosbie? Or was he just overwrought?

I thought the story lines wrapped up satisfactorily for the main characters. Not everyone received their just desserts (Lydia gets the money), not all are revenged, not all reform. Rather like life.

SusanK, I also used the astrology only to indicate which characters were prevalent in the chapter, and wonder what a real astrology fan/expert would say about the structuring of the book. Does it add something when you are interested in that part of the book?

I also automatically assumed that it was Te Rau who killed Carver as revenge for Crosbie Wells. He looked at the lock on the door and refused to go with the driver and wasn't seen again.

It was the real Emery Staines in Moody's luggage compartment, i thought. In section XII, chapter "Luminaries" it says in the intro that a shipping crate on Gibson Quay is opened, in drugged confusion, Staines sets out into the night, Staines makes a misstep on Gibson Quay, and collapses, and the lid of a shipping crate is nailed into place. I think that Staines was stumbling around and somehow got nailed into a shipping crate, loaded onto the boat, and Moody got him our of the crate when he heard the knocking. This happened to be the same time when Anna shot herself, and the bullet ended up entering Emery, which was the hole that appeared and blood that started pouring out of him. We know that Emery could survive this because he somehow takes nourishment from his connection with Anna.

This book really ended at 85% complete. I think that the last 15% of going back and forth in time with increasingly shorter chapters was done SOLELY to fit into the shrinking chapter format that Teanka mentions. For me, I lost interest completely after the wrap up of the trial and wanted the story to end there. I think that everything that came after that point could have more effectively been incorporated earlier in the story and avoided taking the punch away from the ending.

That being said, my favorite part of the story was the trial. I love trial scenes like this and enjoy seeing how a these are done. I particularly love any situation in which events and actions can be summarized and interpreted in so many different ways. Just goes to show you can't always believe what you think you see! Events can always be interpreted in many ways! I know that Moody was not entirely truthful with his wrap-ups here, but its still fun to watch.

I disliked, though, that the final several sections are told mostly through the chapter captions and not in the chapter text. That seems extraordinarily lazy to me on the writer's part. Its really easy to just summarize the major events you want to write about in a large paragraph with no meat and no need for "plausible situations", then have the chapter really consist of only one short section of dialogue that only tangentially relates to the summary. Combined with the very obvious (especially now that we've read the whole thing and see that Moody was no detective or anything in this) info dump that was 12 characters gathering and telling their stories to one guy who summarizes it all, much of the actual story composition seemed lazy to me. I know this is unfair since so much of it was meant to relate to the astrology, but for someone who didn't follow the astrology and read it for the story, it doesn't quite work.

As per the actual wrap-up, I agree SusanK, that it was satisfactory. Besides the magical connection of Anna and Emery, I did like how everything played out in the end.

Ha! Emery Staines makes much more sense. I had to go back and look it up again, too.

Over the holidays, an astronomer friend was talking about his trip to Australia and how he was looking up at the moon, "which is backwards, of course" and it was an Aha! moment. For the (American) cover, I just accepted the moon phase analogy, but couldn't really "see" it. It's all in your point of reference.

I liked the trial section, too, did not expect it at all. The last loose end I wonder about is if the repentant Moody senior will ever catch up with Moody junior on the trail. A bittersweet moment, that...

Yes, it was Staines, but it wasn't very clear. Quite a few story lines were wrapped up in the chapter intros and it was difficult to follow.

I do hope Moody catches up with his son. I think he will...I think Moody Jr will be okay with a repentant father, and hopefully it will work out nicely for them both!

I am also glad that I read the book, similar to what others have said. There were times when I wasn't so interested in the storyline, but once the first part of the book was complete I was a little more consistent in my reading. I feel like you need to be able to sit and read bigger chunks of the book to truly appreciate it, because I kept forgetting who everyone was. I did like the structure overall, with a slight dislike of the massive chapters in the beginning.

I also occasionally went out of my way to check the astrology, though it really didn't do anything more than emphasize the major characters in each section, for me.

I got a bit lost in the "who was in the crate" business. Emery Staines makes total sense. I agree with Kaycie that the last sections of the book were a little annoying in form, with the chapter descriptions and borderline useless actual passages, and I'm surprised with how little Catton used Moody.

I'm glad you all mentioned about the crate, etc, because I'd forgotten about it. I found her putting together the beginning pieces at the end to be an interesting change from the traditional novel format and it actually reminded me of a Columbo episode, wherein you know from about 1/4 of the way through who the murderer is and how it's done, but the fun is in watching the detective solve the case and coerce the confession.

After finishing, I understand the desire to go back and read it from the beginning. In fact, I fully plan to do so at a later date (I just don't want to pick up the same 800+ page book right now!) and I think I'll get a lot more out of it the second time around.

I didn't look much into the astrology aspects, although it certainly ties the characters together, from Lydia Wells and her fortune telling to the various ships of "fortune" title, the "luck" of the goldfields, etc. The way Catton used it was interesting, but I don't think a reader needs to follow it in detail to get all that's needed out of the story. It's like LOTR: there are more layers to it if you WANT to go deeper, but you certainly don't need to in order to follow along with the main story.

I didn't catch that about Anna shooting the bullet and it ending up in Staines while he's on the ship. That random bit of physical impossibility certainly feels like it detracts from the story, to me, but maybe it fits overall with the whole "soul mates" in astrology theme.

I didn't really think the last chapters were lazy, more like she was summarizing what had already been described before, and filling in the little bits of information that we hadn't previously been privy to. For example, the bit with Te Rau and the club explains about Carver's demise, but while we'd been introduced to that scene hundreds of pages ago, now we're given the rest of the dialogue and important information that might have given too much away earlier. It's all the pieces of the puzzle, just told out of order, and the chapter headings remind us of what's gone on before, without completely rehashing that old territory.

I, too, wanted to know what happened with the Moodys! I guess we're left to decide if they were able to forgive and move past their differences or if Walter decides to hold a grudge...

Overall, I really liked it, and I think it's going to stay in my head for a long while. One of my few 5 stars!

I do think that the physical impossibilites are distracting. There was also Staines hitting his head and Anna getting a concussion, as well as Staines given laudanum for his pain and Anna getting "drunk" from it. I do think it is meant to add to the "soul mates", but I don't particularly like that little piece of the plot.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but was definitely tired of it by the time the trial was over. I didn't like the format of them, and the story actually lost a lot for me told in snippets like that after the fact. I am glad that you liked that part, though, and mention it. It lets me see what other people enjoy and be able to better compare how these books are able to win these prestigious awards!

While I am glad I read it, I definitely won't be rereading it. It was okay, but there are many other books I'd prefer to reread!

I am glad that you liked it so much! I love to see the thoughts and opinions of people who like books more than I do. I like to see what parts people liked that I personally didn't like.

Kaycie wrote: " There was also Staines hitting his head and Anna getting a concussion, as well as Staines given laudanum for his pain and Anna getting "drunk" from it."

See, I didn't catch that, either! Makes more sense now (well, it doesn't make sense, but I follow what she was trying to do with the story). But that makes it very confusing.

And yes, the differing opinions is what makes book discussion so interesting! It's always much more engaging when we all feel differently about a book :)