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The Luminist
Photography comprises the bright, tensile thread in the sweep of The Luminist, drawing tight a narrative that shifts between the prejudices and passions of Victorian England and those of colonial Ceylon.
It binds the destinies of Catherine Colebrook, the proper wife of a fading diplomat, who rebels against every convention to chase the romance of science through her lens, and Eligius, an Indian teenager thrust into servitude after his father is killed demanding native rights.
The Luminist is a weave of legend and history, science and art, politics and domesticity that are symphonic themes in the main title, the story of an enduring and forbidden friendship. Catherine and Eligius must each struggle with internal forces that inspire them and societal pressures that command them. Rocklin’s is a bold landscape, against which an intimate drama is poignantly played out. Just in this way, our minds recall in every detail the photo snapped at the moment of pain, while all the lovely scenes seem to run together.
It binds the destinies of Catherine Colebrook, the proper wife of a fading diplomat, who rebels against every convention to chase the romance of science through her lens, and Eligius, an Indian teenager thrust into servitude after his father is killed demanding native rights.
The Luminist is a weave of legend and history, science and art, politics and domesticity that are symphonic themes in the main title, the story of an enduring and forbidden friendship. Catherine and Eligius must each struggle with internal forces that inspire them and societal pressures that command them. Rocklin’s is a bold landscape, against which an intimate drama is poignantly played out. Just in this way, our minds recall in every detail the photo snapped at the moment of pain, while all the lovely scenes seem to run together.
322 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2011
15 people are currently reading
419 people want to read
About the author
David Rocklin
4 books29 followersDavid Rocklin lives in Los Angeles. "The Luminist," his debut novel, was published in October 2011. His new novel, "The Night Language," publishes on November 14, 2017, followed by a tour. he's currently working on his third novel, "The Electric Love Song of Fleischl Berger." He is also the founder and curator of Roar Shack, a popular reading series in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
September 10, 2011
The inspiration for The Luminist was the life of Julia Margaret Cameron, a British photographic pioneer who lived from 1815 to 1879.
David Rocklin uses understated and often haunting prose to tell the story of 1830s colonial Ceylon and Catherine Colebrook, a woman obsessed with the possibilities of the emerging field of photography. When Eligius Shourie, a native Ceylonese boy, comes to the Colebrook home as a servant, he begins acting as Catherine's assistant in her struggle to make images permanent.
As political unrest and native uprisings threaten the British presence, Catherine and Eligius lose themselves in experiments of light and shadow, forging a bond considered unseemly given their respective social stations. Catherine almost seems to be using Eligius as a replacement for Hardy, her infant son whose death was the catalyst for her interest in photography.
This is a novel that has to grow on you. It becomes very atmospheric, but you have to be patient while that atmosphere develops. Rocklin won't spoon-feed you every morsel of information you might think you want right at the start. Details emerge as the story progresses, and gradually you come to understand the plight of the native people, the strange dynamics of the Colebrook family, and the no-man's-land where Eligius resides, as unwelcome among his own people as he is among the British.
The Luminist is a gorgeous novel, deserving of five stars in just about every way save one. It contains a time-frame discrepancy that cannot be reconciled as the narrative stands. I'll avoid specifics in the hope that readers who are less detail conscious can pass right by it without notice. For me it was intrusive enough to preclude a five-star rating.
In all other ways, I highly recommend the book for people who like historical fiction written in a somewhat classical prose style. I even loved the way it ended, which is increasingly uncommon for me.
David Rocklin uses understated and often haunting prose to tell the story of 1830s colonial Ceylon and Catherine Colebrook, a woman obsessed with the possibilities of the emerging field of photography. When Eligius Shourie, a native Ceylonese boy, comes to the Colebrook home as a servant, he begins acting as Catherine's assistant in her struggle to make images permanent.
As political unrest and native uprisings threaten the British presence, Catherine and Eligius lose themselves in experiments of light and shadow, forging a bond considered unseemly given their respective social stations. Catherine almost seems to be using Eligius as a replacement for Hardy, her infant son whose death was the catalyst for her interest in photography.
This is a novel that has to grow on you. It becomes very atmospheric, but you have to be patient while that atmosphere develops. Rocklin won't spoon-feed you every morsel of information you might think you want right at the start. Details emerge as the story progresses, and gradually you come to understand the plight of the native people, the strange dynamics of the Colebrook family, and the no-man's-land where Eligius resides, as unwelcome among his own people as he is among the British.
The Luminist is a gorgeous novel, deserving of five stars in just about every way save one. It contains a time-frame discrepancy that cannot be reconciled as the narrative stands. I'll avoid specifics in the hope that readers who are less detail conscious can pass right by it without notice. For me it was intrusive enough to preclude a five-star rating.
In all other ways, I highly recommend the book for people who like historical fiction written in a somewhat classical prose style. I even loved the way it ended, which is increasingly uncommon for me.
November 29, 2011
Victorian England and Colonial Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) is the setting of this book. Catherine Colbrook and her love of photography, which was in its infancy, is the basis of this novel. The struggles of the natives in the face of British supremacy supplies the tension, yet it is the photography that joins Catherine and a native son in an enduring friendship. This novel is told in a haunting prose style that takes some getting used to but once one does the novel unfolds into an amazing story.
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May 8, 2012Favorite passage:
"On the eve of my trip abroad, my mother spoke to me. She said, 'A good mother should tell you to study, to regard art, to learn to speak of literature and verse.' But she didn't. Rather, she told me to learn to drink sherry and watch the world pass from the panes of cafes. She said I would feel wicked and unbridled and unique. I would watch the women walking alongside important men, tethered by the hands of their children. Women looking neither this way nor that. She told me I was young and arrogant, and that surely I would be certain that they never sat where I sat at the moment of their passing. They never saw what I saw. But one day I would understand why such women could not bring themselves to look around. For fear that they might see the likes of me in the window, and in me the girl they once imagined themselves to be."
"On the eve of my trip abroad, my mother spoke to me. She said, 'A good mother should tell you to study, to regard art, to learn to speak of literature and verse.' But she didn't. Rather, she told me to learn to drink sherry and watch the world pass from the panes of cafes. She said I would feel wicked and unbridled and unique. I would watch the women walking alongside important men, tethered by the hands of their children. Women looking neither this way nor that. She told me I was young and arrogant, and that surely I would be certain that they never sat where I sat at the moment of their passing. They never saw what I saw. But one day I would understand why such women could not bring themselves to look around. For fear that they might see the likes of me in the window, and in me the girl they once imagined themselves to be."
January 27, 2012
The Luminist by David Rocklin
ISBN: 978-0-9790188-7-9
Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts
Published 2011
Trade Paperback, 322 pages
This is an incredibly beautiful first novel with overlapping stories of the birth of photography, a moving, forbidden friendships, and the uprising against British dominance in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the 19-th century. It is based loosely on real-life photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
It is the tale of British-born 40-something Catherine Colebrook whose fascination, even obsession with the emerging science of photography puts her at odds with the prevailing attitudes about Victorian women. At a time when women are expected to be concerned with home and hearth, Catherine flouts convention. Society frowns on her and even her daughter, Julia, says “this nameless pursuit shouldn’t be yours…..it’s a man’s avocation. If father isn’t taking it up, it’s not for us to do so!” Enter a young Indian youth named Eligius, forced by the death of his father into servitude in the Colebrook home. He comes to share Catherine’s passion for photography and “the light box” as he calls the primitive camera. Thus is the stage set for a deeply felt platonic friendship, but one that is taboo in status-conscious, color-conscious Victorian Ceylon. Add to this mix the seething unrest among the people of Ceylon towards their British overlords and the reader is treated to a fascinating story.
I enjoyed the book for several reasons. The author is an excellent storyteller. I loved the story. He has an uncanny ability to evoke the beauty that is Ceylon, the customs and manners of the people, and the haughty attitudes of the British Raj while deftly describing the complex feelings of Catherine and Eligius. There are poignant descriptions of friendships that are truly touching. Apart from the storyline, what impressed me the most, however, is the author’s choice of words. Rather than saying, “there was a pile of papers near his desk”, the author offers, “an edifice of paper grew six inches from his desk.” Or what about “somewhere behind them, a roar went up. A great collapsing into the fire. Trees, maybe, dried to splitting, or the collective shudder of falling structures traveling across Ceylon’s air like the light of a far sun. Old by the time of its arrival, the remains of something already gone into history.”
The word “luminist” comes from a word the root meaning of which is literally “drawing with light.” The author succeeds in doing that by his elegant words that enlighten and illuminate places, people, and times.
ISBN: 978-0-9790188-7-9
Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts
Published 2011
Trade Paperback, 322 pages
This is an incredibly beautiful first novel with overlapping stories of the birth of photography, a moving, forbidden friendships, and the uprising against British dominance in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the 19-th century. It is based loosely on real-life photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
It is the tale of British-born 40-something Catherine Colebrook whose fascination, even obsession with the emerging science of photography puts her at odds with the prevailing attitudes about Victorian women. At a time when women are expected to be concerned with home and hearth, Catherine flouts convention. Society frowns on her and even her daughter, Julia, says “this nameless pursuit shouldn’t be yours…..it’s a man’s avocation. If father isn’t taking it up, it’s not for us to do so!” Enter a young Indian youth named Eligius, forced by the death of his father into servitude in the Colebrook home. He comes to share Catherine’s passion for photography and “the light box” as he calls the primitive camera. Thus is the stage set for a deeply felt platonic friendship, but one that is taboo in status-conscious, color-conscious Victorian Ceylon. Add to this mix the seething unrest among the people of Ceylon towards their British overlords and the reader is treated to a fascinating story.
I enjoyed the book for several reasons. The author is an excellent storyteller. I loved the story. He has an uncanny ability to evoke the beauty that is Ceylon, the customs and manners of the people, and the haughty attitudes of the British Raj while deftly describing the complex feelings of Catherine and Eligius. There are poignant descriptions of friendships that are truly touching. Apart from the storyline, what impressed me the most, however, is the author’s choice of words. Rather than saying, “there was a pile of papers near his desk”, the author offers, “an edifice of paper grew six inches from his desk.” Or what about “somewhere behind them, a roar went up. A great collapsing into the fire. Trees, maybe, dried to splitting, or the collective shudder of falling structures traveling across Ceylon’s air like the light of a far sun. Old by the time of its arrival, the remains of something already gone into history.”
The word “luminist” comes from a word the root meaning of which is literally “drawing with light.” The author succeeds in doing that by his elegant words that enlighten and illuminate places, people, and times.
October 13, 2011
Catherine, one of the main characters, is eerily obsessed with the possibilities of photography. She takes it a little too far, but this quality serves to make the novel even more interesting. Eligius is employed as a servant and quickly becomes Catherine's assistant. He facilitates her obsession.
In the midst of political strife and constant problems, Catherine and Eligius develop a deep bond. Eligius is a calm, inspiring presence to Catherine while she almost acts as a mother to him. Eligius, however, is in an odd situation. The reader will quickly find out he is not wanted among his own people or the British, making his connection to Catherine all the more appealing. The reader will learn more about his situation and the situation of the native people throughout this novel.
This book will capture and hold the reader's interest. The events are unusual, slow in some places while fast in others as needed. This book is recommended to adults.
In the midst of political strife and constant problems, Catherine and Eligius develop a deep bond. Eligius is a calm, inspiring presence to Catherine while she almost acts as a mother to him. Eligius, however, is in an odd situation. The reader will quickly find out he is not wanted among his own people or the British, making his connection to Catherine all the more appealing. The reader will learn more about his situation and the situation of the native people throughout this novel.
This book will capture and hold the reader's interest. The events are unusual, slow in some places while fast in others as needed. This book is recommended to adults.
Read
February 24, 2012Another abandoned. I got about a hundred pages in and realized I didn't give one fig about any of the characters or have any interest in seeing what happened to them. Despite it being about the birth of photography, I had to put it down and go take a real picture instead.
September 2, 2013
Beautiful, lyrical, but character and story driven, Rocklin's book sucks you into a world of discovery, unrest and growth as cultures clash and rebellion brews beneath the captivating discovery of early photography.
August 1, 2019
Sorry, but I did not find the writing style enjoyable. I read about the woman from whom the story is based on in Wikipedia and then didn't have the stamina to finish reading.
April 30, 2013
"The thing I do, she thought. May it tie a bit of light to we who come into the world already on the path to departing it. Just a bit of light so we can be seen a little while after we're gone.
"Now," she said.
They coated the glass with sodium hyposulfite, then bathed it. She felt the burning sink through her skin, running into her blood like groundwater.
Positioning the plate inside the warren, she lit more candles and put a mirror next to the light, intensifying it. Julia's image came in a thin cumulus. Haze from the smoking candles came with her, wrapping her glassed face in a gray fog. Her eyes glistened with silver and steel. Her image did not leave." (page 222)
My Thoughts
The Colebrook Family consists of wife, Catherine who is married to her husband Charles, their daughter Julia and twin sons. Within this subtext alone lies two parallel problems; the marriage of Charles and Catherine Colebrook is a tempestuous one mainly down to Catherine insisting upon choosing her own life path even though her husband is against it and cannot handle it. They are feeling the economic constraints of nineteenth century living. Catherine takes her twin boys, still quite young, one during infancy and one a toddler, and travels alone with them to meet her husband who is living with their teenage daughter, Julia. This is how we meet Catherine, who is not written to gain our sympathy, sometimes, most times, unlikeable, choosing her ‘obsession’ with this new medium called ‘photography’ and putting her own selfish needs first. Somehow, due to David Rocklin’s sublime writing style the reader does not give up on Catherine. We follow her throughout her life beginning in 1836 Ceylon and coming full circle in a house called ‘Dimbola’ on the Isle of Wight in 1902.
Yes, there are many clever and obvious parallels with the life of pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron including place names as locations and even chapter titles i.e. ‘For Life, Dimbola, Pillars of Smoke, Canvases, Mother and Child’, should be familiar as photograph titles of Cameron’s own works.
The Colebrooks have a second problem, their fifteen year old servant, Eligius harbors a secret crush on their daughter Julia which becomes escalated as rage when Julia is courted by an arrogant English artist. Everything changes and the plot deepens taking the reader to such heights you barely know who to trust, who is telling the truth, whose secret is more dangerous and perilous and what in heavens name is going to happen next!
I especially loved and appreciated and hoped for an appearance by one of Julia Margaret Cameron’s (and Catherine’s) most notable and favorite friends, and my love, Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate.
"REALLY, CATHERINE, IT'S ENOUGH THAT I'M MADE TO sit stock still for these interminable hours, robed like a dirty monk. Must I stare at that photograph, of all the images I might behold? It's not appropriate and should be put away, out of proper sight."
Catherine smiled at the familiar lament. Lord Tennyson was far from the first to complain at the discomfort caused by the photograph hanging on the cottage wall. Sin made permanent, he'd dubbed it upon seeing it for the first time, bringing his considerable poetic gifts to bear.
Lord Tennyson was one such patron. A great man, among London's eminent. Yet he was no different in his sensibility regarding the photograph on the wall, and deserved no different response from that which she always gave.
Touching the image of Eligius and Julia, she said, "this moment shall never be made a secret."
'Very well. But must I sit much longer?"
"Not long." (pages 319/20)
"Now," she said.
They coated the glass with sodium hyposulfite, then bathed it. She felt the burning sink through her skin, running into her blood like groundwater.
Positioning the plate inside the warren, she lit more candles and put a mirror next to the light, intensifying it. Julia's image came in a thin cumulus. Haze from the smoking candles came with her, wrapping her glassed face in a gray fog. Her eyes glistened with silver and steel. Her image did not leave." (page 222)
My Thoughts
The Colebrook Family consists of wife, Catherine who is married to her husband Charles, their daughter Julia and twin sons. Within this subtext alone lies two parallel problems; the marriage of Charles and Catherine Colebrook is a tempestuous one mainly down to Catherine insisting upon choosing her own life path even though her husband is against it and cannot handle it. They are feeling the economic constraints of nineteenth century living. Catherine takes her twin boys, still quite young, one during infancy and one a toddler, and travels alone with them to meet her husband who is living with their teenage daughter, Julia. This is how we meet Catherine, who is not written to gain our sympathy, sometimes, most times, unlikeable, choosing her ‘obsession’ with this new medium called ‘photography’ and putting her own selfish needs first. Somehow, due to David Rocklin’s sublime writing style the reader does not give up on Catherine. We follow her throughout her life beginning in 1836 Ceylon and coming full circle in a house called ‘Dimbola’ on the Isle of Wight in 1902.
Yes, there are many clever and obvious parallels with the life of pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron including place names as locations and even chapter titles i.e. ‘For Life, Dimbola, Pillars of Smoke, Canvases, Mother and Child’, should be familiar as photograph titles of Cameron’s own works.
The Colebrooks have a second problem, their fifteen year old servant, Eligius harbors a secret crush on their daughter Julia which becomes escalated as rage when Julia is courted by an arrogant English artist. Everything changes and the plot deepens taking the reader to such heights you barely know who to trust, who is telling the truth, whose secret is more dangerous and perilous and what in heavens name is going to happen next!
I especially loved and appreciated and hoped for an appearance by one of Julia Margaret Cameron’s (and Catherine’s) most notable and favorite friends, and my love, Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate.
"REALLY, CATHERINE, IT'S ENOUGH THAT I'M MADE TO sit stock still for these interminable hours, robed like a dirty monk. Must I stare at that photograph, of all the images I might behold? It's not appropriate and should be put away, out of proper sight."
Catherine smiled at the familiar lament. Lord Tennyson was far from the first to complain at the discomfort caused by the photograph hanging on the cottage wall. Sin made permanent, he'd dubbed it upon seeing it for the first time, bringing his considerable poetic gifts to bear.
Lord Tennyson was one such patron. A great man, among London's eminent. Yet he was no different in his sensibility regarding the photograph on the wall, and deserved no different response from that which she always gave.
Touching the image of Eligius and Julia, she said, "this moment shall never be made a secret."
'Very well. But must I sit much longer?"
"Not long." (pages 319/20)
January 20, 2019
This is quite an interesting read-- Ceylon & India in the 1830's, when British rule was absolute & usually quite cruel to the native people living there. An English woman lives there w/her much older husband, once a director of the British company that pretty much pillages the land, keeping the profits from produce & resources for themselves & taxing the horribly poor townspeople til they have nothing left. She has lost the twin of her surviving son at birth, now abt 6-7 yrs old and has an older teen daughter, Julia. The story(based on the real life photographer Julia Margaret Cameron) is about the woman's obsession with the infant science of photography, when they used terrible chemicals & glass plates & it took a gigantic effort to create even one usable print that wld not fade away. She is grieving her lost son, & her sick husband who is not long for this world, trying to make images that will capture the people she loves when she meets a native boy, Eligius, whose father was killed by British soldiers for speaking up for Ceylon's rights. He goes to work as a servant for this family & ends up helping Catherine w/her photography, creating a newer & better way to capture images & light, and eventually becoming her friend. But to everyone else, he is a presumptuous heathen. This story was beautifully written, haunting & sometimes difficult to understand, but quite compelling. The phrasing & some of the words used were unfamiliar, but they did evoke a very different time & place and a Victorian sensibility. When chaos reigns & the Ceylonese people finally rise up & start to set fire to homes & kill English, the family must leave & figure out how to go back to England & survive, leaving Eligius to find his own way. Highly recommended.
June 17, 2012
The Illuminist tells the story of Catherine, who is based on the British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. I did not know anything about Cameron but she took photographs in the mid-1800s, and was well known for the portraits that she took. The real Ms. Cameron really did live in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where The Illuminist takes place but not until she was much older. It was interesting to me that Cameron was used as a model for the book (the cover is one of Cameron's portraits), yet she was only a basis for the character. I found myself wondering about why the author chose to write a story in this way.
There is also another underlying tone of the battle between the classes. Catherine is British and there are many other British characters in the book and many of them (perhaps Catherine not included) seem to be pitted against the native people of Ceylon. They think that they are much more civilized and smart than the native people and don't mind saying so out loud. Even though there is a hint of this tone, the author talks about it but really doesn't discuss it or explore it fully. I wish that the author had explored it a little further.
The writing is definitely beautiful and I enjoyed it. The book got a little slow for me though. Even though there is a bit of tension in the book (see the previous paragraph), there is not really a story arc. The book is great for its sense of setting but action isn't really there.
Bottom line: This is a great book for those who like sort of slice of life stories.
There is also another underlying tone of the battle between the classes. Catherine is British and there are many other British characters in the book and many of them (perhaps Catherine not included) seem to be pitted against the native people of Ceylon. They think that they are much more civilized and smart than the native people and don't mind saying so out loud. Even though there is a hint of this tone, the author talks about it but really doesn't discuss it or explore it fully. I wish that the author had explored it a little further.
The writing is definitely beautiful and I enjoyed it. The book got a little slow for me though. Even though there is a bit of tension in the book (see the previous paragraph), there is not really a story arc. The book is great for its sense of setting but action isn't really there.
Bottom line: This is a great book for those who like sort of slice of life stories.
November 27, 2013
This book tied together two of my favorite things Sri Lanka and photography, Half of my family is from Sri Lanka, so I'm always on the lookout for literature from my parents' and grandparents' day.
I also read this book while I was discovering macro photography, so it's doubly important to me.
As a number of other reviewers have pointed out, this is a fictional account of photographer Julia Margaret Cameron who partners with a young boy to realize her dream of fixing moments in time that are more real, more immediate, than the painted portrait.
The writing is sublime and David Rocklin knows how to stand back and allow his characters to take over. It's a love affair over a concept -- an exciting discovery, and one riddled with dangers: social expectations of the day, the toxic effects of "developing" the first pictures, the race against time to "fix" the picture.
While I was completely enmeshed in the story, I was equally riveted by the exploration of ideas: frustrations of discovery, the machine as part of the New Age, the machine as art-maker, youth/old age overlapping in the making of art, and so on. All of this set during an exciting period of not-that-far-off history.
So looking forward to his next book.
I also read this book while I was discovering macro photography, so it's doubly important to me.
As a number of other reviewers have pointed out, this is a fictional account of photographer Julia Margaret Cameron who partners with a young boy to realize her dream of fixing moments in time that are more real, more immediate, than the painted portrait.
The writing is sublime and David Rocklin knows how to stand back and allow his characters to take over. It's a love affair over a concept -- an exciting discovery, and one riddled with dangers: social expectations of the day, the toxic effects of "developing" the first pictures, the race against time to "fix" the picture.
While I was completely enmeshed in the story, I was equally riveted by the exploration of ideas: frustrations of discovery, the machine as part of the New Age, the machine as art-maker, youth/old age overlapping in the making of art, and so on. All of this set during an exciting period of not-that-far-off history.
So looking forward to his next book.
September 9, 2012
An interesting story about the beginnings of photography and loosely based on the work of Julia Margaret Cameron. Catherine Colebrook, the young wife of Charles, a once important British man, is not like the other British women in colonial Ceylon in the mid-1800's. She passionately follows her fascination with making successful photographic images. Reduced to near poverty they take on a young Eligius as a servant. He soon becomes a willing and knowledgeable apprentice with a very good understanding of light. His close connection with the Colebrooks and refusals to betray them and side with his fellow villagers leaves him without a friend or anyone who will trust him except Catherine, Charles and their daughter Julia. There is a political thread throughout the novel too. The unjust treatment of the natives by the colonists, their religious differences and the unrest and retaliations of the villagers adds another dimension.
March 10, 2016
A woman's inward journey through the ostensibly outward prism of a photographer's lens is, at least on the surface, the core engine of Rocklin's gorgeous, first novel. But THE LUMINIST dares to ask so many more philosophical questions of its characters and settings that it would be wrong simply to label it as a period-based tale of awakening. THE LUMINIST is at once a triumph of historical fiction, an all-too-relevant critique on class distinction, and a deeply-felt perspective on the cultural divides between not only its protagonists, but so many of us who dare to step outside our comfort zones. Highly, highly, recommend!
October 24, 2011
The Luminist,is the story of Catherine Colebrook, the proper wife of a fading diplomat and Eligius, an Indian teenager, who becomes the Colebrook's servant when his father is killed demanding native rights. The story takes place in colonial Ceylon and is a story of both Catherine's obsession with the science of photography and Eligius's struggle with the place that society has relegated him to. Their stories are interwoven and it is an interesting look at that time in history. I liked the character of Eligius but I thought Catherine was a little weird...a little too obsessed for my liking!
January 14, 2016
This was a really poetic, romantic novel about a character like Julia Margaret Cameron in Ceylon told through her character, her family, and a young Ceylon man named Eligius. Very moody, well-paced, and beautifully told.
The detail is impressive, even if it's all completely made up - it made me want to run out and read a biography of Cameron at the very least.
Can't wait to see what else the author comes up with.
The detail is impressive, even if it's all completely made up - it made me want to run out and read a biography of Cameron at the very least.
Can't wait to see what else the author comes up with.
March 10, 2015
Ceylon and British colonialism
The story has been told with emphasis on the connection between the people of Ceylon and their conquerors, the British.
Loving historical fiction and the impact it has on my awareness of the world is why I chose "The Luminist." I had no idea that I would also be learning about the early days of photography.
David Rocklin will have a difficult task in writing another story with as much passion.
The story has been told with emphasis on the connection between the people of Ceylon and their conquerors, the British.
Loving historical fiction and the impact it has on my awareness of the world is why I chose "The Luminist." I had no idea that I would also be learning about the early days of photography.
David Rocklin will have a difficult task in writing another story with as much passion.
February 5, 2012
I found this book sparingly beautiful, aninterweaving/juxtaposition of places and people and the advent of technology. There were details I wanted to know and some of the prose was a bit stilted, requiring me to read it again to make sure I understood. The characters and emotions it evoked in me were lovely and I wanted to linger over them.
September 8, 2013
There were a ton of typos in the e-book, as well as a few unclear bits or mistakes (at one point someone tosses a cord of wood in the stove--that's right, she just tosses 128 cubic ft of wood in the stove). Nonetheless, I really liked this novel. The descriptions of the photography process were beautiful, and I liked the characters despite their flaws.
July 28, 2015
I wanted to like this book--the concept was very interesting. But the main character, Catherine, was so inconsistent I had trouble even remotely understanding her. At times she was progressive and empowered to the extreme; at other times she was snobbish and moralistic, also to the extreme. I love complex characters who keep me guessing, but this was, well, extreme!
June 27, 2015
One of the most beautiful books I have ever come across. When I had the good fortune to hear Mr. Rocklin read from his novel, I was surprised to learn that he had never been to Sri Lanka. Obviously, he couldn't have visited during the period in which the book takes place, but the authenticity of his research and his characters convey a love and understanding of all he describes. Bravo.
January 24, 2012
I, for some certainly shallow and deficient character flaw in myself, could not make it throughout this heavy, oppressive novel despite the subject matter. Maybe I'll give it another go in a year or two.
November 3, 2011
Beautifully written, haunting, with fully rounded characters on every page. I loved it!
January 22, 2012
Interesting Story
April 12, 2012
I love the way Rocklin weaves history of photography with political history of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
July 31, 2012
A beautifully realized work! So glad I found this literary treasure!
April 9, 2014
difficult to identify who is speaking - confusing - but interesting & some beautiful phrases
January 31, 2014
This was an interesting book to read. The photography aspect of it - I had to look up afterwards for more information about the process used. The setting and story was thought provoking.
July 5, 2016
Interesting subject--a 19th century woman in India pioneering photography.
January 14, 2013
Enjoyable book about breaking social conventions in Colonial India.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews