Luminosity

by Frank Mcenaney

A brilliant and uniquely crafted novel that is a joy ride from start to finish -- a tale of possession, obsession, and the interconnectedness of life.

The year is 1960 and two young men are in a darkroom. As they develop a series of prints, one photo is not what they expect. There is something odd about it. Something strange and luminous.

One unexpectedness leads to another.

And another.

At the heart of this adventurous novel are two Marilyn Monroe -- one of the most photogenic women of this century -- and Kate Barnes -- a young girl who is also astonishingly photogenic. Kate, however, rejects this gift and in doing so moves further and further from civilization -- deep into the woods -- where, unseen, she controls the action of the story.

As the Sixties tumble by, the two young men become increasingly obsessed with the strangeness of the photo. Their separate quests for luminosity lead one of them higher and higher into a spiritual realm, while the other sinks lower and lower into addiction and self-destruction. But these two apparently separate journeys are really one. The same journey that all of us must make towards finding enlightenment in the ordinary and the everyday.

519 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book in high school and I have never forgotten it. I recently stumbled across a copy in a used bookstore and I am so happy that I did. Rereading it was like getting together with a friend that I haven't seen in many years and it being as if no time had passed at all. The story is so intriguing and memorable, it was as if I was calling it up out of the depths of my heart, not reading it for the first time in over 15 years. I love this book and can't recommend it enough. The writing is not spectacular, but it is not bothersome - it is the story that really captured me, even after all this time.

[Nicole Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not even the books size it's the fact that there's no chapters so it's just 500+ pages of paragraphs. And the plot is a tornado. A couple sections I really enjoyed but overall my stance on not liking Canadian literature remains.

[Karina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really liked the beginning & middle of this book. Basically, two friends find their own definition of luminosity as a photo they develop together as teens shows up as luminous in their dark room. One friend seeks to recapture Marilyn Monroe's lumonisty captured in her photos & goes insane trying to. He regains his sanity & marries the girl whose photo so captivated him at the start of the book. The other friend becomes involved in a series of photographs for "imprinting" where someone visualizes a photo in their head & tries to make it appear on a different photo (of their own face, usually). This friend goes off on a trip to some remote place & dies there. The one friend is protecting the other from the girl they both photographed as teens (he doesn't want her to get hurt & she's gone to live off in the wilderness to avoid becoming a model, acting).

The ending was very Buddhist & complicated, I found the ending difficult to read, as it was focusing on one character only which was frustrating as I still wanted to know what happened to the other 2 main characters, which they wrapped up, later, after the death, in a few pages.
I would NOT read this again & would not recommend it to someone either. It just got too convoluted at the end & was a bit of mess.

[Abby]

This book was absolutely incredible! The story was so captivating and incredibly written with so much thought and detail. It is beautifully written and the characters come to life, I just wish the ending was a bit easier to understand.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book a few years ago, thinking htat it might give me some insight into photography, and might spark some discussion between and friend and I. The description on the book jacket wasn't deceiving, exactly, but I interpreted it differently than it should have read. In theory, it's about 2 men who are involved in taking a photograph who realize its potential shortly afterward and spend their lives looking for the subject (a woman). That's not exactly what happens - it's kind of an epic without calling itself one. It follows the lives of 3 people, and the photograph is mentioned periodically.

[Cece G · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a strange book. But well written. I don't like reading things with magic or anything hinting of magic, but I couldn't say for sure that is what the unusual occurrences were. They could just be what the human mind is capable of if we were not limited.

[Tina Martel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually my second time reading this book and I obviously liked it enough to read it twice. Everything except the ending where I felt it started to try too hard to be something else. Until then it was a well written, romping good yarn.

[Alyssa Overton · Rating 5 out of 5]

High speed adventures in art of all forms. I highly recommend.