Reading the Chunksters discussion

This thread covers parts III and IV of the book. Please don't spoil the rest of the book.

...and this is where the Luminaries lost most of my interest. Boo. I knew from the title that the major players had to be Anna and Emery, and was thinking they were going to be long-lost twins or something. I really don't like that the bullet Anna shot herself with somehow shot Emery from who knows where, Anna's addiction is fed by Emery somehow and not herself. I wanted this to all be a "real" mystery with logic and rational explanations. I tend to not be a fan of magic or supernatural or magical realism or any of those genres, so this really knocks the book down a peg for me. Oh well.

Onwards, I suppose.

So anyways, now that Emery is found and alive (and hopefully stays that way), I wonder what direction the story will take now. It seems like it will unravel quite quickly because he seems to be the center of much that was still confusing, but there is quite a large chunk of the book still remaining.

I thought he was supposed to be hiding in the room when the gun went off, and that's why the didn't find the bullet? A lot of the timeline got blurred to me, at least as far as the events after Moody's arrival. But it's been interesting to see the timeline from Anna and Emery's arrival, since that's all new information.

What actually was the most mentally challenging to me was in the hearing proceedings that SOME of the truth was revealed, as far as all the characters from the Crown meeting, but not ALL of it, and Moody had to pick and choose what to reveal, and what to mislead or even lie about.

The most unrealistic part of the whole thing to me was that the prosecutor never directly asks Anna if she signed the deed. Wouldn't he point-blank ask her that, forcing herself to tell the truth or perjure herself? Or was it a hearing where she could choose not to answer the question?

I'm still confused about all of the doings between the Aurora and the Arahura mines, because one sounds like a mispronunciation of the other. But I guess that's the point.

And while we don't know who did it, finally Carver gets a least part of his due! What a scoundrel! And Lydia Greenway/Wells/Carver makes me sick... she represents some of the most horrible aspects of the sex trade industry, using emotional manipulation and coercion to trick girls into the "trade" and keeping them enslaved...and being a woman herself, it's all the worse, IMO. Devious, horrible woman!

I can't say I entirely like Lauderback at this point. He reveals that he was possibly going to meet Mr. Wells upon coming into town, but nothing about the prior correspondence or that he knew he was related to Mr. Wells. He's not entirely innocent, in my book, no matter how the rest goes down.

I don't know if I like Emery Stains or not. He seems mostly to be just a very naive kid, but he's caused a lot of problems and confusion as a result of his actions.

However, I feel like most of my questions and concerns will probably be addressed in the final section, so I'll reserve my judgment for the end of the book.

One thing: was anyone else confused by the multiple names for all of the Chinese characters? Obviously the "Johnny" was a racial slur used, but the "Ah Sook" vs. the real name? Is that a common nickname?

Just a question, I don't know because I don't have my book anymore, but was the trial and parts about Carver and Lydia in this section? I thought it was next section, and those parts might be a spoiler for people who haven't finished yet.

And I don't know that I like Staines or Lauderback, either, but I don't know that I liked any character, really. I didn't particularly dislike most of them, but I felt no strong feelings either way.

Also, about the Chinese characters, they mention at one point that "ah" means "mr" for the chinese, so that really cleared that up for me. I can't remember AT ALL where that part might have been and my book has already been returned, so I can't check. :-)

Yeah, the trial was in this section (I think? lol I was reading through it so fast by that point!)

Thank you about the names! I was getting confused by that, but it was probably in section when I'd set the book down for awhile before picking it up again, and just forgot all of those details.

I agree, I don't know that any of these characters comes out looking completely pleasant by the end, but as one of you said (in another section?), it's pretty much like life! We're not all just black or white, we're a whole mix of a lot of colors and "dark and light side." More realistic that way.