The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

 I will admit that I made it only halfway through this 827-page book before giving up. The setting was interesting: New Zealand during the gold rush in the 1800s. And the story starts with a rich man going missing and a prostitute found half dead who may (or may not) have been trying to commit suicide. So the story started off well. But then the author introduced so many main characters--most of them men and most of those men at least infatuated with the prostitute--that it was hard to keep everyone straight. And there was a whole astrological thing going on that I never did get. Plus the plot just kept going around in circles.

Since the story didn't seem to be going anywhere fast, and because I had a pile of other library books to read, I gave up. If anyone really loved this book, please let me know why.