Luminarium

The premise of this work is unique and, on the surface, looks promising. The protagonist is grappling with his twin brother's sickness and how that impacts his reality. He undergoes a type of experimental therapy and engages with family members about the meaning of life and what it means to hold out hope. There are powerful themes and ideas throughout, and Shakar engages these in a way different from most authors.The problem with the book is that the premise and, ultimately, the characters quickly become aimless and not much happens. This would not be a problem if the characters themselves were interesting and engaged in doing interesting things, but they're not ... at all. They are tedious and somewhat pathetic, and page after page highlights their impotence over and over. No of them seem to advance, to grow, or to truly experience anything from the first page to the last.Usually in a novel of ideas, the ideas lead somewhere profound or startling. Sadly, in this case, because the plot goes nowhere the ideas within lose their potency as a reader loses his or her interest.

With its blend of technology and spirituality, Alex Shakar's latest novel grabbed my attention early. I read as fast as I could while savoring the author's singular metaphors and well-honed style. However, this spiritual novel's muddled ending made me wonder if I'd wolfed it down too quickly and missed the meat of the story.I loved Shakar's initial premise: Use cutting-edge technology to explore a blend of quantum mechanics, Buddhist and Hindu traditions, reiki, and other spiritual practices to develop spirituality based on "faith without ignorance." To do so, a neurological research scientist stimulates specific regions of Fred's brain to trigger spiritual experiences. Fred studies various spiritual traditions, particularly Hindu mythology, to come to terms with his experiences. Shakar examines each extraordinary event through the lens of both cutting-edge science and spirituality, creating fascinating contrasts and comparisons but rarely any contradictions. Fred eventually lands on the Zen concept of "mu," which he interprets as doubting everything, as a path to enlightenment. He also explores samsara, the concept of existence as a divine, all-encompassing game."Luminarium" makes unexpected and compelling connections between a number of fascinating themes - spirituality, computer gaming, quantum theory, Hindu and Buddhist practices, twin experiences, even 9/11 and magic shows. I wanted to love this as a spiritual novel, and mostly I did. Shakar's prose is sleek and polished, studded with arresting metaphors and juxtapositions. The idea that these seemingly unrelated storylines could be woven together into a brilliant tapestry of meaning kept me reading, even when the story began to bog down in Hindu mythology and 9/11 reminiscences.In the end, however, a clear picture never emerged; the various story threads knotted into a confused snarl of insights that lacked enough context to illuminate me, so to speak. From my limited knowledge of Buddhist practice, I suspect that when Fred retreats into mu meditation he progresses through the traditional stages of Zen enlightenment. Shakar also takes the idea of samsara literally, placing Fred and his twin in a virtual reality game to play out their karmic issues. Perhaps someone with more dharma knowledge could follow all the threads and discover the hidden truths. For me, however, the novel posed too many questions and resolved too few. This spiritual thriller engaged my intellect, but the ending left an emotional void.

"Luminarium" is an ambitious novel that, miraculously, both embraces spiritual quests of all kinds, yet also pokes fun at the oddities of enlightenment searches. It's a wild ride: a brother in a coma, a 'stolen' company, a magician father. What makes this book fly is that it's simply fun to read. There are hundreds of hilarious moments, and the book's spiritual quests are just part of this incredible book. Anyone interested in the human condition will find this book richly rewarding.

I just finished this book and I'm wordless, yet apparently writing words. It's rare to be so wrapped up with the people, the city, the time, the language, the beauty, the spirituality, the wisdom, the humor, and, of course, the quantum physics of a book that you can't wait to finish and don't want to end. The themes, the beauty, the language, really--this book just blew me away. I wish I could be more specific, but I'm thrilled that I knew nothing about the book except that somewhere or other I'd read a review admiring Shakar's work. This is a book I will want to read again in a few years when I am perhaps wiser, more evolved, or just ready to face the sweet challenge of a book that knows so much more than I do with characters I want to invite over for a vegetarian dinner, with some magic for dessert.

One of the best novels I've read in years. Hands down amazing. It asks big questions without pretending to have easy answers. It's humorous, prophetic, quirky, serious, profound, and smart – often at once. The whole thing is begging to be made into a film of uncommon brilliance. I hope this book finds every reader that it can.

Skakar is very meticulous and skilled at writing a supernatural thriller in a way that qualifies it as "hard science fiction." Bravo for empiricism! But it was also depressing. If I were a fan of stories about sad people (many people are), I would have given this 5 stars.

Shakar is a terrific writer, and he's been away too long. I don't want to ruin anything about this book, but the only spoiler I will offer is that you won't be able to put this down.

Interesting to compare this to McCann's Let the Great World Spin. Both are love songs to New York and deal with 911 in an oblique way. Both have controversial and risky endings which some will hate. Both have great humour. I enjoyed the software company and spirituality references. It is sad but true to life that all the mysticism is ultimately denied. There is no easy technological answer for these questions.