Luminarium

By Alex Shakar

Fred Brounian and his twin brother, George, were once co-CEOs of a burgeoning New York City software company devoted to the creation of utopian virtual worlds. Now, in the summer of 2006, as two wars rage and the fifth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, George has fallen into a coma, control of the company has been wrenched away by a military contracting conglomerate, and Fred has moved back in with his parents. Broke and alone, he’s led by an attractive woman, Mira, into a neurological study promising to give him "peak" experiences and a newfound spiritual outlook on life. As the study progresses, lines between the subject and the experimenter blur, and reality becomes increasingly porous. Meanwhile, Fred finds himself caught up in what seems at first a cruel prank: a series of bizarre emails and texts that purport to be from his comatose brother.

Moving between the research hospitals of Manhattan, the streets of a meticulously planned Florida city, the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and the uncanny, immersive worlds of urban disaster simulation;  threading through military listserv geek-speak, Hindu cosmology, the maxims of outmoded self-help books and the latest neuroscientific breakthroughs, Luminarium is a brilliant examination of the way we live now, a novel that’s as much about the role technology and spirituality play in shaping our reality as it is about the undying bond between brothers, and the redemptive possibilities of love.

"Luminarium is dizzyingly smart and provocative, exploring as it does the state of the present, of technology, of what is real and what is ephemeral. But the thing that separates Luminarium from other books that discuss avatars, virtual reality and the like is that Alex Shakar is committed throughout with trying, relentlessly, to flat-out explain the meaning of life. This book is funny, and soulful, and very sad, but so intellectually invigorating that you'll want to read it twice." — Dave Eggers

"This fascinating, hilarious novel, though set in the past, is the story of the future: technology has outlapped us, reality is blinking on and off like a bad wireless connection,  the ones we love are nearby in one sense, but far away in another. Yet at the book’s galloping heart, it’s the story of what one man is willing to go through to find—in our crowded, second-rate space—something like faith. This novel is sharp, original, and full of energy—obviously the work of a brilliant mind.” — Deb Olin Unferth, author of Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781569479766

Alex Shakar

Alex Shakar's novel The Savage Girl was selected as a New York Times Notable Book and a Booksense 76 Pick, and has been translated into six foreign languages. His story collection City in Love was selected as an Independent Presses Editors' Pick of the Year. A native of Brooklyn, he currently lives in Chicago with his composer wife, Olivia Block.

Reviews for Luminarium

[macescamilla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the premise of this book, for sure, and related to the family dynamics. The philosophy and technology bits were a bit above my head, though. I read an uncopyedited ARC.

[muddyboy · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

An overly ambitious book that spins out of control and sputters to a finish. This book lacks focus and direction. Among the topics it includes are dreams, reality, magic, advanced video games 9 -11, Disney's town Celebration, Florida, a spirit enhancing football helmet of sorts, and on and on and on. The author trying to be cutting edge and creative but if at the end you ask yourself what have I gotten out of the book and your answer is confusion - I think its time to question why you read it. It is not that I am a dummy as I have 2 Master's Degrees but I really just scratched my head when I was done. 2 stats for readability and interesting characters.

[jasonpettus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)So before anything else, let me caution my fellow New Weird fans that Chicagoan Alex Shakar's Luminarium is not the trippy sci-fi novel that its cover, jacket copy and breathless Dave Eggers blurb promise it to be, and that those picking it up expecting it to be such are going to be severely disappointed, especially by the "anti-trick" ending that provides a rational explanation for all the bizarre things that happen before it. If what you're looking for, however, is an extremely clever and well-done character-heavy look at the zeitgeist of the Bush years, seen through the filter of such mid-2000s cultural detritus as virtual worlds, New Age mythology and the Disney-owned town of Celebration, Florida, then this Believer favorite is going to be right up your alley; because of all the 9/11 novels I've now read, this is arguably the best of them precisely because it takes such a sideways look at the subject, essentially sneaking up on the issue by instead concentrating on the co-founder of a Second-Life-type MMORPG that's been co-opted by Homeland Security, who rapidly unravels after starting to receive what seems like a series of otherworldly online messages from his comatose twin brother, while simultaneously participating in an academic neurological study that may or may not be slowly granting him psychic powers.Full of all kinds of wonderfully nerdy details sure to delight any metaphysical tech-head (for one great example, the '70s Cray supercomputer that one brother gives the other as an elaborate joke gift, which is then turned into the online-startup "Prayerizer.com" that will send billions of pleas to God per day on your behalf for a nominal fee), but combined with the kind of quirky character-building details that MFAers are always on the lookout for (like the main character's habit of still performing in cheesy magic shows for children's birthday parties with his stoner hippie dad), Shakar almost magically manages to pull together these and dozens more widely scattered references into one coherent whole by the end, ultimately delivering a profound message about the schism between faith and technology in a world of 3D avatars and planes slamming into skyscrapers. Although the book definitely has its problems, which is why it isn't getting a higher score today -- I would've liked to have seen less academic stream-of-consciousness, for example, and more Chabonesque action scenes, such as the wickedly great section where our punch-drunk hero rampages through the headquarters of his startup's new corporate masters -- Luminarium is nonetheless well worth your time, but only for those prepared to enjoy it for what it is instead of being disappointed for what it's not. It comes recommended in that spirit.Out of 10: 9.0

[elizabethanns_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not really sure what to say about this book. I couldn't stop reading, but I puzzled through it's twists and turns and as I finished the last page wondered if I shouldn't be starting again at the beginning.Worth the adventure.

[capewood · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Set in 2006, as the 5th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, this is the story of twin brothers who had a dream of creating a on-line gaming world. Their fledgling company got undermined by government contractors who wanted to use their unique technology to train soldiers. As the book begins, one of the brothers is in a coma due to cancer. The other brother is frantically trying to hold his company and his life together. It's kind of hard to describe the plot beyond that but I really enjoyed this book.

[jphamilton-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There were some intriguing concepts in this book that dance around some very interesting philosophical issues. There are also some very revealing looks into the world of computer gamers and the people who design those games. I’m the first to admit, my lack of any interest in, or tolerance for, gaming clouds my enjoyment of this book. No let me be clear—other than a current fascination with an online pool game (one ridiculously close to mimicking how bad I am at the actual physical game of pool)— I have only played a game or two on a computer in over fifty years. I'm an outsider looking in at something that's distasteful to him, like seeing Dick Nixon on the beach in Bermuda shorts and wingtips, with a metal detector ... well, like back when Dick was still alive ... because I imagine it would be even more distasteful with a dead Nixon. That’s it, Zombie Dick, it would be either a ghastly real life/death story, or a bad zombie porn flick. OK, I've gotten to a Nixon moment. I'm off my subject. This was a book that didn't work for me. Enough.