"A literary exploration of humanity in the context of connection, evolution and technological advancement. Madeline and James, two travellers meet on a journey through the mountains of New Zealand. "
A literary exploration of humanity in the context of connection, evolution and technological advancement. Madeline and James, two travellers meet on a journey through the mountains of New Zealand. They find an instant connection discussing poetry, communication, feeling and meaning and decide to travel on together. They grow closer and we learn more about each character, their backgrounds and what drives them. Simultaneously we also follow Samuel Butler, who lived and worked as a farmer in the same region in the 19th century. Samuel is educated but to an unsatisfactory level and so is sent to New Zealand for the opportunities there. While having moderate success, he also continues to pursue academic subjects that interest him, keeping personal journals and writing anonymous articles with ideas that are before his time. As these stories progress they regularly expound on arguments pertaining to language, philosophy, what it means to be human and what man-made advancements and developments like technology and robotics could mean for humanity in the future. It’s interesting that this book is all about communication and understanding. Language, its origins and how it’s interpreted often crops up in conversation between the characters but it’s also built into the story itself. Revell writes The Ineffable Geometry of Light without speech marks or the more typical paragraphing structure used to denote a conversation when following Madeline and James, creating a structural development in language as the time periods shift in the book. All of the characters in the book are likeable but they’re also multi-faceted and bring more dimension to the overall story. Madeline is nuanced as she plays a role of student to James’ explanations on language, while also offering her own encyclopedic knowledge to the conversation. James is in a teaching role but his personal journey is one of strength and endurance, the trek being both pilgrimage and somehow an atonement as he consciously tries to take the more difficult path. Samuel seeks understanding throughout the book, on his readings and also understanding about his own identity. The philosophising is on the denser side. I would say that The Ineffable Geometry of Light is a book better suited to literary readers keen to be taken on a thought provoking journey to explore purpose, humanity and possibilities for the future with a cast of amiable characters and a pace perfectly suited to ponder the ideas put forward.
Charlotte Walker, A LoveReading Ambassador
| Primary Genre | Indie Author Books |
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