Luminarium
Alex Shakar“Heady and engrossing... Shakar is such an engaging writer, bringing rich complications to the narrative... At times, Luminarium reads like a Christopher Nolan or Wachowski brothers movie as scripted by Don DeLillo.” - The New York Times Book Review
Twin brothers Fred and George Brounian were once co-CEOs of a New York City software company devoted to the creation of utopian virtual worlds. As two wars rage and the fifth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, George is in a coma; a military contracting conglomerate has wrenched control of the company away; and Fred has moved back in with his parents.
Broke and alone, Fred is led by an attractive woman into a neurological study promising to give him “peak” experiences and a newfound spiritual outlook on life. But as the study progresses, reality becomes increasingly porous - and he 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.
Luminarium is a brilliant examination of the way we live now, a novel as much about the role technology and spirituality play in shaping our reality as about the undying bond between brothers, and the redemptive possibilities of love.