The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton

hmmm .... I'm trying to read this book because it has won the Booker prize, but so far, at page 99, I have to say, I'm underwhelmed.
The book so far seems to move at a glacially slow pace. The author has a distressing tendency to address the reader, which I dislike because it prevents me from losing myself in the world of the book, and continuously reminds me of the author's presence. The writing is very 'telly' which I'm also not fond of. I prefer to be 'shown' a character, or to discover them for myself, rather than having them described at length by the author.
I'm also struggling to place the book in New Zealand. This may be because it's set in very early New Zealand where the European people were mostly recent immigrants from Britain, but so far I'm missing any New Zealand flavour to the book, other than place names.
I'm determined to persevere though, so I'll keep you posted on how the story develops and whether it improves. I must say though, at this point, if it hadn't won a prize, I would probably not have bothered to press on with it.