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The Dazzle of Day

3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 · rating details · 161 ratings · 46 reviews

A New York Times Notable Book

The Dazzle of Day is a brilliant and widely celebrated mixture of mainstream literary fiction and hard SF. Molly Gloss turns her attention to the frontiers of the future, when the people of our over-polluted planet Earth voyage out to the stars to settle new worlds, to survive unknown and unpredictable hardships, and to make new human homes. Sp...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published March 15th 1998 by Tor Books (first published 1997)

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Nov 09, 2008 Lara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: earth, heart-breaking, women-gender

I have a special thing for Molly Gloss. Her books "Jump Off Creek" and "Outside the Gates" were both startling finds for me in high school. She even visited my English class once - an unusual bit of luck for a girl stranded in the smallest of small-town isolations - 19 people in my class, 17 of them boys. My English teacher took her and me out to lunch and she showed Gloss some of my writing. I was mortified, but she, at the very least, pretended to be impressed, inscribed a book for me, and urg...more I have a special thing for Molly Gloss. Her books "Jump Off Creek" and "Outside the Gates" were both startling finds for me in high school. She even visited my English class once - an unusual bit of luck for a girl stranded in the smallest of small-town isolations - 19 people in my class, 17 of them boys. My English teacher took her and me out to lunch and she showed Gloss some of my writing. I was mortified, but she, at the very least, pretended to be impressed, inscribed a book for me, and urged me to carry on with my writing. One of these days I'll track her down again and thank her. Even if the 16-year-old girl wasn't ready for the encouragement, the 32-year-old reminds herself of it daily.

This book is what reviewers often call "richly imagined." In a seemingly short number of pages, she unearths whole complex worlds full of introspective and believable humanity, the sort not often found in science fiction. Her meditation is less one of technology and more one of universals, of the persistence of human tendencies, human fears and loves and works, in the most unlikely of settings.

The plot is an escape from a broken world, a flight from a dying planet to a new one that spans hundreds of years and generations of humans aboard a living spaceship full of streams and fields and insects and all the necessary trappings of an agrarian existence. The most interesting aspects are that these people 1. are Quakers, and 2. speak Esperanto, an artificial language that never quite took root anywhere since its creation as a hopeful global lingua franca in the late nineteenth century.

I have little background in the beliefs and practices of the Quakers, other than a vague familiarity with their meeting styles and a consciousness of their contributions to civil rights and peace movements. I am impressed with their practice of shared silence, and the weight Gloss gives this form of consensus-shaping as a political and community model. I love that, even in fiction distant from our own contexts we still find reflection for our practices.

This is a heart-breaking book, in the way that life is heart-breaking. It is full of questions and rolling continuity rather than neat answers and ends. It is both very complete and totally open-ended, in a hopeful sort of way.

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Apr 14, 2011 Jeffrey Moll rated it 4 of 5 stars

There is a specific and positive tone within the language of The Dazzle of Day which gives it a different feeling than those felt towards the first set of novels. Adaptation within the community is the focus of the novel while it can be questioned that Survival of the Fittest would be a stronger argument. The Quakers escape the tragedy of the world because they are ‘worldly’ people which desire a place to expand humanity and survive. It is fitting that Quakers leave the earth and understand the...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars

An infuriating piece of science fiction, this novel while well written, is odd and at times hard to read. I enjoyed the way that the chapters were set up, with beginning and ending chapters that present the past and the future, and a storyline that follows specific characters, in a very specific order. But I generally disliked the lack of detail that is absent, in regards to the ships and the other common science fiction elements. While I can see why Gloss did this, changing the focus to the cha...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Olduvai rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, science-fiction, reading-the-world-challenge

Molly Gloss has written an intriguing, quiet book that speaks volumes in The Dazzle of Day. This is a very international book. Escaping from a dying Earth, Quakers from various countries (they speak Esperanto!) have found themselves a home on board the Dusty Miller, a self-sustaining but ageing spaceship. A crew has been sent out to explore a frozen planet as a possible future home. Bjoro is among the crew, and the planet isn’t something he’s prepared for:

“He had thought in the filmcards he had...more Molly Gloss has written an intriguing, quiet book that speaks volumes in The Dazzle of Day. This is a very international book. Escaping from a dying Earth, Quakers from various countries (they speak Esperanto!) have found themselves a home on board the Dusty Miller, a self-sustaining but ageing spaceship. A crew has been sent out to explore a frozen planet as a possible future home. Bjoro is among the crew, and the planet isn’t something he’s prepared for:

“He had thought in the filmcards he had studied of unbounded landscapes, of storms and snows and seas, there remained no surprises. It hadn’t occurred to him, the vast depth of the third dimension. He hadn’t thought he would fear the sky.”

The funny thing about The Dazzle of Day is that nothing seems to be happening, although things are actually happening. The crew crashes on the frozen planet, someone dies when out working on the sail, all major events that are but a sideline to the relationships, to the tales of the daily lives of these Quakers, such as Bjoro’s wife Joko and son Cejo, these people who work the fields, who cook in the kitchen houses, who take part in meetings and discuss their future on this frozen planet, who look after their families and each other.

“For 175 years they had gone on talking and thinking and making ready for leaving this world. They had lived for 175 years in a kind of suspended state, a continual waiting for change, but it was a balanced and deep-grounded condition, an equilibrium. They knew their world, root and branch, knew its history and its economies. The human life of the Miller and the life of its soil and its plants and animals revolved together, in a society that was well-considered, a community that was sustaining. Some people thought they had lived for 175 years in a world that was a kind of Eden.”

But there are no answers. Or at least the book doesn’t leave us with any firm ones.

The Dazzle of Day is a book best described in opposites. There is an ending, but it is not really the end. It is a story of beginnings and endings. The words are quiet, but also full of strength and understanding.(less)

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Dec 21, 2011 Shara (Calico Reaction) rated it 3 of 5 stars

So while I'm glad to have read this book, I can't say I'd recommend it to too many people. If you like literary SF, character-focused (but not character-driven), and richly described novels, you may find this to your liking. But this isn't something to be read by people expecting a fast-paced adventure with lots of shiny technology. Nor do I find this book to be a worthy successor to LeGuin. Certainly, there are LeGuin-esque moments here, but even LeGuin has more focused and stronger plotted nov...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Christy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: feminism-and-gender-studies, science-fiction-and-fantasy, dissertation

This book took some effort on my part. It took me days to get through the first half because the pacing was slow and I couldn't help but feel that nothing was happening (even though things were demonstrably happening).

The second half of the book is also slowly paced and has a distant, sort of meditative quality to it that takes you away from what is happening and into the characters' descriptions of what is happening and their thoughts and feelings about it. At times, this works well, with some...more

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Sep 19, 2011 Angus-Michel rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fantastic book. It's about a group of Esperanto-speaking Quakers (yes, I know, but listen) who board a generation starship (yes, I know, but bear with me) and set off for a possible earthlike planet. The bulk of the story takes place when they're nearly at their destination, and it's a fascinating exploration of what the journey has done to them, with the ingredients from when they left Earth (their ancestors were a mixed group of Quakers from all over the planet, including Japan, Scan...more

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Jul 09, 2010 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Quakers in space! This is different from most space colonization stories: Instead of a technology of warp speeds, the science is directed toward creating a balanced, sustainable ecosystem in the artificial environment that is sailing over a period of several generations toward a new planet. And, instead of a militaristic style of hierarchy (like Capt Kirk), it is a diverse and egalitarian society run by committees, Quaker style. Although I didn't always accept the author's ideas of what it would...more

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Oct 23, 2009 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had a hard time getting into this one, and all the esperanto thrown in didn't make it any easier. As soon as I got in the groove with one character, she'd switch and I'd have to really work to get back into the book. However, the last two chapters made it all worthwhile, especially the last chapter. It was so lyrical and evocative with the way she wove descriptions of the planet into the way it affected the culture and this character in particular. I loved that part.

I also got a kick out of le...more

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Oct 22, 2009 Silvio Curtis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The idea of this book is that a spacecraft full of Esperanto-speaking Quakers has made a two-century interstellar voyage to escape ecological catastrophe on Earth. The planet they arrive at is barely habitable, and they face the hard decision of how, or whether, to settle there. This could make an interesting story, but instead the book focuses on how all the characters go through various kinds of grief, resulting in a gloomy but uneventful plot that didn't interest me much. Still, the writing i...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Kara rated it 4 of 5 stars

This Sci-Fi novel by Gloss is probably one of the better stories I have read. Gloss makes us learn a whole new language along with a whole new way of life with this novel. The majority of the book takes place upon a torus, space station, and the people of the Dusty Miller are trying to find a new world after leaving earth. There are sailmenders for the solar sails and and farmers for the fields of crops. This novel requires all of imagination and concentration. I thought the set up of the chapte...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Jordan Masters rated it 3 of 5 stars

In Molly Gloss' science fiction, we follow a spacecraft known as the Dusty Miller as it traverses the stars in search of a habitable world. Earth has long since been rendered inhospitable, and in this work, we garner an appreciation for character interaction as the crew works its way to a new horizon. This novel might be a bit of an awkward read for some, as Gloss likes to use invented language and terms as many of her contemporaries did for science fiction, but these phrases don't get so in the...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Tyler Koslow rated it 2 of 5 stars

Although this book seemed to hold a plot that goes nowhere, Molly Gloss still uses perception to it's fullest potential. By using a new character point of view in every chapter, she is able to explore every aspect of the nature of these misplaced, space-travelling humans. She is able to address religion, society, and human nature with a full perspective thanks to the different accounts from her characters. The plot doesn't seem to have motion, rather it appears to be an account of the different...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Annalee rated it 5 of 5 stars

The prose is gorgeous and the characters themselves are engaging, but the real main character of the book is the community as a whole. In a Le Guin-esque fashion, Gloss drops the reader into the middle of a community of Quakers, introducing them the way an SF writer might introduce readers to a richly-detailed alien culture.

When folks ask me for a book about Quakerism, most are a little surprised when I recommend a Science Fiction novel. But this is one of my favorite novels, and it is hands-dow...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Gabriel Spencer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book is not very fast-paced. One reviewer noted that there weren't shiny new technologies to be gawked at. Well that's certainly true. I got lost in the frame of time; the author enjoyed reminiscing and blurred the edges of the present moment with that of the past in an annoying way. I felt steamrolled by the volume of emotional sensibility and stifled by the lack of transition. In a very strange way it reminds me of Faulkner's book the Sound and the Fury. In this case I'm deprived of my sen...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Wealhtheow rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of introspective barely-sf about aging, God, etc

Shelves: disabled-character, pocmaincharacters, queer-characters, sci-fi

A loose, slow-paced novel about a small colony of Quakers who have finally arrived at a habital planet after 175 years in transit. Slowly but surely, they reach a consensus about whether to colonize the planet or stay aboard the colony ship that is all they've known for generations.

This book really frustrated me. It was so unfocused, and although all sorts of exciting things happen (crashlanding on a planet! a desperate rescue mission! a plague!) they all happen in the peripheral vision of the c...more A loose, slow-paced novel about a small colony of Quakers who have finally arrived at a habital planet after 175 years in transit. Slowly but surely, they reach a consensus about whether to colonize the planet or stay aboard the colony ship that is all they've known for generations.

This book really frustrated me. It was so unfocused, and although all sorts of exciting things happen (crashlanding on a planet! a desperate rescue mission! a plague!) they all happen in the peripheral vision of the characters. Even when a POV character is trying to pull someone from a surging sea, they've got page upon page of stream of consciousness about how they feel about their daughter's marriage and how they used to ski on a nearby mountain and such. The constant ruminations not only slow the book down to a snail's pace, but they feel completely unreal. I'd buy that one or two people undergo long thought processes during stressful life-or-death moments, but to have the entire book consist of characters thinking about their feelings and half-remembered memories and inconsequential opinions about people the reader doesn't know--it strains belief and a reader's ability to stay interested. The characters are, by and large, unpleasant people in a very minor, understated way. They think uncharitable thoughts about those they're surrounded by, or blame others for not mysteriously understanding things they've never mentioned...I know that some people are like that, but *all* of them? It was too much, and listening to their POVs left me in an unpleasant mood.

I did like the discussions that took place about whether or not to stay on the Dusky Miller. But that was literally the only thing I enjoyed in this entire book. And considering how fascinating the premise is, that is a damn shame.

Contains suicide, various bodily indignities due to old age and illness, rape, and the death of a child. There are numerous POV characters, all people of color, and most of them are middle aged or elderly women, which is a nice change.(less)

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May 19, 2010 Dana Stabenow rated it 3 of 5 stars

A Quaker version of the "if this goes on" science fiction story, told in three parts. Earth is poisoning itself and a Quaker community in what was western America builds a self-contained space colony and sets sail for Epsilon Eridani. Part two hundred forty-seven years later, they arrive at a planet that is cold and unfriendly but habitable, and they have to decide to land or to continue on and look for something better, and if they do decide to stay, how to live there. Part three is a couple of...more A Quaker version of the "if this goes on" science fiction story, told in three parts. Earth is poisoning itself and a Quaker community in what was western America builds a self-contained space colony and sets sail for Epsilon Eridani. Part two hundred forty-seven years later, they arrive at a planet that is cold and unfriendly but habitable, and they have to decide to land or to continue on and look for something better, and if they do decide to stay, how to live there. Part three is a couple of generations later on on the new planet.

I like the premise better than the writing, but Gloss has given this some thought and there are some interesting bits.

When Dolores on earth is thinking of maybe not leaving after all, she says "I, for one, had thought every isolationist party from Aryan Nation to Doomwatchers would soon flock up to the sky, but what has been proven by these toroids is only the absolutely unmindful benightedness of the greater part of the human race. The very difficulties and economics of a closed circle of recyle and reuse have kept the stations, against all expectation, in the hands of the patient and whole-minded..."

Committees (Design, Ceramics, Waters, Business) run everything at Meetings, and moving down to the planet is the topic of discussion of one Weekly Business Meeting. Should they stay on board the Miller--"If we go down there...many of us will die it'll be hard life...I don't see why we need to come out in the sunlight...This place is an Eden, it's the body of God...We ought to just stay right here..."

Or should they move to the planet? There is a high incidence of insanity, suicide, and birth defects on the Miller, and the maintenance is unceasing. Much of this argument is moved by the faith that put their ancestors on the Dusty Miller to begin with--"Where there's a hardship, generally there's a grace to be found in it..On that world...it's all hardship, and I wonder: What is the saving grace?"...Maybe it's a bare-bones existence that we'd be enriched...Maybe the hardships would be a good thing." Someone else says "...what is the meaning of people who have uprooted themselves from ancient soil and are trying to go on living in a container of air and water, separate from the rest of the Creation?"

It's a fascinating conversation, and one you could imagine happening between a group of people whose great-greats, motivated by their faith and a desire to leave a dying planet, gave birth on the way to a generation of people who have no personal knowledge of a habitat they didn't themselves build and maintain. What happens if they can't grow mangos on the planet? They like mangos.

The scene with Juko on the sails is enough to give you agoraphobia, and the scene with Bjoro's first encounter with the planet is enough to give you frostbite, but mainly worth reading for the ideas.

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Jun 29, 2008 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars

A short novel about a future human colony living on a starship in outer space, looking for a new world to inhabit. If the sci-fi theme puts you off, think again on this one. The colony is a group of Quakers and the sense of community, human struggle, philosophical discussions and truthful relationships are what makes this book shine. Deeply insightful without stilted propoganda or unaccessible techno-talk, Ms. Gloss takes us to some of the darkest regions of the soul and gives us the courage to...more

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May 30, 2009 Cow rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Cow by: Alice

Shelves: spec-fic

Let's call it 3 1/2 stars.

Quakers...in space!

Okay, here's the thing. Somehow this book manages not to have a beginning, an end, or much action at all--and what action there is is generally, um, uncomfortable, to say the least. And yet, this is one of the better books of "hard" sci-fi I've read in some time, and definitely among the more realistic in terms of the people.

On one hand, it feels like absolutely nothing happened. On the other, I just read 80% of that book in one day, and couldn't stop...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Brian Lombard rated it 3 of 5 stars

"The Dazzle of Day", by Molly Gloss, is a story of a community that was built on a space ship due to the deterioration of Earth. Molly Gloss, by switching the narrative point of view chapter to chapter, gives insight to all walks of life in the community not just from one perspective. This was an interesting book and I enjoyed most the ability to see the community from many different characters’s outlook.

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Apr 12, 2011 Steven Granieri rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Dazzle of Day tells a tale of the inhabitants of the Dusty Miller, a spaceship traveling to a potentially new planet to call home. After several generations, the ship is finally on the cusp of its arrival. The emotional weight of the ships arrival shows its signs as suicides, rape and tension build. Focusing deeply on interpersonal relationships, The Dazzle of Day is thoroughly thought provoking.

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Jul 29, 2012 Sarah Sammis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, read-in-2011, exwishlist

The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss is is a generation ship saga written in the style of A Canticle for Leibowitz. It has three distinct parts: planning to leave, a death en route, and life on the new planet.

Although there isn't a single character to carry the book through from start to finish, Gloss manages to still make it a very character driven book. Each section reads like a self contained novella, thematically tied together.

My favorite part was the first story. In it, an older woman is thinki...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Travis Gallagher rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Dazzle of Day is a very interesting book that tells of peoples journey to a new planet after Earth has become undesirable. The book explores peoples day to day lives and how they react to dramatic events while aboard the ship. The book never tells of their faiths which kind of puts in the shoes of the travelers and asks you what would you do if put in their position.

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Nov 25, 2008 Russ rated it 5 of 5 stars

First chapter knocks my socks off every time I read it. Like this group of Quakers, haven't we all wanted to push away from Earth and start again?

Interesting exploration into decision making and reliance on technology even while trying to escape a planet overrun by its effects.

An all time personal fave.

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Sep 26, 2011 Brittan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, contemporary

Weird, difficult to follow, with themes that are meant to be piercing and realistic but instead come off as awkward and contrived. Some of the characters are all right and the prose isn't too bad, but the weirdness of the plot and the entire "Quakers in space" gimmick is one that I just can't swallow.

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Apr 22, 2008 Grace rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, quaker, book-talk

The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss tells the story or a group of Quaker colonists venturing who leave a dying earth to begin again on a new world. I was drawn to this book by the idea of Quaker colonists and found this story to be a well written and thoughtful exploration of the ideas of family, home, relationships, and community. The author provides evocative descriptions that contrast the lush environment of the spaceship with the barren new world that the colonists find for themselves. The stor...more

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Oct 30, 2008 J. rated it 2 of 5 stars

When people talk about feminist science fiction, and how it should include the body, and focus on family and community connection, I had no idea how phenomenally boring that might be until I read this book.
Gloss only advances the plot tangentially, rumors and hearsay from other characters, never the one whose point of view is the narrative focus of the chapter. The sentences are long winded in a way that is stylish (if you're into Faulkner) and literary, but difficult to feel any excitement fro...more

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Jan 29, 2008 Sessily added it

Shelves: favorite-books, own

I loved this book. Its science fiction, but I don't think the "science" part of it (in terms of the spaceship) is all that accurate. What I love about it are the deep characterizations and philosophical feel. Gloss' writing can be dense, like some of Le Guin's writing (Left Hand of Darkness in particular), leading to a slower reading experience, but when I reread it I found myself reading slower so that I could savor the experience. I've read it twice, and now want to read it again.

For those who...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Emalee rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an author I love. This book is partly sci-fi, but more a novel of psychology and spirituality. I strongly recommend this, and all books by Molly Gloss, who lives in Portland.

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Aug 21, 2007 Matthew Gatheringwater rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Esperanto-speakers.

Shelves: science-fiction-and-fantasy

QUAKERS IN SPACE! I so much wanted to enjoy this book, especially since I've enjoyed other Quaker-themed science fiction, such as Joan Slonczewski's Still Forms on Foxfield, but I finished it with a feeling of disappointment. (Still, I did finish it, which is something of a recommendation.)

I don't know which bothered me more: unrelenting pessimism about the human future, the incredibly unrealistic depiction multi-generational space travel and settlement, wet New-Age mysticism, or the anti-techno...more

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About Molly Gloss

Molly Gloss is a fourth-generation Oregonian who lives in Portland.

Her novel The Jump-Off Creek was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for American Fiction, and a winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Oregon Book Award. In 1996 Molly was a recipient of a Whiting Writers Award.

The Dazzle of Day was named a New York Times Notable Book and was awarded the PEN Center We...more

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