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Jun 08, 2011

oriana rated it:

Wow you guys. This one, too, is going to blow your minds. It's tough not to compare it to The Instructions, the last 1000-plus-pager from the inimitable McSweeney's, but such a comparison would be meaningless, as I think it would be pretty difficult for these books to be more different. It's still way pre-pub, so I don't want to spill any secrets, but obvs this book, like everything McSwy's does, is phenomenal. Get it on them to-read shelves already!!

***

Whoa, William T. Vollm More...

15 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

Tuck rated it:

Author is a master of the big picture saga, and this new one does not disappoint. Encompasses 4 story lines, and what is most impressive is that author takes the “little guy’s” perspective, that is working class, blacks, women, those trying to what? Succeed? Survive? Has some damn dignity? So no big high faluting art galleries, captains of industry, or other bourgey pretenses (well there are some, granted, but in the black and passing community of Wilmington north Carolina, who were all run ou More...

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Oct 15, 2011

Laura rated it:

On a recent episode of Bravo’s “The Next Great Artist”, the participants were challenged to take a piece of thrift store kitsch and turn it into something remarkable. One artist began with a picture of a southern belle with real hair. He remade it into a commentary on the bondage of beauty, race, and money. In the end, he was voted off. The judges said it was an important topic, but that his work brought no new insights to the table. This cannot be said for John Sayles book, “A Moment in More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 01, 2011

Eric rated it:

Set at the turn of the 20th-century, A Moment in the Sun by John Sayles weighs in a hefty 950 pages. One might think a historical novel of this length might be a little tedious to read, but this is not the case with A Moment in the Sun. Sayles' writing is clear and engrossing, and you can certainly tell this novel is written by someone skilled with writing film screenplays.

That is not to say that this is a light, feel-good read; the characters are repeatedly subjected to the harshest t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 25, 2011

Adam rated it:

This mammoth book of 955 pages and 105 chapters requires commitment from the reader. The storyline evolves slowly and never builds to a true climax. That is not to say that it is without gripping moments. It is a very rewarding read, thick with richly developed characters and story arcs. In the chronicle that stretches from Alaskan Gold Rush in 1897 through the Philippine-American War, Sayles explores the interplay between race and imperialism during a period in which American jingoism, thirst f More...

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Apr 20, 2011

Don rated it:

A Moment in the Sun
John Sayles might be wasting his talents making movies. The acclaimed director has true skills as a writer, possibly eclipsing his work behind the camera. Anyone who has seen Lone Star, Eight Men Out, or any of Sayles' numerous movies knows that it would take prodigious writing talent in order to top his accomplishments as a director. Yet, Sayles' new novel, A Moment in the Sun, shows him as a top notch writer, possibly one of the best at bringing to life America’s dark More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Sep 01, 2011

Michael rated it:

I had this rated a four (because I never give anything a five) but changed to five because I don't like when people criticize John Sayles and I didn't want to do it. He essentially does exactly what I want in popular history and tries to appeal to the mainstream at the same time, and people just look for excuses not to read him or go see his movies. Yes the book does have many characters and plot lines, but you never get lost. It is long, but fun and not difficult. One negative review I read More...

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Jul 14, 2011

Mike rated it:

How can I not like a book from a fellow Nelson Algren fan? Sayles spoke on his tour in my town and when asked what writers influenced him he simply replied, "It was Nelson Algren more than anyone." So, given my tainted soul, I also have to conclude that this is an excellent book about being a man in America. He gives short shrift to women in my opinion...not unlike Algren.

Somehow I never felt bogged down by his characters. There was some weariness after hearing about t More...

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May 29, 2011

Andrew rated it:

Around page 700 or so of Moment in the Sun, it occurred to me that the book was so long because John Sayles needed that many pages for everything bad in the world to happen to his characters. Set in 1897 and the years immediately after, this story takes the reader on a tour of American oppression and misery. From an Alaskan Gold Rush boom town to a white supremacist insurrection in Wilmington, NC, to the invasions of Cuba and the Philippines, this is not a happy, feel-good novel.

It i More...

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Jul 22, 2011

Peter rated it:

This is an unforgettable book about America at the turn of the last century. Skillfully told and breathtaking in its scope.

I must say that the first half was totally engrossing, but it got a little tougher in the second half. I think whole chapters could have been left out. And yet the breadth of it is amazing, it's like you are soaking in the era. Gold rush, Spanish American War, yellow journalism, Cuba, the philippines, African American culture post Reconstruction, the white overth More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 07, 2011

Jonfaith rated it:

There was an element of Papa's dictum in my reading of John Sayles' doorstop qua cinder block of a narrative, it sat gradually until suddenly I devoured its 1000 pages. My cheekiest nod to the novel is that its as if the Chums of Chance (Pynchon's creations in Against The Day) chose to chronicle American Race and Imperium. That said, Sayles never appears overwrought nor resigned to types or constructs in establishing his dramatic web.

As many may know, I once considered African-Americ More...

5 comments like

Jun 30, 2011

Kevin rated it:

John Sayles is as good a writer as he is a filmmaker, if not better. A Moment in the Sun is a brick of a book but it is engrossing for the entire 955 pages. Sayles jumps between multiple story threads and like most films and novels employing a similar technique, benefits and suffers from the structure. Some of the story arcs are more engrossing than others and notably in the final 300 pages we spend too much time from the main characters instead focusing on a few side stories that don't do much More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Catherine added it

I may look back on this book and think that i under-rated it but I don't think so. I love a sprawling 'big' novel, but I think this one could have been told in a shorter style. i know that the author is very much opposed to racism, but the length of time we are exposed to it in this book makes it hard to remember that. the story is set on at the very beginning of the 20th century and steeped in things that happened then--the Spanish-American war, McKinley's assassination, the war in the Phili More...

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Jan 24, 2012

Jonathan rated it:

This book is about America and the things that influenced it in the years around the turn of the 20th century.

The influence of the press over public opinion. The advent of moving pictures. The swirling mess of New York City, and hard resistance to change in the south (in particular, the Wilmington massacre in 1898 in North Carolina where white supremacists organized and carried out a coup d'etat of local government, mounting a Gatling gun to a wagon, murdering black citizens, and dri More...

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Jun 10, 2011

Shawn rated it:

A book that I've often seen described as Pynchonesque, but I think it's more like Dickens: lots of characters, lots of digressing subplots, and a sympathetic view of the lower classes and downtrodden. Unfortunately, not all of the characters and subplots are really all that interesting. I couldn't stand the Philippines parts, which is a shame because a trio of most enjoyable characters were crammed into the plot, rather than being able to operate on their own. Also, I just couldn't get into Sayl More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

Richard rated it:

I really admired this book. The topic, late 19th/early 20th century US, is fascinating and highly relevant today's political and cultural landscape and it needs to be examined more closely: the Spanish American War and the resulting occupation of the Phillipines, white southerners re-taking control of government after Reconstruction in an attempt to push back nascent African American political power, labor organization and rebellion as a response to the exploitative relationships inevitable in More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2011

Wendy rated it:

Perhaps a better previous understanding of the time period would have made this book more enjoyable. To me it seemed disjointed. In some ways it came together in the end (955 pages later) but in other ways there were loose ends of that were never tied up. For example, I have no idea why a new character was introduced towards the end of the book. There was plenty of background info on the character but then it was never developed with any meaningful relationship to the rest of the book. Took me t More...

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Dec 19, 2011

Craig rated it:

I love Sayles' work, and at 955 pages you've got to. I first read his Union Dues in the late 70's and have followed him ever since. His movies are terrific--Brother from Another Planet, Lone Star, Matawon for starters. A Moment in the Sun is an epic based closely in history (perhaps the underbelly of history) at the turn of the 19th Century. It has a number of threads: the dispossession of blacks and imposition of Jim Crow, ending of the frontier war and beginning or imperial wars (Cuba and More...

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Oct 22, 2011

Paula rated it:

I did'nt know very much about the spanish american war before I read this book, and am now much enlightened about it and the era in which it took place. a mammoth volume of over 950 pages, moment in the sun cuts across all sections of america, and all kinds of americans. from the alaska gold rush, to the first generation of free black men, to the newspaper wars of new york city, and the armies in the western territory, you get a very good picture of what life was like at the turn of the centur More...

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Oct 12, 2011

Theresa rated it:

Patience, good memory and historical information are what needed to read this 1,000 page book. This is not my first time reading a well-thicked book; this is very detailed in its historical context and the author himself should be very well applauded for his great effort and research in telling a history that has been completely forgotten. Currently in book 1, but I enjoyed author's exploration in each characters in the midst of US turning-developing century.

My advise in reading thi More...

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Dec 04, 2011

Kris rated it:

It seems like it took me all summer to read this book, all 953 pages of it; astoundingly detailed historical fiction about US imperialism in the Philippines as well as a specific episode depicting the violent failure of Reconstruction. Although comprised of diverse locations and populated with varieties of characters - African American soldiers, Filipino rebels, white supremacist Southerners, public figures such as Mark Twain and William McKinley (as well as his assassin), Sayles maintains a tig More...

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Sep 21, 2011

Chris rated it:

A Moment in the Sun is an epic novel that covers much ground. I agree with my friend David for his notion that “Tolstoy himself would have to be proud of Sayles for this one.” A Moment in the Sun certainly mirrors War and Peace in scope and subject (although I'm sure Tolstoy—especially in his later years—would have grave objections with some of the vulgarity in Sayles' work).

AMitS brings to fiction one of the more interesting time periods of American history. It begins n 1897, sho More...

14 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 23, 2011

Sundry rated it:

Wow, what a great read. I heard about this book when John Sayles interviewed by Michael Silverblatt on his KCRW show Bookworm, and was instantly intrigued. http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw11...

Sayles talked about the Spanish American War being one that our history books say we won, but which we don't brag about much...which made him suspicious.

Sayles introduces a lot of characters in the first chapters, and you have to just let it flow over you a bit and trust tha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 01, 2011

Martin rated it:

You say: Epic. I say: Endless.
You say: Sweeping. I say: Scattered.
You say: Rollicking. I say: the Opposite of Rollicking.

I can't explain how excited I was to find a copy of John Sayles' acclaimed new novel at a book fair in downtown Chicago for a reasonable price. It is both a huge and beautiful book -- kudos to the reliable McSweeney's Publishing house. (Although just about everybody who saw me reading had the same quip: "is that a Bible?") It's exciting to heft a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2011

Seamus rated it:

True story: whenever I finish a book that that I have not simply enjoyed but have truly loved reading, I follow the same simple ritual. I slowly close the book, hold it in both hands so I can squeeze the pages together between the boards, and then press my lips to the front cover. It has been awhile since I kissed a book but I planted a big smacker on John Sayles’ latest novel A Moment in the Sun.

What can I say about this incredible, accomplished novel that won’t sound like the usual More...

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Jul 03, 2011

Charity rated it:

For a long book not once did it feel like a long book. In fact I would argue that Sayles should go back and give the reader a final look at a few more of the characters to close out the narrative, however, this is the only (and very minor) criticism I have of the book. It is beautifully laid out with the structure of the narrative, short chapters and longer chapters giving the narrative an interesting pace showcasing the struggles of the characters within the culture. Sayles uses his film eye More...

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Jul 26, 2011

Nick rated it:

So after renewing this book twice at the library, I had to return it after finishing only a bit over half. It's great, sprawling in every sense-language, characters, geography. I can't help but think it a little overwrought in some places. Some characters added only for color (and maybe to show off Sayles regional colloquial chops). Perhaps this shortcoming should should fall on the editor. All in all, this book coupled with We, The Drowned which I read right before this one, has really rene More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 21, 2011

Frederic rated it:

On the front cover a sticker has been placed which reads,"An American Epic from master storyteller John Sayles" and on the back cover a blurb highlights the word "Wonderful"...at last,Truth In Advertising!...antecedents like Pynchon,Stowe and Doctorow have been mentioned in reviews but,for me,the book recalls "Gone With the Wind"(I realise that GWTW is esteemed lightly these days but I think it's a Great Novel)with its`vast scope,well-delineated characters(even the More...

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Feb 22, 2012

Jacco rated it:

Very well-researched, but I had to force myself to keep reading: too many descriptions of surroundings, not enough action. All the characters stayed kinda 'flat' too: what they say and do seems to be more about informing readers what the US/Philipines were like around 1900, than portraying lifelike people.

For me, as a Dutch guy, the references to historical and cultural phenomena (what's a 'Gentile'?) were too obscure and too frequent.

On the plus side: it did make me want More...

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Jan 28, 2012

Mason rated it:

I get the impression Sayles really wanted to make a movie about one of the events in and about 1898, but found himself tangled in histories of a time when time itself got tangled. With the United States' industrial empire approaching its unfettered zenith in a world frightened of noise and corruption, these sad tales cannot be discounted. Sayles loses control of the story about page 600, but the imagery kept me going until the end. Don't pick it up if you cannot commit to finishing it. Don't pi More...

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